What Is Data Protection Act, Law No. 005 of 2023?
Somalia’s Data Protection Act, Law No. 005 of 2023, is supported by an official Ministry text and current Data Protection Authority guidance. The DPA guidance states enactment and effect on 23 March 2023, while another DPA public page records presidential signing on 20 March 2023. In January 2026 the Council of Ministers approved the implementing regulations, and in May 2026 the Ministry and DPA launched controller and processor registration. The DPA publishes data-subject rights, a one-month statement for access and portability, complaint channels, and a complaint form. The supplied research did not locate a Somalia-specific data-broker or public-record route. This is a bounded evidence profile based on the supplied Ministry and DPA sources. The two date references are reported as located rather than reconciled into a more specific commencement claim.
At a glance
- Full name
- Data Protection Act, Law No. 005 of 2023
- Short code
- Somalia Data Protection Act 2023
- Jurisdiction
- Somalia
- Enacted
- 2023
- Last major update
- DPA guidance states enactment and effect on 23 March 2023; Council of Ministers approved the implementing regulations in January 2026 and controller/processor registration launched in May 2026
- Regulator
- Data Protection Authority (DPA)
- Private right of action
- Limited
- Statutory citation
- Data Protection Act, Law No. 005 of 2023
Scope, who Somalia Data Protection Act 2023 covers
Protected data
Data subject rights
Data-subject rights published in current DPA guidance
Right of access, with the DPA guidance stating a one-month period
Right to data portability, with the DPA guidance stating a one-month period
Right to use the DPA complaint channels and complaint form located in the supplied sources
Notable features
The DPA guidance states enactment and effect on 23 March 2023, while another DPA public page records presidential signing on 20 March 2023. The supplied sources also provide a one-month access and portability statement and a complaint form; the date references are not reconciled here beyond reporting both.
Enforcement & penalties
Regulator: Data Protection Authority (DPA)
Penalties: The supplied summary and sources did not provide a consolidated penalty schedule; no penalty amount or timeline is stated here.
Private right of action: The supplied research located DPA complaint channels and a complaint form but did not establish a separate private damages action or other standalone private right of action. This is an evidence limitation, not a definitive statement about every possible remedy.
Relevance to data brokers
No Somalia-specific data-broker, people-search, public-record suppression, or broker-removal route was located. The general rights and DPA complaint channels should not be presented as a guaranteed broker-specific deletion process.
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FAQ
What current implementation steps were located for Somalia’s Data Protection Act?+
The Council of Ministers approved implementing regulations in January 2026, and controller/processor registration launched in May 2026. The DPA guidance states enactment and effect on 23 March 2023, while another DPA page records presidential signing on 20 March 2023.
How long does Somalia’s DPA guidance allow for access and portability?+
The supplied DPA guidance states a one-month period for access and portability.
Is there a Somalia-specific data-broker removal route?+
No Somalia-specific data-broker or public-record route was located in the supplied research. The DPA complaint channels and form should not be treated as a guaranteed broker-specific deletion process.
Official sources & citations
- Somalia Ministry of Communications and Technology: Data Protection Act (official text)
- Somalia Data Protection Authority: DPA Guidance
- Somalia Data Protection Authority: information for the public
- Somalia Data Protection Authority: guidance
- Somalia Data Protection Authority: data-subject complaint form
- Somalia Data Protection Authority: regulations news
- Somalia Ministry of Communications and Technology: controller and processor registration launch
Other international privacy regimes
Somalia Data Protection Act 2023 sits in a global ecosystem of data-protection laws. Start with these comparative frameworks, or visit the privacy research hub for the complete jurisdiction index: