After almost two years of consultation and deliberation, the Joint Parliamentary Committee's report on India's Personal Data Protection Bill is set to be tabled during the winter session of Parliament and could be circulated among members of the committee by November 6, according to a report by the Hindustan Times. The much-delayed report of the bill was previously expected to be tabled during the previous session of the parliament. However, amidst a change in committee leadership and memberships, the JPC asked for an extension till the winter session. Under a newly-appointed chairperson, the JPC revisited the bill to reportedly discuss new recommendations to the bill. Since the Puttaswamy judgement in 2017 by the Supreme Court of India, the government has been under an obligation to pass legislation to protect Indians’ personal data. Setting up a data protection authority, localisation requirements for data, and other aspects of the bill have been closely watched by the private sector for years. Even as uncertainty looms over the current contours of the bill, data breaches continue to be regularly reported, with companies facing little to no consequences for such incidents. What has the JPC been discussing? According to the Hindustan Times, over 100 drafting changes were proposed to the bill with clause-by-clause discussions and comparisons. Some of the significant ones among them are: Non personal data protection: Changing the name of the draft Personal Data Protection Bill to the ‘Data Protection Bill’ as it will regulate non-personal data, as reported by the Hindustan Times. Exemptions…
