§ 6-48.1-7. Controller and processor responsibilities. [Effective January 1, 2026.]
(a) This section shall apply to for-profit entities that conduct business in the state or for-profit entities that produce products or services that are targeted to residents of the state and that during the preceding calendar year did any of the following:
(1) Controlled or processed the personal data of not less than thirty-five thousand (35,000) customers, excluding personal data controlled or processed solely for the purpose of completing a payment transaction.
(2) Controlled or processed the personal data of not less than ten thousand (10,000) customers and derived more than twenty percent (20%) of their gross revenue from the sale of personal data.
(b) A processor shall adhere to the instructions of a controller and shall assist the controller in meeting the controller’s obligations of this chapter.
(c) A contract between a controller and a processor shall govern the processor’s data processing procedures with respect to processing performed on behalf of the controller. The contract shall be binding and clearly set forth instructions for processing data; the nature and purpose of processing; the type of data subject to processing; the duration of processing; and the rights and obligations of both parties. The contract shall also require that the processor:
(1) Ensure that each person processing personal data is subject to a duty of confidentiality with respect to the data;
(2) At the controller’s direction, delete or return all personal data to the controller as requested at the end of the provision of services, unless retention of the personal data is required by law;
(3) Upon the reasonable request of the controller, make available to the controller all information in its possession necessary to demonstrate the processor’s compliance with the obligations of this chapter;
(4) After providing the controller an opportunity to object, engage any subcontractor pursuant to a written contract that requires the subcontractor to meet the obligations of the processor with respect to the personal data; and
(5) Allow, and cooperate with, reasonable assessments by the controller or the controller’s designated assessor, or the processor may arrange for a qualified and independent assessor to assess the processor’s policies and technical and organizational measures in support of the obligations of this chapter, using an appropriate and accepted control standard of framework and assessment procedure for such assessments. The processor shall provide a report of such assessment to the controller upon request.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve a controller or processor from the liabilities imposed on the controller or processor by virtue of such controller’s or processor’s role in the processing relationship. If a processor begins, alone or jointly with others, determining the purposes and means of the processing of personal data, the processor is a controller with respect to such processing and may be subject to an enforcement action under § 6-48.1-8.
(e) A controller shall conduct and document a data protection assessment for each of the controller’s processing activities that presents a heightened risk of harm to a customer. For the purposes of this section, processing that presents a heightened risk of harm to a customer includes:
(1) The processing of personal data for the purposes of targeted advertising;
(2) The sale of personal data;
(3) The processing of personal data for the purposes of profiling, where such profiling presents a reasonably foreseeable risk of unfair or deceptive treatment of, or unlawful disparate impact on, customers, financial, physical or reputational injury to customers, a physical or other intrusion upon the solitude or seclusion, or the private affairs or concerns, of customers, where such intrusion would be offensive to a reasonable person, or other substantial injury to customers; and
(4) The processing of sensitive data.
(f) The attorney general may require a controller to disclose any data protection assessment that is relevant to an investigation conducted by the attorney general, and the controller shall make the data protection assessment available. The attorney general may evaluate the data protection assessment for compliance with responsibilities of this chapter. Data protection assessments shall be confidential and shall be exempt from disclosure pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38 (“access to public records”). To the extent any information contained in a data protection assessment disclosed to the attorney general includes information subject to attorney-client privilege or work product protection, such disclosure shall not constitute a waiver of such privilege or protection.
(g) A single data protection assessment may address a comparable set of processing operations that include similar activities.
(h) If a controller conducts a data protection assessment for the purpose of complying with another applicable law or regulation, the data protection assessment shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements established in this section if such data protection assessment is reasonably similar in scope and effect to the data protection assessment that would otherwise be conducted pursuant to this section.
(i) Data protection assessment requirements shall apply to processing activities created or generated after January 1, 2026, and are not retroactive.
(j) Any controller in possession of de-identified data shall:
(1) Take reasonable measures to ensure that the data cannot be associated with an individual;
(2) Publicly commit to maintaining and using de-identified data without attempting to re-identify the data; and
(3) Contractually obligate any recipients of the de-identified data to comply with all provisions of this chapter.
(k) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to:
(1) Require a controller or processor to re-identify de-identified data or pseudonymous data; or
(2) Maintain data in identifiable form, or collect, obtain, retain, or access any data or technology, in order to be capable of associating an authenticated customer request with personal data.
(l) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require a controller or processor to comply with an authenticated customer rights request if the controller:
(1) Is not reasonably capable of associating the request with the personal data or it would be unreasonably burdensome for the controller to associate the request with the personal data;
(2) Does not use the personal data to recognize or respond to the specific customer who is the subject of the personal data, or associate the personal data with the other personal data about the same specific customer; and
(3) Does not sell the personal data to any third party or otherwise voluntarily disclose the personal data to any third party other than a processor, except as otherwise permitted in this section.
