For digital businesses, compliance with data protection and privacy laws is a fundamental legal obligation and a critical component of building customer trust. This evolving regulatory landscape includes major laws such as the European Union's GDPR, India's DPDP Act, and California's CCPA/CPRA. Non-compliance can result in severe financial penalties, damage to reputation, and loss of customer trust. 

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Enforced in May 2018, the GDPR is a comprehensive EU regulation that sets stringent standards for how organizations handle the personal data of EU residents, regardless of where the organization is based. 

Key principles:

• Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: Data processing must have a legal basis, such as user consent or contractual necessity.
• Purpose limitation: Data must be collected for a specific, explicit, and legitimate purpose, and not be used for incompatible reasons.
• Data minimization: Only collect the minimum amount of data needed for the specified purpose.
• Accuracy: Data must be accurate and kept up to date.
• Storage limitation: Personal data should not be stored longer than necessary.
• Integrity and confidentiality: Secure personal data against unauthorized or unlawful processing and accidental loss.
• Accountability: Organizations must be able to demonstrate compliance with the other six principles. 

Consequences of non-compliance:

• Tier 1 fines: Up to €10 million or 2% of a company's annual global turnover, whichever is higher.
• Tier 2 fines: Up to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is higher, for more severe violations involving core principles or individual rights. 

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act)

The DPDP Act is India's modern data privacy law, aligned with global standards like the GDPR, that governs the processing of digital personal data within the country. 

Key provisions:

• Lawful processing: Personal data must be processed lawfully and with the explicit consent of the data principal (the individual).
• Expanded data rights: Individuals have rights to access, correct, delete, and nominate a representative to exercise their rights.
• Stricter handling for children: Requires parental consent for processing children's data and bans behavioral monitoring and targeted advertising for minors.
• Extra-territorial applicability: Applies to foreign entities offering goods or services to residents in India.
• Data fiduciaries' duties: Requires entities to implement robust security safeguards, provide grievance redressal, and notify the Data Protection Board and affected individuals of data breaches.