What is Egypt’s Law No. 151?

The Egyptian Law No. 151, which entered into force in 2020, protects the digital interactions that occur daily. This is the first law on the protection of personal data (PII) in Egypt. In this way, the Egyptian government has modernized the way digital interactions take place in the country.

Egypt’s personal data protection law penalizes data sharing that takes place without the prior consent of the data owner, in order to protect data and privacy. In addition, it regulates the transfer of data abroad under the GDPR.

Does this law apply to you, and what are the penalties for breaking it? Read below.

Who does the law 151 apply to?

Law No. 151 applies to all data belonging to Egyptian nationals as well as foreign nationals residing in Egypt. The obligations created by the law apply to data controllers and processors who collect, store, exchange, transmit, analyze or process data in any way. Just like the CCPA and GDPR laws, not only companies headquartered in the place of the law, i.e., Egypt, are affected, but also foreign companies.

As mentioned above, the consent of the data owner is mandatory for the processing of personal data. But, Law 151 excludes several categories of personal data processing from its scope of application.

Exceptions:

The scope of application of Law 151 excludes personal data processed:

• for personal purposes
• for the national census
• for purposes of the Central Bank of Egypt
• for purposes of national security authorities
• used in criminal investigations

The Law No. 151 – Penalties for non-compliance and violation

Anyone who processes personal data without the consent of the owner of the personal data and thereby causes damage to the owner, is punished with a fine of 200,000-2. million Egyptian pounds (EGP) and a prison sentence of a minimum of 6 months. If no damage is caused during such processing, the fine is somewhat lower and amounts to 500,000-5 million EGP and a prison sentence of a minimum 3 months.

Actonic’s apps, Data Protection and Security Toolkit for Jira and Data Protection and Security Toolkit for Confluence make complying with the Law No. 151 significantly easier. If you want to see how Jira and Confluence apps can help you with compliance while saving you time and money, book a demo now.