Consumer data protection signed into law in Virginia

(The Center Square) – Legislation to ensure consumers have greater control and privacy over their personal data was signed into law by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

Senate Bill 1392 and House Bill 2307, which garnered substantial bipartisan support, provide consumers with the right to access their data, delete their data, object to data processing and grant control over data recertification. The bills put more regulations on business and data processing agreements between businesses and third-party vendors. The new rules go into effect onJan. 1, 2023.

Businesses would need affirmative consent from consumers before processing sensitive data or any data that are not included in the privacy policy. They would be required to conduct data protection assessments when selling personal data, using the data for advertisement targeting, processing sensitive data, processing data that could present a heightened risk for consumers, or processing data for the purpose of profiling.

The legislation also requires businesses have written contracts with third-party vendors that include rules for the processing of data, the purpose of processing, the duration of processing and the type of data to be processed. It includes greater disclosure of information to promote transparency.

Virginia is the second state to establish legislation to this effect after California.

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