NEW DELHI: IT and Electronics minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday that government will consult the tech industry before stipulating any restrictions on transfer of certain classes of personal data outside India, adding that external experts will also be engaged in the process to draw up a list of prohibited sectors.
Vaishnaw was speaking after the IT Ministry introduced draft rules governing the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) law that had been adopted in 2023. The rules suggest putting restrictions on transfer of certain classes of “personal data” outside the country in line with recommendations that will be made by a committee formed especially for this purpose by the central govt.
The Minister said the govt wants to adopt a consultative approach by engaging representatives from the industry as well as experts while drawing up the list, if the draft rules do become a reality. “It will go as per sectoral requirements, or else be thoroughly examined and discussed with stakeholders. We also aim to engage with sector experts.”
The restrictions on transfer of certain classes of personal data is likely to be an irritant for top social media and internet companies such as Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Flipkart – incidentally all American giants — who may oppose the measure in their filings and comments made to the Ministry which is taking feedback till Feb 18.
The issue stems from a clause in the draft rules which says, “A Significant Data Fiduciary shall undertake measures to ensure that personal data specified by the Central Govt on the basis of the recommendations of a committee constituted by it is processed subject to the restriction that the personal data and the traffic data pertaining to its flow is not transferred outside the territory of India.”
On the proposal of mandating parental consent before children (or those below the age of 18) are allowed to join social media, the Minister said the idea is to build safeguards for a safer internet. “We will refine the Rules further to take the power of technology to children while saving them from harm.”
The verification of a child’s age can be done through a “virtual token” issued by an entity entrusted by law or by the Central or state governments to maintain details of a person. Vaishnaw said the token system has been successful in various cases such as verification in case of Aadhaar-based transactions. “The tokens will be temporary and limited to one transaction after which it will be destroyed automatically.”
However, govt has no plans as of yet to have a mandatory verification of every person who logs into social media as a new user.
Vaishnav said that India has a “strong digital architecture” which will help the country develop indigenous solutions on safeguarding children. “At least we have a roadmap when compared to many other countries. As we learn and evolve, this structure will evolve into a much more perfect solution.”
