HomeTechnology News"Single authority for data better," says Kris Gopalkrishnan, head of non-personal data committee

"Single authority for data better," says Kris Gopalkrishnan, head of non-personal data committee

Kris Gopalkrishnan, head of the non-personal data governance framework expert committee set up by the IT Ministry, said a single data authority for personal and non-personal data will be better for regulation.

By Mugdha Variyar  November 17, 2021, 7:01:01 PM IST (Updated)

Kris Gopalkrishnan, head of the non-personal data governance framework expert committee set up by the IT Ministry, said a single data authority for personal and non-personal data will be better for regulation.

Speaking to CNBCTV 18, Gopalkrishnan said that the report by the committee was submitted to the government about two months ago, and he said that the recommendations entail that an authority is required for data protection, but it has been left to the government to decide whether there should be a single authority for personal and non-personal data or separate authorities.

"We have in our recommendations talked about an authority. We have said single authority possibly for data is better. Even otherwise, we should harmonise the authorities that look at data to ensure there is no increase in compliance requirements," he said.

"As part of our recommendations, we have said an authority is required. Now should this be a single authority or separate authority is something for the government to decide,' Kris Gopalkrishnan said.

"We have also said that there needs to be industry representation in the authority," he added.

The personal data protection bill is expected to be taken up in the winter session of the Parliament. Asked if the non-personal data governance framework will also be taken up as a bill by the Parliament, Gopalkrishnan said: "Our responsibility was to generate the report after consultations with industry. We have submitted final report to the ministry. The process beyond that will be decided by the ministry. "

IAMAI and EY released a report on Tuesday to assess the impact of the non-personal data governance framework.

The report found that over 76 percent of the participants in the survey believe that external access to their company’s data even in anonymized formats will hamper their growth prospects and about 81 percent believe that there should be a more nuanced definition of sovereign purpose in the framework.

40 percent of survey respondents expressed discomfort in sharing data with the data trustee, citing that entrusting a non-government body with metadata could lead to data spillovers among competitors.

Gopalkrishnan said that concerns on data sharing and IP rights have been shared by the industry with the committee.

"We have addressed as many concerns as possible in our report," Gopalkrishnan said.

"We have looked at digital, light-weight compliance requirements," he added.