In the first policy brief as part of the series, we focus on the provisions of inter-sectoral regulation and coordination in the Data Protection Bill 2021. Since technology cuts across multiple sectors, privacy and data protection are both vertical (across sectors) and horizontal (across the size of the business) in nature. This will cause challenges to the upcoming Data Protection Authority of India (DPAI) as it will have to design and enforce standards to realise a fundamental right across various contexts and sectors. A significant aspect of this exercise will be contending with inter-regulatory harmonisation and coordination problems.
To this end, in this policy brief, we identify four specific challenges of inter-regulatory harmonisation and cooperation and discuss why they will arise, how they are dealt with in the DPB 2021, the likely gaps to arise in the current approach and how to address them going forward. The four challenges discussed in the policy brief are:
(a) Harmonising existing and proposed allied laws
(b) Cooperating on jurisdictional overlaps and enforcement actions
(c) Ensuring a uniform and holistic appreciation of new technologies
(d) Integrating grievance redressal mechanisms
Therefore, as the envisioned DPAI is likely to have a crucial role in this digital age, we believe it is essential to address the inter-regulatory harmonisation and coordination problems discussed in the policy brief and find solutions for the bottlenecks.
Authored By: Kamesh Shekar, Varun Sen Bahl and Apurva Singh
Design: Diksha Kumari
