Databases Law: Pillar of Protection for Personal Information

Intellectual Property attorney Camila López was interviewed by Portafolio about data protection laws in Colombia. The database law, formally known as the Data Protection Law, establishes the regulatory regime applicable to the collection, storage, management and use of personal information. The article highlighted two complimentary pieces of legislation that protect individuals' privacy and assign responsibilities to data holders and handlers: Law 1581 of 2012, which establishes the constitutional right to know, update and correct information in databases, and Law 1266 of 2008, which regulates the treatment of financial, credit, commercial and service-related information. Ms. López clarified the scope of these laws.

"This protection covers all types of personal information, from public, private and semiprivate data, to whatever is considered sensitive, such as information related to healthcare, sexual orientation or biometric information," she said. "Sensitive data receives special protection because its inappropriate use could affect the privacy of the holder or create instances of discrimination."

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