Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On June 6, 2013, a group of 300 gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia, the second oldest city in South America, for the First Latin America Congress on Data Protection. The Congress was organized by Colombia’s data protection authority, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce, and the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP. “Latin America is very important to Centre member companies, and education is a key element of the Centre’s Latin America Project. So, we were very pleased to help the Superintendent organize the program,” said Centre President Marty Abrams.

The Congress included participants from throughout the Americas and Europe, and focused on major data protection issues such as limits on consent, the definition of personal information, mobile computing and accountability. Abrams provided opening remarks which reminded the audience that they are the pioneers in making data protection effective in Colombia and Latin America. “Data protection law is spreading throughout Latin America, and it is time to build an understanding about how data protection law works,” said Scott Taylor, Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer of Hewlett-Packard Company and a speaker at the Congress.

On April 18, 2013, Colombia implemented its data protection law and the Centre interviewed Deputy Superintendent for Data Protection José Alejandro Bermúdez Durana on the progress of the new law.