az developed together with 11 leading firms of the Compliance Latam platform, the Comparative Guide on Personal Data Protection, which is now available.
During a webinar organized by Compliance Latam, a network of which az is a member together with 11 other leading law firms in the region, experts highlighted the important progress that Latin America has made in the protection of personal data.
At the meeting, Esteban Dávila, senior associate of the Ecuadorian law firm Bustamante Fabara, emphasized that currently in the region “there is an effort to ensure that data protection is not a luxury, but a right” and that today, however, we face the challenge of “achieving a balance between innovation and privacy”.
Claudia Cardoso, Falabella’s compliance and data protection manager, explained that in order to move forward, because the regulation is based on risks, companies must start by assessing where they stand with respect to these and where the gap is. “From there, the response will be to adopt technologies, change processes, among other measures,” he said.
For his part, Sebastián Vega, compliance and data protection counsel-north america and hispanic countries at Accor, pointed out that companies today face a series of challenges in implementing regulations related to personal data protection. Among them, agility (to adapt to changes); the resources needed to implement the program; aligning the objectives with the business strategy and traceability. The expert emphasized that “the commitment of senior management is essential to ensure that it is maintained over time and that data protection is part of how the company operates”.
Yoab Bitran, director of az’s Compliance Group, agreed with the above and said that “compliance as a discipline already has more than three decades of history in the Anglo-Saxon world. There is evidence of which practices are carried out by companies with the most effective compliance programs, and the most important is that they have leaders who actively and concretely support compliance initiatives. In particular, they constantly communicate the importance of the organization’s values, ensure that all employees are evaluated under the same standard in matters related to ethics, set goals that do not encourage ethical misconduct, and integrate compliance into business decisions.
Despite this, Mercedes De Aratza, LAC Regional Privacy Lead at Visa, said that currently many companies still believe that personal data protection is only a compliance issue, when in reality it is about promoting a culture within organizations. “The biggest fault of not complying is the loss of trust from our customers. Today, protecting personal data is a differentiator and people choose companies that protect their information”.
In terms of oversight, Carolina Cabrera, a lawyer at Accenture, pointed out that most Latin American countries have oversight authorities. “The issue is whether this authority will oversee and apply sanctions or whether it will be focused on prevention. Each country will have to establish what the priority is. However, the authority should have an educational role and promote a data culture within companies,” concluded the expert.
During the event, the launch of the Comparative Guide to Personal Data was announced, which can be downloaded here.
About Compliance Latam
Compliance Latam is made up of the firms Albagli Zaliasnik (Chile), Bartolome & Briones (Spain), Basham, Ringe y Correa (Mexico), Beccar Varela (Argentina), BLP (Central America), Bustamante Fabara (Ecuador), CPB (Peru), FCR Law (Brazil), Ferrere (Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia), MDU Legal (Panama), Miller & Chevalier (United States) and Posse Herrera Ruiz (Colombia).
