These institutions, the Commission noted, refused to register with the Commission after a 14-day ultimatum was issued them.

The Executive Director of the DPC, Patricia Adusei-Poku, made this known to the media after presenting the list of defaulting institutions

 to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa in a closed door meeting in Accra, on March 30, 2022.

"We have began legal proceedings to retrieve the money, including penalties, from the defaulting institutions,. said Patricia Adusei-Poku.

Institutions that collected and processed personal data are mandated by Section 56 of the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to register with the commission" she noted.

Since Ghana's digital transformation agenda kicked off, the Commission has been very keen on making public the mandates under the Act for both Data Controllers and Data subjects.

Entering the enforcement phase of compliance with the Act, the DPC issued notices from the beginning of the year to various companies cautioning them to register with the commission or risk facing the law.

Ms Adusei-Poku said that having exhausted the amnesty period given them, companies that remained adamant would have to face the law.

 "While some came, others remained adamant to the caution. Therefore, we have compiled a list of those who have failed to register with the commission.

We have about 800,000 institutions on our list, out of which only 251, representing 2.5 per cent, have received their 14-day notices,” she she said.

“”So we are going to issue letters to all 251 defaulting institutions and give their key decision makers a chance to respond to the charges against them, after which we will publish the list in the newspapers,. she added.

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) is a statutory body established under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by regulating the processing of personal data, choices of technologies and integrity of people with access to personal data.

The Commission provides for the process to obtain, hold, use, or disclose personal information and for other related issues bordering on the protection of personal data.