New Chile Data Law: Key Points to Know

We have released the new Chile Privacy Law that will revolutionize how we process personal data today, take a look at what you need to know to stay compliant:

What Do You Need to Know to Stay Compliant?

When does this law come into effect?

The new Law No. 19,628, on the protection of personal data was officially published on December 13, 2024. Its provisions will enter into force on December 01, 2026.

Does this law apply to you?

Even if your company is not based in Chile, this new law will apply to you if your processing operations are intended to offer goods or services to data subjects who are in Chile, or intended to monitor the behavior of data subjects who are in Chile, including their analysis, tracking, profiling, or prediction of behavior.

What new obligations do you need to comply with? These main obligations are essential and may be complemented by additional requirements. Stay informed! Have the Subjects’ Rights Changed?

As with any data protection law, safeguarding the rights of data subjects is fundamental - it lies at the very core of what data protection laws stand for.

The new law expands individuals’ rights:

to object to the processing of their data.
to obtain information about automated individual decisions, including profiling.
to block the processing of personal data.
to data portability.

Good news: the timeframe to respond to these rights requests extends from 2 to 30 days, with a possible 30-day extension.

Couple of news that impacts the health sector:

• The term “pseudonymization” is introduced and such pseudonymized data must be protected:

Pseudonymized data refers to data processed in such a way that it can no longer be attributed to a data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is separately provided and is subject to technical and organizational measures designed to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.
Therefore, if you are a sponsor and have access only to pseudonymized data, you are required to protect it and comply with all legal obligations for its processing, implementing the measures stipulated by law.

• Data relating to health and the human biological profile are classified as sensitive data.

Such data may only be processed with the consent of the data subject and for the purposes provided for by special laws on health matters. Of course, there are exceptions, for example, when the processing of data is essential to safeguard the life of the data subject, or when they are used for research purposes that serve purposes of public interest or are for the benefit of human health, or for the development of medical products or supplies that could not be developed otherwise.

⚠️ Sponsors, be vigilant for your clinical studies in Chile. What are the risks of non-compliance?

The penalties under the law are severe:

Minor violations: written warning or a fine of up to 5,000 monthly tax units.[1] (i.e. failing to respond, responding incompletely or late to data subjects’ rights requests)
Serious violations: fine of up to 10,000 monthly tax units. (i.e. Processing personal data without the consent of the data subject or without an appropriate legal basis)
Very serious violations: fine of up to 20,000 monthly tax units. (i.e. Deliberately failing to report personal data security breaches.)

[1] Chilean Tax units (UTM): It’s a unit of money that corresponds to an equivalent amount in Chilean pesos. In Dec 2024, the amount is $67.294 Chilean pesos.

What’s next? Prepare today!

At MyData-TRUST we have experts in data protection and clinical trials who can support you from dealing with a data breach to preparing your compliance program.

Do you have activities or projects in Chile? Contact us to learn more about our services: [email protected]