Draft Regulations on the Appointment of the Data Protection Officer under Section 20 of the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022

The Data Protection Authority of Sri Lanka (‘DPA’) is inviting relevant stakeholders, to provide their feedback on the draft of the above-mentioned regulations to be issued by the subject Minister with the concurrence of the DPA. These regulations relate to the appointment of a Data Protection Officer by a controller or processor in specific circumstances under subsections (1) and (2) of section 20 of the Personal Data Protection Act No.9 of 2022 (‘PDPA’).

When processing activities consist of operations which require regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a certain scale and magnitude or processing of special categories of personal data on a certain scale and magnitude, appointment of a Data Protection Officer is mandatory under subsection (b) of subsection (1) of section 20 of the PDPA. Above-mentioned regulations prescribe the said scale and magnitude required under each circumstance.

Further, these regulations prescribe the academic and professional qualifications, a Data Protection Officer must possess under subsection (2) of section 20 of the PDPA.

Although there is no statutory obligation to submit these regulations for stakeholder consultations, the DPA has decided to seek stakeholder feedback before final regulations are issued before the enforcement date 18th March 2025.

Accordingly, the stakeholders are invited to submit their feedback using the attached template and email it to info@dpa.gov.lk.

The closing date for feedback is 15th November 2024.

Please read the data protection notice below carefully to understand how the DPA will process personal data that you may submit to the DPA during this consultation.

Data Protection Notice for Public Consultations:

Whilst feedback on this consultation can be submitted anonymously, you may indicate your name, contact details, organizational affiliations and/or profession, in the consultation feedback template in addition to your views and opinions.

The Data Protection Authority of Sri Lanka (‘DPA’) will process your views and opinions to refine these draft regulations. The DPA may store any personal data that you have provided with the feedback to contact you to obtain any further information regarding the feedback you have provided. The DPA does not intend to share your personal data with any 3rd party and any request for disclosure by a 3rd party shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022 (‘PDPA’).

Any personal data that the DPA will receive through this consultation will be stored by the DPA for a period of 6 months from the last date of communication with the respective data subject. The DPA may however retain the feedback in aggregated and/or anonymized format for a longer period for the purpose of maintaining a catalogue of feedback received for future reference.

The lawful basis that the DPA is relying on to process your personal data (if any) is item (e) of Schedule 1 of the PDPA, which allows the DPA to process personal data when this is necessary to exercise the powers, functions or duties conferred, imposed or assigned to the DPA under the PDPA in its capacity as a regulator.

With regards to the personal data that you provide to us during this consultation, you are entitled to the following rights:

• right to request access under section 13
• right to object under section 14(2)
• right to rectification or completion under section 15
• right to erasure under section 16.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any other concerns or questions on how the DPA process your personal data, please contact the DPA via info@dpa.gov.lk.

However, please be mindful that the provisions in the PDPA concerning the matters referred to in this notice will only be operational by 18th March 2025.