CHILE

On December 13, the Senate Finance Committee approved the initiative that regulates the protection and treatment of personal data. This proposal presented in 2017 also seeks to create the Personal Data Protection Agency. The objective is to update and modernize the regulatory and institutional framework with the purpose of establishing that the processing of personal data of natural persons is carried out with the consent of the data owner. It is now expected that the processing will continue in the Senate.

Among the highlights of the proposal are the following:

• Establish the regulatory conditions to strengthen the rights of the holders of personal data in relation to data processing operations legitimately carried out by private and public agents. 
• To provide the country with a modern and flexible legislation on the processing of personal data, consistent with the international commitments acquired.
• Increase Chile’s legal standards in the processing of personal data to transform it into a country with adequate levels of protection and security, promoting the development of the digital economy and favoring the expansion of the global services market. 
• Define regulatory standards, operational conditions and an institutional framework that legitimizes the processing of personal data by public bodies, ensuring compliance with the public function and citizens’ rights. 
• To have a technical control authority and a public institutional framework to take on the regulatory and oversight challenges regarding the protection of individuals and the processing of personal data.

This document also addresses issues such as the expansion of the rights of data subjects; the creation of a regime of responsibilities for data controllers; the establishment of special categories of personal data; and the regulation of the cross-border flow of personal data, among other things. It should be noted that, once the law has been enacted, the government will have six months to issue the corresponding implementing regulations so that the law will not enter into force until thirteen months after its publication in the Official Gazette.