The Personal Information Protection Act 2004 controls use, maintenance, collection and revelation of personal information by organizations and individuals, which are defined in the law as personal information custodians. Personal information is opinion or explanation in any recorded format including sound recordings, video recordings and photograph of the individual that demonstrates exact identity of an individual. However, the personal information does not include details which are included in publicly available publication or record.

Information like an individual’s name or address is also considered as personal information. In some cases, a person may be identified in the format other than his own name. An email address can be treated as personal information, depending on its structure. That’s the reason why it is very important to consider context while determining the personal information of an individual. Information that doesn’t demonstrate identity of a person is not covered under the provisions present in the Act.

The personal information custodian definition consists of non-government organization which has contract with custodians with respect to the storage or use of personal information. The personal information custodians includes -

- A minister

- A Body, members of which are appointed by Governor or minister

- Statutory office holder or statutory board

- GBE Covered under the Act of Government Business Enterprise

- A body whose members assigned by the a minister or Government

- An agency defined under the State Service Act 2000

The Personal Information Protection Act 2004 makes sure that handling and responsible collection of personal information takes place. It also explains that a person must be aware about the objective for which the personal information has been collected.

If the provision made under the Act is inconsistent with the provision done under some other Act, then the provision of the PIP Act subsides. In such cases, the provisions of Local Government Act 1993 with respect to confidentiality must be considered.

The Act doesn’t cover collection of personal information such as-

The Personal Information Protection Act 2004 also makes provision relating to the compilation, storage and use of sensitive information such as health information.