EdLaw nat/us/state/mt/consumer-data-privacy/CONSUMER-DATA-PRIVACY.md

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Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act — MCA Title 30, ch. 14, part 28

Montana's comprehensive consumer-privacy act, enacted by Ch. 681, L. 2023 and substantially amended by Ch. 567, L. 2025 (the enacting and amending chapters each section's History credit names). It carries the familiar controller/processor structure — consumer rights of access, correction, deletion and portability with opt-outs from sale, targeted advertising and profiling; controller duties of minimisation, security and transparency; mandatory processor contract terms; and data protection assessments — enforced by the Attorney General alone.

Biometric data is sensitive data when processed for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual, and sensitive data may not be processed without consent. Montana's distinctive feature is that its three minors-facing sections — the duty of care owed to minors with its rebuttable presumption (30-14-2811), the responsibility-by-role and minors' processing rules (30-14-2818) and the data protection assessment for a heightened risk of harm to minors (30-14-2819) — are carved out of the volume thresholds by 30-14-2803(2) and bind any person who conducts business in Montana or targets commercial products or services at its residents, however few.

MCA §30-14-2801. Short title

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

This part may be cited as the "Consumer Data Privacy Act".

History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 681, L. 2023.

MCA §30-14-2802. Definitions

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

As used in this part, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Adult" means an individual who is 18 years of age or older.

(2) "Affiliate" means a legal entity that shares common branding with another legal entity or controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another legal entity.

(3) "Authenticate" means to use reasonable methods to determine that a request to exercise any of the rights afforded under 30-14-2808(1)(a) through (1)(e) is being made by, or on behalf of, the consumer who is entitled to exercise these consumer rights with respect to the personal data at issue.

(4)

(5) "Child" means an individual under 13 years of age.

(6)

(7)

(8) "Control" or "controlled" means:

(9) "Controller" means an individual who or legal entity that, alone or jointly with others, determines the purpose and means of processing personal data.

(10) "Dark pattern" means a user interface designed or manipulated with the effect of substantially subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice.

(11) "Decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning the consumer" means decisions made by the controller that result in the provision or denial by the controller of financial or lending services, housing, insurance, education enrollment or opportunity, criminal justice, employment opportunities, health care services, or access to necessities such as food and water.

(12) "De-identified data" means data that cannot be used to reasonably infer information about or otherwise be linked to an identified or identifiable individual or a device linked to the individual if the controller that possesses the data:

(13) "Heightened risk of harm to minors" means processing the personal data of a minor in a manner that presents a reasonably foreseeable risk that could cause:

(14) "Identified or identifiable individual" means an individual who can be readily identified, directly or indirectly.

(15) "Institution of higher education" means any individual who or school, board, association, limited liability company, or corporation that is licensed or accredited to offer one or more programs of higher learning leading to one or more degrees.

(16) "Minor" means a consumer who is under 18 years of age.

(17) "Nonprofit organization" means any organization that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6) or 501(c)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States as amended from time to time.

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21) "Process" or "processing" means any operation or set of operations performed, whether by manual or automated means, on personal data or on sets of personal data, such as the collection, use, storage, disclosure, analysis, deletion, or modification of personal data.

(22) "Processor" means an individual who or legal entity that processes personal data on behalf of a controller.

(23) "Profiling" means any form of automated processing performed on personal data to evaluate, analyze, or predict personal aspects related to an identified or identifiable individual's economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements.

(24) "Protected health information" has the same meaning as provided in the privacy regulations of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

(25) "Pseudonymous data" means personal data that cannot be attributed to a specific individual without the use of additional information, provided the additional information is kept separately and is subject to appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that the personal data is not attributed to an identified or identifiable individual.

(26) "Publicly available information" means information that:

(27)

(28) "Sensitive data" means personal data that includes:

(29)

(30) "Third party" means an individual or legal entity, such as a public authority, agency, or body, other than the consumer, controller, or processor or an affiliate of the controller or processor.

(31) "Trade secret" has the same meaning as provided in 30-14-402.

