President Ranil Wickramasinghe has made arrangements to appoint a board of directors including a chairman in order to continue the protection of personal data. The President took this step in a discussion held with the participation of Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake and Minister of State for Technical Affairs Mr. Kanaka Herath.
Accordingly, Mr. Arjuna Herath as the Chairman of Personal Data Protection has also appointed Jananath Fernando, Sulaksha Jayawardena, Soumya Amarasekara, Shehan Wijethilaka, Bisara Senaviratne and Nishit Abesuriya as board members. Even though the Personal Data Protection Act was passed in early 2022, it has not been implemented for more than a year, so the President has set up a chairman and a board of directors.
This Act secures personal data and the Personal Data Protection Authority established under this Act has the power to punish those who misuse personal data. The matter of setting up the authority, deciding the staff and running the office will be prepared by this committee.
The necessary support for this authority is provided by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank with the intervention of Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, Chief of Staff of the President.
Until now, due to the absence of a data protection authority, foreign IT companies have expressed their reluctance to invest in the country, and the government says that this obstacle will be eliminated after the establishment of this authority. This authority is to make decisions regarding the processing and use of personal data by institutions.
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