External Circular No. 001 was issued on November 8, 2016 and requires that natural persons, entities of a public nature other than mixed-economy companies and private legal entities that are not registered in the chambers of commerce that act as Data Controllers must be registered in the National Registry of Databases no later than June 30, 2018.

What information should be registered?

For each database, you must register the following information:

  1. The number of data holders per database.
  2. Detailed information of the channels or means that are provided to attend the holders.
  3. The types of data contained in the databases.
  4. The physical location of the databases.
  5. Contact information of data processors, if applicable.
  6. Security measures implemented to guarantee the safety of the databases.
  7. The way of obtaining the data.
  8. The method data is being treated.
  9. Information on international data transfers and transmissions.
  10. Information related to authorizations of data subjects for processing their data.
  11. The privacy policy applicable for each database, from both the data controller and the data processors.

What are the consequences of failing to register?

The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce may sanction the breach of obligations regarding the protection of personal data through:

  1. Fines of up to 2,000 times the statutory minimum wage.
  2. Suspension of data-processing-related activities for up to six months.
  3. Temporary closure of the operations related to the data processing.
  4. Immediate termination of data processing operations.

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