The US may soon have a comprehensive, federal data protection law. If enacted, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) it would override most state laws governing privacy by invalidating any similar provisions in those laws.
The ADPPA aims to create a comprehensive federal consumer protection law. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved the ADPPA on 20 July 2022 and the Bill will be sent to the full US House of Representatives for a vote. If the Bill is passed, this law will govern how companies across America treat consumer data.
What is the American Data Privacy and Protection Act?
The purpose of ADPPA is to:
- provide consumers with foundational data privacy rights,
- create strong oversight mechanisms, and
- establish meaningful enforcement
ADPPA commencement date
The American government has not yet announced a commencement date for the ADPPA yet. The 2022 midterm elections may cause some delays to the voting process. If the Bill is passed by a full House, then it would go to the Senate, and if passed, the U.S. could have a Federal data privacy law soon.
Who must comply with ADPPA?
Although ADPPA applies to a “covered entity”, there are three specific groups of entities who must comply with ADPPA:
- Data controllers. These are the covered entities that decide on the purpose and means of processing the personal information of U.S. residents;
- Service providers. These include data processors that process personal information on the behalf of data controllers; and
- Large data holders. This group has an annual gross revenue of $250 million or more and
- It processes data for five million persons (or devices); and
- the sensitive personal information is greater than 200,000 persons or devices.
Government agencies are exempt from complying with ADPPA.
The relationship between ADPPA and other data protection regulations
This will be America’s first federal data protection law. If passed, it will overlap with other existing data protection laws already in the US.
Find out more
For detailed information about the ADPPA and to track the Bill’s progress through Congress you can visit the Congress’ website.