E-commerce policy to be finalised after passage of data Bill in Parliament: Official

The government will finalise the e-commerce policy once the Personal Data Protection Bill, which lays down the guidelines for data processing, is approved by Parliament, a top official said on Monday. The draft e-commerce policy has proposed setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and has also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.

The Personal Data Protection Bill was recently referred to a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament. It bars storing and processing of personal data by entities without the explicit consent of an individual. “My sense is once the data protection Bill gets finalised then the policy will also move forward,” Additional Secretary in the Commerce and Industry Ministry Sudhanshu Pandey told PTI.