Digital Code, Title III, cross-border transfer of personal data

Article 201 requires personal data to be stored or hosted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and permits transfer to a digital embassy, a host in a third State, or an international organisation only where the Data Protection Authority finds that the destination offers a level of protection equivalent and sufficient to Titre III's own, assessed against the rule of law and human rights, the general and sector legislation and the remedies available there, the existence of independent supervisory authorities, and the destination's international commitments on data protection; a controller must obtain the Authority's prior authorisation before any actual transfer, and every transfer remains subject to the Authority's regular control.

Article 202 lets a controller transfer personal data to a destination that does not meet that adequacy standard only where the data subject has given informed, explicit consent to the transfer, the transfer is necessary to perform or negotiate a contract with the data subject or in the data subject's interest, an important public interest or a legal claim requires it, the data subject's or another person's vital interests require it and the data subject cannot consent, or the transfer originates from a public register open to legitimate consultation, and it bars public authorities from relying on the first three of those grounds when they exercise their own public powers.

The same article lets the Council of Ministers, on the Authority's conforming opinion, authorise a transfer or a set of transfers to a destination that offers adequate and sufficient protection where the controller offers sufficient guarantees for privacy and fundamental rights, and it keeps the complete register of criminal convictions under the Authority's control and its custodians under professional secrecy.

Article 390 enters the ordinance-law into force on the date of its own promulgation, and it was signed at Kinshasa on 13 March 2023 by President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo.