Promoting Data Protection Standards through Contracts: The Case of the Data Security Council of India

Data protection has emerged as a major corporate and government concern worldwide. The focus is on secure handling of data so as to ensure privacy of customer data and security of corporate data. Privacy and security laws in countries are not harmonized; compliance regulations are different too. As the global hub of outsourcing, India is faced with a challenge of demonstrating compliance with varying compliance regulations in countries. The Data Security Council of India (DSCI) considers the Best Practices Approach as a practical and realistic way to enhance adherence to data security and privacy standards, and to enable a service provider to demonstrate compliance. Getting these standards recognized through contracts can promote data protection. An industry association can act as a third party self‐regulatory organization to promote these standards and enforce them among its members through certification or privacy seals, thereby helping implement data protection in international data flows.