In response to the raging debate on data protection and perhaps in view of the ongoing debate in Europe on the coming into force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a Data Protection Bill, 2018 is up for debate in Kenya. The salient features of the Bill include:

– seeking to protect the right to privacy for data subjects;

– excluding data regarding national security matters from regulation under the proposed Bill;

– providing for consent in the collection, processing of data;

– providing for correction of data by data subjects;

– providing for regulation on collection, storage and collection of data;

– empowering the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights as the agency to deal with data protection matters; and

– introducing offences and penalties related to data protection.

Parliament is this week seeking views on the proposed Bill and I shall soon publish my memorandum to parliament on this site in the coming days.