Ethiopia’s first personal data protection bill has received the Council of Ministers’ approval for parliamentary ratification.
The bill was among the three draft proclamations tabled for discussion at the 25th regular session of the Council of Ministers on Friday. In a statement today, the PM Office says building a legal framework consistent with international personal data protection standards will have a multitude of benefits. The legislation, it says, would help promote a culture of safeguarding individuals’ privacy and personal data administration.
Ethiopia has approved its first comprehensive proclamation to regulate the development and domestication of information technology products. Members of parliament ratified the bill, titled “Information Technology Products Security Clearance and Control Proclamation”, on Thursday. The motion to ratify the bill was presented to the parliament by the chairperson of the Technology Affairs Standing Committee Negeri Lencho.
The MP says the nation can’t isolate itself from the rest of the world in the development and adoption of information technology products. This, however, needs to have the legal framework to prevent and reduce potential risks of tech products on the well-being of citizens and national security, the chair argues.
Visa has reinforced its commitment to expanding digital payments in Ethiopia by announcing two new initiatives to help advance fintech innovation and support women-led small and medium businesses (SMBs). During a visit by the Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Andrew Torre to Ethiopia, Visa unveiled plans to hold a second edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) fintech competition and launch its She’s Next women’s empowerment initiative.
Through VEI, Visa will invite fintech start-ups in Ethiopia to share innovations to solve the payment challenges of tomorrow. In 2021, ArifPay, Ethiopia’s first point-of-sale payments systems operator won the first VEI Ethiopia challenge. Since 2015, VEI has helped start-ups from over 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding.