The government has finalised the draft of the proposed rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 and hopes to release them for public consultation in the second or third week of August.
As per media reports, the rules are expected to be notified after the current parliamentary session concludes.
The reports highlighted that the rules will be straightforward and simple, designed to avoid causing any disruption. The government’s aim is to establish a strong framework that allows citizens to protect their privacy while preventing the system from being misused for trivial complaints.
The only outstanding issue is the verification of age and parental consent. After a recent meeting with experts and stakeholders, several potential solutions are being explored.
On July 19, the IT ministry engaged in comprehensive discussions with representatives from multiple social media intermediaries and internet companies. The focus was on exploring various potential solutions to implement age-gating and methods for verifying the ages of children.
Under the DPDP Act 2023, individuals under 18 are classified as children. The Act requires these users to obtain verifiable parental consent before accessing social media and various other services offered by internet intermediaries.
The DPDP Act, passed by both houses of Parliament and signed into law by President Droupadi Murmu in August 2023, marks a major advancement in data protection and privacy rights in India.