History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2803. Applicability

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) The provisions of this part, excluding 30-14-2811, 30-14-2818, and 30-14-2819, apply to persons that conduct business in this state or persons that produce products or services that are targeted to residents of this state and:

(2) Sections 30-14-2811, 30-14-2818, and 30-14-2819 apply to persons that conduct business in this state or deliver commercial products or services that are intentionally targeted to residents of this state.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2804. Exemptions

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) This part does not apply to any:

(2) Information and data exempt from this part include:

(3) Controllers and processors that comply with the verifiable parental consent requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, 15 U.S.C. 6501, et seq., shall be considered compliant with any obligation to obtain parental consent pursuant to this part.

History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2808. Consumer personal data -- opt-out -- compliance -- appeals

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A consumer must have the right to:

(2) A consumer may exercise rights under this section by a secure and reliable means established by the controller and described to the consumer in the controller's privacy notice.

(3)

(4) Except as otherwise provided in this part, a controller shall comply with a request by a consumer to exercise the consumer rights authorized pursuant to this section as follows:

(5) A controller shall establish a process for a consumer to appeal the controller's refusal to act on a request within a reasonable period after the consumer's receipt of the decision. The appeal process must be conspicuously available and like the process for submitting requests to initiate action pursuant to this section. Not later than 60 days after receipt of an appeal, a controller shall inform the consumer in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If the appeal is denied, the controller shall also provide the consumer with an online mechanism, if available, or other method through which the consumer may contact the attorney general to submit a complaint.

(6) In response to a consumer request under subsection (1)(a), a controller may not disclose the following information about a consumer but shall inform the consumer instead with sufficient particularity that the controller has collected this information:

History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2809. Authorized agent

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A consumer may designate another person to serve as the consumer's authorized agent and act on the consumer's behalf to opt out of the processing of the consumer's personal data for one or more of the purposes specified in 30-14-2808(1)(e). The consumer may designate an authorized agent by way of a technology, including but not limited to an internet link or a browser setting, browser extension, or global device setting indicating a customer's intent to opt out of such processing.

(2) A controller shall comply with an opt-out request received from an authorized agent if the controller is able to verify, with commercially reasonable effort, the identity of the consumer and the authorized agent's authority to act on the consumer's behalf.

(3) Opt-out methods must:

(4)

History: En. Sec. 6, Ch. 681, L. 2023.

MCA §30-14-2811. Duties of controllers -- duty of care -- rebuttable presumption

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1)

(2) Unless a controller has obtained consent in accordance with subsection (3), a controller that offers an online service, product, or feature to a consumer whom the controller actually knows or willfully disregards is a minor may not:

(3)

(4) Subsections (2)(a) and (2)(b) do not apply to a service or application that is used by and under the direction of an educational entity, including a learning management system or a student engagement program.

History: En. Sec. 9, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2812. Data processing by controller -- limitations

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A controller shall:

(2) A controller may not:

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) may be construed to require a controller to provide a product or service that requires the personal data of a consumer that the controller does not collect or maintain or prohibit a controller from offering a different price, rate, level, quality, or selection of goods or services to a consumer, including offering goods or services for no fee, if the consumer has exercised their right to opt out pursuant to this part or the offering is in connection with a consumer's voluntary participation in a bona fide loyalty, rewards, premium features, discounts, or club card program.

(4) If a controller sells personal data to third parties or processes personal data for targeted advertising, the controller shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the processing in its privacy notice and provide access to a clear and conspicuous method outside the privacy notice for a consumer to opt out of the sale or processing. This method may include but is not limited to an internet hyperlink clearly labeled "your opt-out rights" or "your privacy rights" that directly effectuates the opt-out request or takes consumers to a web page where the consumer can make the opt-out request.

(5) A controller shall provide consumers with a reasonably accessible, clear, and meaningful privacy notice that includes:

(6) The privacy notice must be made available to the public in each language in which the controller provides a product or service that is subject to the privacy notice or carries out activities related to the product or service.

