Govt to notify rules for DPDP Act by January end, says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The accompanying rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act are ready and will be notified by the end of December or early January, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on December 6.

The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology also said that the much awaited Digital India Act, which is set to replace the IT Act for governing the country's internet ecosystem, is unlikely to be tabled for legislation before the 2024 general elections.

Big Tech companies and industry bodies representing such companies have long been demanding for a two-year transition period to comply with the law. At least 25 rules must be formulated by the government to implement the DPDP Act.

If the DPDP Act in its current form provides a framework for the legislation, the rule-making process will shape its contours. For instance, the Act states that the government will list a number of countries where data cannot be transferred. The rule-making processes will define on what basis a country can be "blacklisted".

The government expects transition for most of the provisions of the Act (except age-gating) within 12 months.

After the law was enacted in August, Chandrasekhar made it clear that the government will not wait that long to implement it, and said that if a company requested additional time for compliance with the law then they would have to come up with a specific reason for the same.