India: Non-Personal Data Governance Framework open for public consultation

The Committee of Experts deliberating on the Non-Personal Data Governance Framework has released a report for public consultation. Apart from elucidating on the trends and imbalances in the present data economy, the report makes a case for regulating non-personal data for economic, social, and public purposes. The report defines: non-personal data and its categories; the key roles of data principals, data custodians, and data trustees; the concept of data business; ownership of data, requirements for registration, data disclosure, and data sharing; and setting-up of a Non-Personal Data Regulatory Authority.

However, critics opine that mandatory data sharing by businesses, the power of the government over data, data monetisation, the role of the new regulator, and the potential overlap of the role with other regulators etc., are some of the issues that need further discussion.