(7) The controller shall provide the privacy notice in a manner that is reasonably accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

(8) Whenever a controller makes a material change to the controller's privacy notice or practices, the controller shall notify consumers affected by the material change with respect to any prospectively collected personal data and provide a reasonable opportunity for consumers to withdraw consent to any further materially different collection, processing, or transfer of previously collected personal data under the changed policy. The controller shall take all reasonable electronic measures to provide notification regarding material changes to affected consumers, taking into account available technology and the nature of the relationship.

(9) A controller is not required to provide a separate Montana-specific privacy notice or section of a privacy notice if the controller's general privacy notice contains all of the information required by this section.

(10) The privacy notice must be posted online through a conspicuous hyperlink using the word "privacy" on the controller's website homepage or on a mobile device's application store page or download page. A controller that maintains an application on a mobile device or other device shall also include a hyperlink to the privacy notice in the application's settings menu or in a similarly conspicuous and accessible location. A controller that does not operate a website shall make the privacy notice conspicuously available to consumers through a medium regularly used by the controller to interact with consumers, including but not limited to mail.

(11)

History: En. Sec. 7, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2813. Data processor -- allowances -- limitations

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A processor shall adhere to the instructions of a controller and shall assist the controller in meeting the controller's obligations under this part to include:

(2) A contract between a controller and a processor must govern the processor's data processing procedures with respect to processing performed on behalf of the controller. The contract must 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 must also require that the processor:

(3) Nothing in this section may be construed to relieve a controller or processor from the liabilities imposed on the controller or processor by virtue of the controller's or processor's role in the processing relationship, as described in this part.

(4) Determining whether a person is acting as a controller or processor with respect to a specific processing of data is a fact-based determination that depends on the following context in which personal data is to be processed:

History: En. Sec. 8, Ch. 681, L. 2023.

MCA §30-14-2814. Data protection assessment

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) 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 consumer. For the purposes of this section, processing that presents a heightened risk of harm to a consumer includes:

(2)

(3)

(4) A single data protection assessment may address a comparable set of processing operations that include similar activities.

(5) If a controller conducts a data protection assessment for the purpose of complying with another applicable law or regulation, the data protection assessment must be considered to satisfy the requirements established in this section if the data protection assessment is reasonably similar in scope and effect to the data protection assessment that would otherwise be conducted pursuant to this section.

(6) Data protection assessment requirements must apply to processing activities created or generated after January 1, 2025, and are not retroactive.

History: En. Sec. 9, Ch. 681, L. 2023.

MCA §30-14-2815. De-identified data

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) Any controller in possession of de-identified data shall:

(2) Nothing in this part may be construed to:

(3) Nothing in this part may be construed to require a controller or processor to comply with an authenticated consumer rights request if the controller:

(4) The rights afforded under 30-14-2808(1)(a) through (1)(d) may not apply to pseudonymous data in cases in which the controller is able to demonstrate that any information necessary to identify the consumer is kept separately and is subject to effective technical and organizational controls that prevent the controller from accessing the information.

(5) A controller 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.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 681, L. 2023.

MCA §30-14-2816. Compliance by controller or processor

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) Nothing in this part may be construed to restrict a controller's or processor's ability to:

(2) The obligations imposed on controllers or processors under this part may not restrict a controller's or processor's ability to collect, use, or retain personal data for internal use to:

(3) The obligations imposed on controllers or processors under this part may not apply when compliance by the controller or processor with this part would violate an evidentiary privilege under the laws of this state. Nothing in this part may be construed to prevent a controller or processor from providing personal data concerning a consumer to a person covered by an evidentiary privilege under the laws of this state as part of a privileged communication.

(4) A controller or processor that discloses personal data to a processor or third-party controller in accordance with this part may not be considered to have violated this part if the processor or third-party controller that receives and processes the personal data violates this part provided, at the time the disclosing controller or processor disclosed the personal data, the disclosing controller or processor did not have actual knowledge that the receiving processor or third-party controller would violate this part. A receiving processor or third-party controller receiving personal data from a disclosing controller or processor in compliance with this part is likewise not in violation of this part for the transgressions of the disclosing controller or processor from which the receiving processor or third-party controller receives the personal data.

