The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on ‘Cloud Services’. The recommendations include:

1. Initiating a regulatory framework by setting up an industry body through a three-step process i.e. enrolment of CSPs (Cloud Service Providers) operating in India; formation of an ad hoc body to frame broad rules, organizational structure, election procedure, etc.; and the election of office bearers to take over functioning of the industry body.

2. Scope of Cloud Service Providers, initially, to be limited to cloud service providers of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) who are providing services in India.

The press release can be accessed at – https://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/PR_No.70of2020.pdf and the recommendations at – https://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Recommendations_CS_14092020_0.pdf.

The NITI Aayog has released a draft of the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) for comments. DEPA seeks to provide a foundation for orchestrating a paradigm shift to empower individuals with their data through three key building blocks: enabling regulations, cutting edge technology standards, and new types of public and private organisations with incentives closely aligned to those of individuals. The architecture is designed as an evolvable and agile framework for good data governance, given the rapid pace of change in this arena.

The deadline for submission of comments is November 30, 2020.

The draft can be accessed at – http://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2020-09/DEPA-Book_0.pdf.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India has released the States’ Startup Ranking, 2019. The ranking exercise was launched in 2018 as the first of its kind initiative, across the world, with the objective of facilitating states to identify, learn and replicate good practices while fostering healthy competition and highlighting detailed policy interventions undertaken to embrace their states’ startup ecosystem.

The State of ‘Gujarat’ and Union Territory of ‘Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ featured in the category of Best Performers in this year’s results.

The results can be accessed at – https://www.startupindia.gov.in/srf/result.html.

The Central Government has declared the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and e-Kuber (Core Banking Solution) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with their associated infrastructure dependencies installed at the Reserve Bank of India as ‘protected systems’ under Section 70 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The effect of this declaration is that only specific personnel authorized by the RBI will be permitted to access these systems. Any person who unauthorizedly secures access or attempts to secure access to a protected system would be liable for penal actions under the statute.

The Gazette notification can be accessed at – http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2020/221588.pdf.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has unveiled the Universal Self-Regulation Code for OCCPs (Online Curated Content Providers) with the aim of empowering consumers with information and tools to assist them in making informed choices with regard to viewing decisions. The Code has been adopted by 15 leading OCCPs in India including Netflix, Disney Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, etc.

The Code includes a framework for age classification and content descriptions for titles as well as access control tools. It also introduces a clear, transparent and structured grievance redressal and escalation mechanism for reporting non-compliance with the prescribed guidelines. As part of this mechanism, each OCCP will set-up a Consumer Complaints Department and/or an internal committee as well as advisory panel which will deal with complaints, appeals and escalations.

The official press release by IAMAI can be accessed at – https://cms.iamai.in/Content/MediaFiles/dcc7639e-9917-4f8f-8ffa-d0e61bd3dc36.pdf.