ECUADOR

On May 25, the Sovereignty and International Relations Committee resumed the study of the personal data bill. The regulations seek to protect the rights of citizens against the processing of their personal, economic and social data. For further input into the content of the regulation, the committee received comments from international officials, including comments from Bruno Gencarelli, head of the Cross-border Flows and Data Protection Unit of the European Commission. The committee is expected to continue studying the text in the coming weeks.

During his speech, Gencarelli stated that the Personal Data Protection Law could attract trade and international cooperation, increasing the benefits of convergence for businesses in different parts of the world. In this sense, he said that “it is an essential element for privacy”. 

The Committee also heard from Felipe Harboe, Senator of the Republic of Chile, and Laura Nahabetián Brunet, advisor to the Uruguayan Parliament. Both expressed the need for each country to establish a regulation to control and protect personal data. Specifically, Harboe stated that this law would benefit trade and commerce, contributing to economic development.

Patricia Reyes, vice-chancellor of the University of Valparaiso, was also present and explained that, in her opinion, the most important aspect of the law involves the creation of oversight authorities as part of the data prevention regulations, within the framework of international instruments.

Finally, the committee received the executive director of Fundamedios, César Ricaurte, and the lawyer from the University of San Francisco de Quito, Marcelo Dávila.