Law No. 151 of 2020

The right to privacy or the right to protect each individuals' private life is one of the most basic rights for preserving human dignity, as well being an indication of the civility and development of nations since it recognizes the material and moral advantages of such protection. Since the right to privacy is often hidden within other rights and freedoms, most societies are keen to consider this right both independent and self-contained.

The critical study of Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020 is the first technical publication from the Center for Law and Emerging Technologies "CLETs" within the faculty of Law of the British University in Egypt what was prepared under the supervision of Dr. Hassan Abdel-Hamid, Dean of the Faculty of Law, with the participation of a group of jurists, judges, lawyers, specialists in the information technology field, and others who are directly involved in the law. The guide is also issued in cooperation with the – Andersen Egypt.

Laid out in four main sections, preceded by an introduction that gives an overview of the law, the first section discusses the conceptual framework of the law, indicating the basic terms on which the law is structured, the second section refers to the rights of the person concerned with the data and the conditions of processing; while the third section refers to the obligations of the parties for data protection and processing (the controller and the processor). Finally, the fourth section focuses on the means of law enforcement.

Moreover, the law is a long-awaited step in restoring the right to privacy after experiencing a series of violations in recent times, particularly with the increased use of technology. Also, it is one of the complementary laws to the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, where the right to privacy has received particular importance and is considered as an absolute constitutional right.

Most importantly, a comparative study has been conducted between the law and the European Data Protection Regulation "GDPR", which was used as guidance when developing Egyptian legislation, given the long history of European legislators in this field, and the fact that the GDPR is considered the most important regulation introduced governing data privacy at the global level in the past 20 years.

Despite the legislative development the law achieved, there are shortcomings to be addressed in the executive regulations. With this in mind, certain amendments were made within the technical study to highlight the objective of this law.

Finally, this study, prepared by the Faculty of Law of the British University of Egypt, is of great value to both the general reader, and legal specialists, and we therefore invite you to read this study due to the importance of the law, and to acquire knowledge on the applicable penalties in case of violation. We also call upon the Egyptian legislator to address the shortcomings while preparing the executive regulations.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.