What is Data Principal / Data Subject?
A Data Principal (under India's DPDPA) or Data Subject (under the GDPR) is the individual whose personal data is being collected, processed, or stored by an organization.
The term Data Principal is used by India's DPDPA to refer to the individual to whom the personal data relates. This is equivalent to the GDPR's "data subject," the CCPA's "consumer," and POPIA's "data subject." In all cases, the term refers to the natural person whose personal data is being processed and who is granted specific rights under the respective data protection law.
Under the DPDPA, Data Principals have the right to information about their data processing, the right to correction and erasure, the right to grievance redressal, and the right to nominate another person to exercise their rights. The DPDPA also imposes certain duties on Data Principals, including not registering false or frivolous complaints and not providing false information when exercising rights, which is a unique feature not found in most other privacy laws.
IQWorks supports Data Principal and data subject rights management across all applicable regulations through SearchIQ for individual data lookups, DiscoverIQ for comprehensive data mapping, ConsentIQ for managing consent preferences, and ComplyIQ for coordinating rights request fulfillment across jurisdictions.
Relevant Regulations
How IQWorks Helps
Related Terms
Data Subject
A data subject is an identified or identifiable natural person whose personal data is being collected, held, or processed by an organization.
Data Fiduciary
A Data Fiduciary under India's DPDPA is any person or entity that alone or in conjunction with others determines the purpose and means of processing digital personal data, analogous to a data controller under the GDPR.
DPDPA (Digital Personal Data Protection Act)
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act is India's comprehensive data privacy law enacted in 2023, governing the processing of digital personal data with an emphasis on consent, data fiduciary obligations, and the rights of data principals.
Data Subject Rights (DSR)
Data Subject Rights are the legal rights granted to individuals under data protection laws, enabling them to control how their personal data is collected, used, stored, and shared by organizations.