State notification register
North Dakota data breach notification law: in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay.
North Dakota's breach-notification obligations are set by N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30. This page summarises the deadline to notify affected residents, the attorney general notification threshold, whether a private right of action exists, and the penalties for late or missing notification. Every provision is cited to its source statute and was verified in June 2026.
Individual deadline
No fixed day
Without unreasonable delay
AG notification
250
250 or more North Dakota residents
Private action
No
Only the North Dakota Attorney General may enforce
Statute
ND
N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30
Section ND.1
What the statute requires
Under N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30, a business that owns or licenses computerized personal information of North Dakota residents must notify affected individuals in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay.
Attorney general or state-agency notification is 250 or more north dakota residents. Where required, the timeline is: same timeline as individual notification.
Section ND.2
What triggers notification
Like most US state statutes, notification is triggered by the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted, unredacted computerized personal information that compromises its security, confidentiality, or integrity. Two concepts recur across the states and apply here.
Encryption safe harbor
Personal information that was encrypted, and where the encryption key was not also acquired, generally does not trigger notification. A stolen device with full-disk encryption is typically a non-event; an unencrypted record, or an encrypted record where the key was exposed alongside it, is a reportable breach.
Who must be notified
- [1] Affected North Dakota residents: without unreasonable delay
- [2] Attorney general / state agency: 250 or more north dakota residents
- [3] Consumer reporting agencies where the breach is large-scale
Section ND.3
Penalties and enforcement
Up to $5,000 per violation under the consumer fraud statute, plus fees and costs.
Private right of action: No. Only the North Dakota Attorney General may enforce.
Primary source:North Dakota statute N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30; verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries and the underlying statute text.
Section ND.4
How this compares to the strictest states
The strictest US deadlines are 30 days (California, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Maine, New York, New Jersey). The majority of states use a qualitative "without unreasonable delay" standard with no fixed day cap. Here is where North Dakota sits.
North Dakota does not set a numeric deadline. It uses a "without unreasonable delay" standard, which regulators interpret as days to weeks, not months. Organizations operating across multiple states should default to the strictest applicable clock, which can be as short as 30 days in states such as California, Colorado, Florida.
Cross-references
Index / All 50 states + DC
→The full register: deadline and AG threshold for every state.
Schedule 09 / Notification laws
→Global frameworks and the cost of notification.
01 / Breach cost calculator
→Estimate your North Dakota breach exposure, including notification cost.
Regulation / GDPR
→The 72-hour clock and 4%-of-revenue fine framework.
Cost / Notification
→Why notification is roughly 6% of total breach cost.
Schedule F / Reference Q&A
Frequently Asked Questions
Primary source:North Dakota data breach notification statute (N.D. Cent. Code Ch. 51-30). Provisions verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries (Recording Law US data-privacy series, 2026 edition), the IAPP US State Data Breach Notification Chart, Foley & Lardner's chart, and the underlying statute text.