Personal Data Protection Act, Data Protection Authority and penalties

Personal Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022, as amended by Act No. 22 of 2025, ss.35, 38

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In force since 18 March 2025.

An enforcement supervision rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 29 August 2026.

What it requires

An app processing the personal data of a person in Sri Lanka, including a biometric identifier, answers to the Data Protection Authority, which may investigate on complaint or its own initiative and direct corrective action, cessation of non-compliant processing, or compensation to an aggrieved person; Sri Lanka gives a data subject no standalone civil right of action of their own, only this regulator-administered compensation route.

If you get it wrong

Private right of actionNo

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

The Data Protection Authority (Part V, operative since July 2023, with the Chairman and Board appointed October 2023) is a body corporate that may sue and be sued. Under section 35, on complaint or its own initiative, the Authority may investigate a controller or processor and, after a hearing, direct it to cease non-compliant processing, take corrective action, or pay compensation to an aggrieved person who has suffered harm, loss, or damage.

Failure to comply with a directive triggers a monetary penalty under section 38 of up to Rs 10,000,000 per non-compliance, doubling for each subsequent one, collected by the Authority (net of any compensation payable) and credited to the Consolidated Fund; unpaid penalties are recoverable via the Magistrate Court of Colombo.

No standalone civil right of action was found; the Authority's directive-and-compensation mechanism under section 35(2)(c) is the only individual remedy, and it is regulator-administered rather than a court claim the data subject brings directly. Sections 35 and 38 themselves entered into force 18 March 2025, alongside the rest of Parts I-III and VII.

When LexLint raises it

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Read the law

official statute text, Parliament of Sri Lanka

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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