Parental Consent Mandatory To Process Children's Personal Data, Say Draft DPDP Rules 5 Things To Know

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The central government released the draft digital data protection rules on Friday evening - more than a year after it was first notified as a law. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has invited feedback and public comments on the document until February 18. The draft rules have introduced several precautionary measures including the need for parental consent for children to create a social media account.

The rules are expected to clarify various legal provisions, including ways to process children's data and the role of a 'consent manager'. They also touch upon the formation of a data protection board and consequent details about the appointment and service conditions of its members.

MeitY has proposed a staggered implementation of the rules - with five segments pertaining to the selection and functioning of the Data Protection Board coming immediately into effect.

What does the draft say about consent managers?
The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act defines a consent manager as a Board-registered individual who acts as a point of contact“to enable a Data Principal to give, manage, review and withdraw her consent through an accessible, transparent and interoperable platform”.

“Consent Manager must be a company incorporated in India with sound financial and operational capacity, having a minimum net worth of two crore rupees, a reputation for fairness and integrity in its management, and a certified interoperable platform enabling Data Principals to manage their consent,” reads an excerpt from the explanatory note shared by MeitY.

What does the draft say about children's data?
The rules outlined in the draft call for data fiduciaries to ensure the consent of a parent before processing the data of children - through government-issued IDs or linked digital tokens. Certain data fiduciaries - including healthcare professionals and educational institutions - will be allowed to process the personal data of children with some restrictions. Under the draft rules, children below the age of 18 will also require parental consent to create a social media account.

MENAFN03012025007365015876ID1109053341