2nd reading statement data protection amendment bill 2022 bill NO.22 of 2022

𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐊𝐀𝐁𝐎 𝐍. 𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐄𝐍𝐆
15TH AUGUST, 2022
1. Mister Speaker, I have the honour to present before this Honourable House, for second reading the Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 22 of 2022.
2. Mister Speaker, the Data Protection Act, Act No. 32 of 2018 (herein after referred to as the Act) was passed by the National Assembly on 12th July 2018 and commenced on the 15th October 2021.
3. Section 54 of the Act provides as follows: –
(1) The processing of personal data by any person, which was ongoing before the commencement of this Act or is ongoing and does not conform to the provisions of this Act, shall, within a period of 12 months from the commencement of this Act, be made by such person to conform to the provisions of the Act.
4. The transitional period provided for under section 54 (1) of the Act lapses on the 15th October 2022. From the commencement date of the Act, data controllers and processors who are both public and private institutions were expected to start engaging in the necessary activities to comply with the Act. They do this with guidance and instructions from the Information and Data Protection Commission.
5. As the Information and Data Protection Commission is a new entity, my Ministry has relentlessly been in the process of appointing competent staff to the Commission, to enable the Commission to discharge its functions fully. This process is still ongoing.
6. In addition, Mister Speaker, there is need to come up regulations to guide implementation of the Act and with the limited staff at the Commission, I must admit that the process of coming up with the regulations has been slow.
7. In view of the above, we have decided to amend the Act to insert a provision which gives the Minister authority to extend the transitional period to enable the finalisation of the above. During the intended transition period, we believe that data controllers and processors would be in a position to comply with the requirements of the Act.
8. Mister Speaker, therefore, the object of the Bill is to empower the Minister to prescribe the period within which data controllers and processors are to comply with the provisions of the Act provided that such period does not exceed 12 months. The Bill has two has two clauses:
a) Clause 1 is the short title of the Bill.
b) Clause 2 amends section 54 of the Act to empower the Minister to prescribe the period within which any processing of personal data by any person which was ongoing before the commencement of the Act or is ongoing and does not conform to the provisions of the Act, have to be made by such person to conform to the provisions of the Act. Clause 2 further provides that the period prescribed by the Minister should not exceed 12 months.
9. Mister Speaker, this concludes my presentation. I therefore move that the Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2022- Bill No. 22 of 2022 be read a second time.