Section 1: Short title and commencement

Section 1 establishes the official name and commencement framework for India's primary personal data protection statute. It states that the law is officially called the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

The provision also gives the Central Government the authority to decide when the Act takes effect. Instead of the entire law becoming active at once, the Central Government can issue notifications in the Official Gazette setting different dates for different sections to come into force.

Because the law allows a phased rollout, any mention within a specific section about the "commencement of this Act" refers strictly to the exact date that specific provision becomes effective, rather than the date the law was passed or when other parts took effect.

Key points

• The official title of the law is the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 [(1)].
• The Act takes effect on the date or dates designated by the Central Government through an Official Gazette notification [(2)].
• The Central Government is authorized to appoint different enforcement dates for different provisions of the Act [(2)].
• Any statutory reference to the Act's commencement within a particular provision means the exact date that specific section comes into force [(2)].

Common misreadings

• The entire Act does not automatically come into force simultaneously; different provisions can take effect on different dates.
• A reference to the commencement of the Act does not mean the date the law was enacted, but rather the specific date the particular provision is brought into force.