‘Govt likely to release draft data protection rules within a month’

New Delhi: The government is likely to release draft rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act within a month, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

The minister said the government has first worked on digital implementation of the Act and framed rules accordingly.

“The framework is ready, and the draft rules for consultation are expected to be released within a month,” Vaishnaw told reporters here.

He said the final draft of the rules was reviewed last week, and it is expected to be in the public domain within a month.

The minister said the language of the rules will be very simple.

The rules will be framed after consultation and will need to be placed before Parliament before implementation.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill was approved by Parliament on August 9, 2023 -- about six years after the Supreme Court declared the ‘Right to Privacy’ as a fundamental right.

The Act has provisions to curb the misuse of individuals’ data by online platforms and introduces several compliance requirements for the collection and processing of personal data and provisions for up to Rs 250 crore penalty for any data breach.

The Act, however, gives the government powers to exempt state agencies from the law.

The law applies to the processing of digital personal data in India, where the personal data is either collected in digital form or in a non-digitised format and subsequently digitised.

The Act defines ‘personal data’ broadly to include any data about an individual who is identifiable or in relation to such data.

Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the proposed Broadcasting Services Bill will require extensive consultations and the government was “very open-minded” to suggestions from all stakeholders in this regard.

The intent is to encourage content creator economy and not discourage it, the minister asserted. A revised draft of the Bill, circulated selectively by the government, had drawn widespread criticism, particularly from the online content creators’ community which found certain provisions as “draconian”. The Bill was first put in the public domain in November last year and consultations were on with various stakeholders in this regard.

“We are very flexible, we are very open-minded, We want this entire new medium to flourish. We will have very extensive consultations then look at the form and content of the Bill,” Vaishnaw told reporters here.

He said over the past few years, a new content creator economy has emerged across the country and the government was encouraging this growing segment.

“Our intent is not to discourage it. Our intent is to encourage it. Our intent is that this is giving more opportunities to express, share and create new intellectual property,” the minister said.

The selective circulation of the Bill drew criticism from media bodies such as DigiPub and the

Editors Guild of India which claimed that digital media organisations and civil society associations were not consulted on the move. The government said in response that multiple recommendations, comments and suggestions were received including from various Associations.

“In the case of the Broadcasting Services Bill, our thought process is we must encourage new technology, we must encourage new forms of creating content. We must encourage new mediums of sharing content, that will require a huge amount of consultation,” Vaishnaw said.

A version of the draft bill sought to club online content creators with OTT and digital news broadcasters, bringing them under the ambit of the ministry’s Content and Advertisement Code.