(m) The rights afforded under this section, and inclusive of § 6-48.1-5(f), shall not apply to pseudonymous data in cases where the controller is able to demonstrate that any information necessary to identify the customer is kept separately and is subject to effective technical and organizational controls that prevent the controller from accessing such information.
(n) A controller who or that discloses pseudonymous data or de-identified data shall exercise reasonable oversight to monitor compliance with any contractual commitments to which the pseudonymous data or de-identified data is subject and shall take appropriate steps to address any breaches of those contractual commitments.
(o) This chapter shall not be construed to restrict a controller’s or processor’s ability to:
(1) Comply with federal, state, or municipal ordinances or regulations;
(2) Comply with a civil, criminal, or regulatory inquiry, investigation, subpoena, or summons by federal, state, municipal, or other governmental authorities;
(3) Cooperate with law enforcement agencies concerning conduct or activity that the controller or processor reasonably and in good faith believes may violate federal, state, or municipal ordinances or regulations;
(4) Investigate, establish, exercise, prepare for, or defend legal claims;
(5) Provide a product or service specifically requested by a customer;
(6) Perform under a contract to which a customer is a party, including fulfilling the terms of a written warranty;
(7) Take steps at the request of a customer prior to entering into a contract;
(8) Take immediate steps to protect an interest that is essential for the life or physical safety of the customer or another individual, and where the processing cannot be manifestly based on another legal basis;
(9) Prevent, detect, protect against, or respond to security incidents, identity theft, fraud, harassment, malicious or deceptive activities or any illegal activity, preserve the integrity or security of systems or investigate, report, or prosecute those responsible for any such action;
(10) Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws and is approved, monitored, and governed by an institutional review board that determines, or similar independent oversight entities that determine, whether the deletion of the information is likely to provide substantial benefits that do not exclusively accrue to the controller, the expected benefits of the research outweigh the privacy risks, and whether the controller has implemented reasonable safeguards to mitigate privacy risks associated with research, including any risks associated with re-identification;
(11) Assist another controller, processor, or third party with any of the obligations of this chapter; or
(12) Process personal data for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, community health, or population health, but solely to the extent that such processing is:
(i) Subject to suitable and specific measures to safeguard the rights of the customer whose personal data is being processed, and
(ii) Under the responsibility of a professional subject to confidentiality obligations under federal, state, or local law.
(p) The obligations imposed on controllers or processors shall not restrict a controller’s or processor’s ability to collect, use, or retain data for internal use to:
(1) Conduct internal research to develop, improve, or repair products, services, or technology;
(2) Effectuate a product recall;
(3) Identify and repair technical errors that impair existing or intended functionality; or
(4) Perform internal operations that are reasonably aligned with the expectations of the customer or reasonably anticipated based on the customer’s existing relationship with the controller, or are otherwise compatible with processing data in furtherance of the provision of a product or service specifically requested by a customer or the performance of a contract to which the customer is a party.
(q) A controller or processor who or that discloses personal data to a processor or third-party controller shall not be deemed to have violated this chapter if the processor or third-party controller who or that receives and processes such personal data violates said sections; provided at the time the disclosing controller or processor disclosed such personal data, the disclosing controller or processor did not have actual knowledge that the receiving processor or third-party controller would violate said sections. A third-party controller or processor receiving personal data from a controller or processor in compliance with this chapter is likewise not in violation of said sections for the transgressions of the controller or processor from which such third-party controller or processor receives such personal data.
(r) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to:
(1) Impose any obligation on a controller or processor that adversely affects the rights or freedoms of any person, including, but not limited to, the rights of any person to freedom of speech or freedom of the press guaranteed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; or
(2) Apply to any person’s processing of personal data in the course of such person’s purely personal or household activities.
(s) Personal data processed by a controller pursuant to this section may be processed to the extent that such processing is reasonably necessary in relation to the purposes for which such data is processed, as disclosed to the consumer and proportionate to the purposes in this section; and adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the specific purposes listed in this section. Personal data collected, used, or retained shall, where applicable, consider the nature and purpose or purposes of such collection, use, or retention. Such data shall be subject to reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of the personal data and to reduce reasonably foreseeable risks of harm to customers relating to such collection, use, or retention of personal data.
(t) If a controller processes personal data pursuant to an exemption in this section, the controller bears the burden of demonstrating that such processing qualifies for the exemption.
(u) Processing personal data for the purposes expressly identified in this section shall not solely make a legal entity a controller with respect to such processing.
(v) If a customer opts out of data collection, the covered entity is not required to provide a service that requires this data collection.
History of Section.
P.L. 2024, ch. 430, § 2, effective January 1, 2026; P.L. 2024, ch. 453, § 2, effective
January 1, 2026.