New law to protect personal data in Egypt, fine reaches LE1m

CAIRO – 31 August 2019: A new law that is currently being submitted by the government seeks to protect personal information, giving citizens more authority over their own data.

The new law forbids collecting, processing or disclosing personal information without the consent of their owner.

The law also gives citizens the right to see, reach and get their personal information that are being held by a certain individual, company or processor, in addition to the right to annul any prior agreements to possess or process personal information.

Violators to this law will be fined “at least LE100,000” and a maximum of a million pounds.

Chairman of the Law and Legislation Committee of the Ministry of Communications Mohamad Hegazy has said in press remarks that the law aims to protect citizen data and privacy.

This is also essential in supporting investments, thereby improving Egypt’s international indicators within this regard.

MP Ahmed Refaat, member of the Communications Committee of the House of Representatives, said the law will eliminate the idea of leaking data and punishes perpetrators with deterrent penalties.

He said the telecommunication companies objected to imposing an imprisonment penalty on companies in the case of leakage of customer data by means of a technical error unintentionally, pointing out that the Committee will amend this article to be a fine penalty for the leaking of data by mistake, and imprisonment in case of deliberate leakage.

The bill consists of 49 articles to ensure legal and technical protection of personal data on the Internet, according to the Communications Committee.