Latin America

In February 2015, the Brazilian government issued a draft of Brazil’s first comprehensive privacy law, the Preliminary Draft Bill for the Protection of Personal Data (the “Draft Bill”).  The Draft Bill builds on and codifies certain concepts relating to the treatment of personal data already present in Brazilian constitutional, statutory and case law.…

BNA is reporting that Mexico’s data protection authority, the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI), will issue a fine of $1 million against one of Mexico’s largest banks for violating the country’s Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data in Possession of Private Parties.  The action against the bank &mdash…

Earlier today in Bogota, the supervisor of the Colombian data protection authority (within the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce) announced that the country’s new data protection law will receive final approval from President Juan Manuel Santos this month or next.  The supervisor, José Alejandro Bermúdez, made the announcement in an interview with the Spanish news…

The convening of the 34th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Punta del Este, Uruguay on Oct. 22-26 — on the heels of last year’s conference in Mexico City — underscores the importance of the Latin American region in the global debate around data privacy regulation.

From 2000 to 2008, only Argentina and Uruguay created comprehensive data privacy regimes.  Yet in just a two-year span from 2010 to 2012, another five countries — Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and most recently Nicaragua — have adopted comprehensive data privacy laws of their own.  Implementing regulations already have gone into effect in Mexico and are expected to come into force in Costa Rica and Peru shortly.  The Colombian law awaits a Presidential decree and implementing regulations.   

More laws and regulations are sure to follow.  Just within the past year, governments in Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador have publicly considered adoption of new data privacy laws.  …

Continue Reading On the Eve of International Conference in Uruguay, Taking Stock of Data Privacy Developments in Latin America

On July 2, 2011 Peruvian President Alan Garcia signed into law the country’s Personal Data Protection Law (Ley de Protección de Datos Personales, Proyecto de Ley, available here), making Peru the latest Latin American country to adopt European-style privacy legislation. Peru is expected to develop implementing regulations to the new law in the coming…