Section 16 IT Act: Security procedures and practices

Section 16 IT Act empowers the Central Government to prescribe security procedures and practices for the purposes of Section 14 IT Act and Section 15 IT Act. Notice the word "may": Section 16 IT Act gives the Central Government an enabling power to lay down those procedures and practices. Section 14 IT Act deems an electronic record to be a secure electronic record from the specific point of time a security procedure is applied until verification, while Section 15 IT Act sets the conditions under which an electronic signature is deemed a secure electronic signature.

The proviso to Section 16 IT Act sets a limit that guides how this power must be exercised. When prescribing security procedures and practices, the Central Government must have regard to three things: the commercial circumstances, the nature of transactions, and such other related factors as the Central Government may consider appropriate.

Sections 15 and 16 IT Act were substituted by section 11 of Act 10 of 2009 with effect from 27 October 2009. Section 16 IT Act sits at the end of Chapter V of the Act, between Section 15 IT Act on secure electronic signatures and Section 17 IT Act on the appointment of the Controller and other officers.