Govt to unveil data protection law soon, official notification likely in Jan: Report

This was revealed in a consultation session organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar chaired the meeting, focussing on the DPDP Law and the forthcoming regulations shaping its framework.

After the release of the draft regulations for public input, the government plans to set one week for industry feedback, and the finalised rules are expected to be officially announced in January, the report said, citing sources.

Representatives from various US-based companies reportedly sought an extension for the consultation duration, citing the holiday season in other countries.

The meeting, which took place at the Shram Shakti Bhavan in New Delhi, lasted over an hour and was attended by social media platforms like Meta, Google, and Snap, as well as representatives from diverse IT firms.

Key areas of discussion covered the rights of data principals, children's data, consent, notice mechanisms, and other provisions outlined in the DPDP Law, which received parliamentary approval in August.

Further, the talks delved into the reporting mechanism for data breaches, with industry representatives being briefed that the yet-to-be-formed Data Protection Board must be notified first, followed by comprehensive incident reporting within 72 hours, the report said, citing sources.