Punitive data protection, health bills tabled

GONE are days when companies and firms were revealing or sharing data without following legal procedures.

The practice will now attract a fine ranging between 1m/- and 5bn/-, thanks to the Data Protection Bill, 2022 tabled in Parliament on Friday.

The Bill that was read for the first time in Parliament prescribes basic conditions of private data protection, including laying down requirements for data collection and processing.

It also aims at establishing Private Data Protection Commission and improving private data processed by government and private entities.

If the Bill will be passed into law by the Parliament, any individual who will delete or alter private data will be liable to the fine of not less than 100,000 and not more than 10m/- or a sentence of not less than five years in prison or both.

The Bill also stipulates that if any individual who gathers data reveals them to the public contrary to the objective for which they are being collected, he will be committing an offence.

The proposed Bill also calls for adherence to the law when processing private data, including setting procedures for involving the respective individual persons in using their data or information.

“If a person receives private information or receives information that contains private data or information without an approval of the person charged with the responsibility of gathering or processing them and decides to share them with another person, he/she will also be committing an offence,” the Bill warns.

According to the proposed Bill, any person who sells private data collected or obtained through means that contravene the conditions of gathering and processing data stipulated in the proposed legislation will be committing an offence.

The Bill further states that any individual who prevents the Private Data Protection Commission from exercising its powers outlined in the law, or fails to provide information demanded by the Commission, will be liable to paying the fine of not less than 100,000/-  and not exceeding 5m/- or two years’ imprisonment or both.

The Commission, during investigation, will also have powers to interrogate any individual or take away his/ her gadget containing private information.

The tabling of the Bill comes a few weeks after Minister for Information, Communication and Information Technology, Nape Nnauye revealed that his ministry would table the Bill.

“Let me announce that we are now officially going to table a data protection Bill for the first reading in the Parliament this month,” Mr Nnauye recently declared. He argued that the move is part of the government’s efforts to come up with policies and laws that guarantee protection of private and personal data in digital platforms.

“The envisaged data protection law will be suitable for protecting private data on cyberspace and safeguarding the ethics of internet to make the internet governable, and considering that privacy is vital, this law will promote privacy to internet users,” he was quoted as saying.

At the same time Parliament was also availed with the Universal Health Coverage Bill, which will allow judicial officers to impose a prison term or a fine of between 5m/- to 100m/- for unscrupulous officials in unwarranted use of health insurance schemes.

The Bill which was presented in the august House by the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly for the first reading also proposes moves to scrutinise private health service providers, including
appointment of National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) authorities in boards of private hospitals to facilitate regulation.

Usually, when the Bill is presented for the first reading in Parliament, MPs ought not to debate or issue any other proposed amendments, instead, it is subjected to sectoral parliamentary committees which invite stakeholders to air their views before the final draft is presented in parliament.

Regarding the punishment, the Bill, 2022 proposes 5m/- to 100m/- punishment for violation of rules of insurance healthcare provision to a health provider who has been contracted to offer the services.

The House Clerk, Nenelwa Mwihambi read the bill for the first time in Parliament, Dodoma before the House Speaker Dr Tulia Akson yesterday, who directed the bill to be taken to the respective committee for analysis and later to her office for the next legal stages.

The legislation further proposes processes for claiming a health insurance scheme payment and that gives powers to a court hearing proceedings of a claim to order the accused to pay the scheme the
amount claimed together with fines and other costs.

On the sustainability of the health insurance fund, the Bill proposes that a scheme should carry a sustainability analysis after every three years as directed by authorities and experts in evaluation.