KenyaData Protection Act, 2019, sensitive personal data
Data Protection Act, 2019 (No. 24 of 2019), Part V (ss. 44-47)
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not process biometric, genetic, health or other sensitive personal data unless a specific ground under section 45 applies, in addition to the Act's general lawful-basis requirement.
- Do not process health data unless you are a health-care provider or a person bound by professional secrecy.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Office of the Data Protection Commissioner of Kenya (guidance, recorded ); Republic v Tools for Humanity Corporation (US) & 9 others; Katiba Institute & 4 others (Ex parte Applicants) (Judicial Review Application E119 of 2023) [2025] KEHC 5629 (KLR), High Court of Kenya (Judicial Review), judgment of (recorded ).
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- CT.PO-P1Policies, processes, and procedures for authorizing data processing (e.g., organizational decisions, individual consent), revoking authorizations, and maintaining authorizations are established and in place.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Case link
- https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/kehc/2025/5629/eng@2025-05-05
- Guidance link
- https://www.odpc.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ODPC-–-Guidance-Note-on-Biometric-Data.pdf
- Case citation
- Republic v Tools for Humanity Corporation (US) & 9 others; Katiba Institute & 4 others (Ex parte Applicants) (Judicial Review Application E119 of 2023) [2025] KEHC 5629 (KLR), High Court of Kenya (Judicial Review), judgment of
- Guidance body
- Office of the Data Protection Commissioner of Kenya
- Open questions
- Is consent under section 30 a ground on which biometric data may be processed under section 45 of the Data Protection Act, 2019, as the Biometric Data guidance note says ("Consent is one of the lawful bases provided for in section 30 of the Act"), when section 45 lists the grounds on which sensitive personal data "may be processed" and names no consent of the data subject to the processing itself?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Part V (sections 44 to 47) restricts the grounds on which sensitive personal data and health data may be processed and lets the Data Commissioner prescribe further categories and grounds. It states no duty to keep, create or produce a log or record.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Sensitive personal data, defined to include biometric data, genetic data, health status and several other categories, may only be processed on a specific permitted ground: legitimate not-for-profit activity with appropriate safeguards, data manifestly made public by the data subject, or necessity for a legal claim or to protect vital interests. Health data may only be processed by or under a health-care provider or a person bound by professional secrecy.
The Data Commissioner may prescribe further categories of sensitive personal data and the grounds on which they may be processed.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app processes biometric data or processes personal data.
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Page updated .