Digital Personal Data Protection Bill: New draft privacy law eases cross-border flow of data, hikes penalties for breach

EASING cross-border data flows, hiking penalties for data breaches and non-compliance, allowing the government to exempt state agencies from the law in the interest of national security: these are among the key provisions of the revamped data protection Bill released by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Friday.

The draft was out three months after the Government withdrew an earlier version that had triggered a pushback from Big Tech and sections of the civil society. The new draft, now called the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, has provisions on “purpose limitations” around data collection; specified grounds for collecting and processing of personal data;