(5) Nothing in this part may be construed to:

(6) Personal data processed by a controller pursuant to this section may be processed to the extent that the processing is:

(7) If a controller processes personal data pursuant to an exemption in this section, the controller bears the burden of demonstrating that the processing qualifies for the exemption and complies with the requirements in subsection (6).

(8) Processing personal data for the purposes expressly identified in this section may not solely make a legal entity a controller with respect to the processing.

History: En. Sec. 11, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2817. Enforcement

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) The attorney general has exclusive authority and may use the duties and powers provided by Title 30, chapter 14, parts 1 and 2, to enforce violations pursuant to this part.

(2) The attorney general shall post on the attorney general's website:

(3)

(4) Actions brought by the department to enforce this part are subject to the statute of limitations pursuant to 27-2-231.

(5) Nothing in this part may be construed as providing the basis for or be subject to a private right of action for violations of this part or any other law.

History: En. Sec. 12, Ch. 681, L. 2023; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2818. Responsibility according to role -- processing data of minors

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A processor shall adhere to the instructions of a controller and shall assist the controller to meet the controller's obligations under 30-14-2811 and 30-14-2819, taking into account the nature of the processing and the information available to the processor. The processor shall assist the controller by:

(2) A contract between a controller and a processor must satisfy the requirements of 30-14-2813(2).

(3) Nothing in this section may be construed to relieve a controller or processor from the liabilities imposed on the controller or processor by virtue of the controller's or processor's role in the processing relationship as described in 30-14-2811 and 30-14-2819.

(4) Determining whether a person is acting as a controller or processor with respect to a specific processing of personal data is a fact-based determination that depends on the context in which personal data is to be processed. A person that is not limited in the person's processing of personal data pursuant to a controller's instructions or that fails to adhere to the instructions is a controller and not a processor with respect to a specific processing of personal data. A processor that continues to adhere to a controller's instructions with respect to a specific processing of personal data remains a processor. 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 the processing and may be subject to an enforcement action under 30-14-2817.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2819. Data protection assessments for heightened risk of harm to minors

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A controller that, on or after October 1, 2025, offers an online service, product, or feature to a consumer whom the controller actually knows or willfully disregards is a minor shall conduct a data protection assessment for the online service, product, or feature if there is a heightened risk of harm to minors. The controller shall conduct the data protection assessment:

(2) A controller that conducts a data protection assessment pursuant to subsection (1) shall:

(3) A single data protection assessment may address a comparable set of processing operations that include similar activities.

(4) If a controller conducts a data protection assessment for the purpose of complying with another applicable law or regulation, the data protection assessment is considered to satisfy the requirements established in this section if the data protection assessment is reasonably similar in scope and effect to the data protection assessment that would otherwise be conducted pursuant to this section.

(5) If a controller conducts a data protection assessment pursuant to subsection (1) or a data protection assessment review pursuant to subsection (2)(a) and determines that the online service, product, or feature that is the subject of the assessment poses a heightened risk of harm to minors, the controller shall establish and implement a plan to mitigate or eliminate the heightened risk.

(6)

(7) Data protection assessment requirements apply to processing activities created or generated after October 1, 2025, and are not retroactive.

History: En. Sec. 11, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

MCA §30-14-2820. Civil penalty injunction

Verbatim from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as published by the Montana Legislative Services Division; see Meta.

(1) A violation of this part is a violation of Title 30, chapter 14, parts 1 and 2.

(2) A person who violates the provisions of this part following the 30-day period described in 30-14-2817(3) is liable for a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $7,500 for each violation.

(3) The attorney general may bring an action in the name of this state to:

(4) The attorney general may recover reasonable attorney fees and other reasonable expenses incurred in investigating and bringing an action under this section.

(5) The attorney general shall deposit a civil penalty collected under this section in a special revenue account to the credit of the department pursuant to 30-14-143.

History: En. Sec. 12, Ch. 567, L. 2025.

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