Government to decide if data issues need to be out of e-comm policy

New Delhi: The government will decide after consultations among different departments if data related issues such as cross border flows and localisation need to be moved out of the ambit of the proposed national e-commerce policy.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had in February made public the draft National E-Commerce Policy in which it proposed regulating cross-border data flows, locating computing facilities within the country to ensure job creation and setting up a dedicated ‘data authority’ for issues related to sharing of community data. It has stated that the data generated in the country is a national asset, and citizens and the government have a sovereign right over it.