Bengaluru, Aug 18 (FN Agency) Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said there won’t be any delay in rule-making required for Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act because of 2024 Lok Sabha election as it was already initiated well before the enactment of the legislation.”Rule-making process has already started. There are three things that have to be in place for the Act to be implemented. First are the rules. Second is the entire digitally-designed architecture for implementing the Act, and third is the Data Protection Board. So, we are working on all the three activities in tandem. There won’t be any delay due to the Lok Sabha election because the process was already initiated well before the law was enacted,” he told reporters at an event here.
The law lays down the manner in which companies should process users’ data, and gives government power to seek information from firms, and issue directions to block content on the advice of a government-appointed board.Replying to a query, Vaishnaw said the Centre is following the consultative process required for rule making. In fact, the government has had a very extensive consultation in enacting the DPDP Bill and would do the same in the rule-making process as well, the Minister said. “The consultation process that we have followed in the enactment of the Bill, we have had very extensive consultation. As many as 48 organisations were consulted with. We received and evaluated 43,660 (suggestions). So, that is a huge consultative process.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee also met more than 100 times. So, we will follow a consultative process in rule-making also,” he said. The consultative process required for rule-making will be lesser compared to the law-making process because the law already exists, Vaishnaw said. “The boundaries (of the law) are set. Within those boundaries, details have to be filled in by rules. So, that process we will follow. It will be a consultative process,” he said.The Minister said the rules will be as simple and straightforward as the DPDP Act itself. “The DPDP Act is very straightforward and easy to understand. Exactly the same principles of drafting you will find in the rules also.Rules also will be very easy to follow; very simple; very straightforward; very easy to implement,” he said.