PARLIAMENT

Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Speaker of Parliament endorsed the certificate on a trio of Bills on the 19th of March which was taken up for debate and passed in Parliament.

The Personal Data Protection, the Workmen's Compensation (Amendment) and the Land Development (Amendment) Bills were incorporated into the legal system of the country as Acts.

Accordingly, these Acts come into force today (19) as the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022, the Workers' Compensation (Amendment) Act No. 10 of 2022 and the Land Development (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2022.

The Personal Data Protection Act is intended to regulate the processing of Personal Data and to identify and strengthen the Rights of Data Subjects in relation to the protection of Personal Data. It also provides for the designation of the Data Protection Authority and to provide for matters connected therewith.

The Workers 'Compensation (Amendment) Act No. 10 of 2022 amended the Workers' Compensation Ordinance No. 19 of 1934, last amended in the year 2005. It increased the maximum amount of compensation that can be paid in the event of death or total disability to employees who are victims of accidents while on the job from Rs. 550,000 to Rs. 2,000,000 (2 million).

Furthermore, a number of important amendments have been made through this, including the provisions which only facilitated compensation for on-the-job situations to now be widely interpreted to also facilitate situations during the arrival and departure from work.

The Land Development Ordinance No. 11 of 2022 was amended to replace the word "Land Commissioner" with the word " Commissioner-General of Lands", to appoint additional Land Commissioners, Deputy Land Commissioners, Assistant Land Commissioners and other officers and to enable the owner of the holding to mortgage the holding without the approval of the Divisional Secretary. It includes a number of amendments that are not required, including a ban on the issuance of grants for unaccounted lands.