Legal Chronicle

Definition of BRD in the compliance context

• Business Requirement Document (BRD) serves as a foundational document that outlines how an organization intends to collect, store, process and manage personal data in alignment with statutory requirements. It acts as a bridge between legal obligations and business operations, ensuring that data protection principles such as consent, purpose limitation, data minimization and lawful processing are embedded into the organization’s processes and systems from the outset. The BRD thus becomes an essential compliance tool, guiding business teams, IT departments and legal/compliance units in implementing data protection by design and by default.

Key Elements of BRD

• The BRD under the DPDP Act should comprehensively outline the key compliance elements necessary for lawful processing of personal data. It should begin by identifying the categories of personal data to be collected, such as name, contact details, financial information or sensitive personal data.
• The BRD must clearly specify the purpose of collection to ensure adherence to the principle of purpose limitation and avoid unauthorized use. It should also detail the consent mechanism, including how valid and informed consent from data principles will be obtained, recorded and managed.
• Further, the document must describe the data processing activities, covering storage, transfer, sharing with third parties and the eventual deletion of data.
• To safeguard confidentiality and integrity, the BRD should set out appropriate technical and organizational security measures such as encryption, access controls and audit trails. Additionally, it must define policies on data retention and deletion, ensuring that personal data is retained only for as long as necessary and securely disposed of thereafter.
• Finally, the BRD should clearly allocate roles and responsibilities among the data fiduciary, data processors and compliance officers, thereby establishing accountability and enabling effective implementation of the DPDP Act.

Scope of Data Processing

• The categories of personal data collected typically include basic identifiers such as name and email address, along with sensitive data such as financial details, biometric information and other relevant records, depending on the nature of the business. Such data is collected for specific purposes, including customer service, marketing initiatives, human resources management and regulatory compliance. Once collected, the data may be subject to various processing activities, such as secure storage, transfer to third parties or affiliates for legitimate business needs and profiling for service enhancement, provided that these activities remain within the scope of consent and the lawful purposes disclosed to the Data Principal.

Stakeholders

• Within the framework of the DPDP Act, the primary responsibility lies with the Data Fiduciary, which is the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing personal data. Supporting this role are Data Processors, who are third-party entities engaged to process data on behalf of the Data Fiduciary, subject to contractual and legal safeguards. In cases where an organization qualifies as a Significant Data Fiduciary, the appointment of a Data Protection Officer (DPO) becomes mandatory to oversee compliance and act as a point of contact for grievance redressal. Alongside these roles, internal stakeholders such as business teams, IT departments and legal or compliance units play a crucial part in implementing data protection measures, ensuring that the organization’s processing activities remain aligned with statutory obligations.