Promoted by the Agency of Access to Public Information, Argentina adhered to the 108+ Agreement

Deputies ratified by a large majority the adherence to the most recent international standard on the protection of personal data.

The Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation approved by a large majority, with 206 votes in favor, 0 against and 4 abstentions, the ratification of Argentina in its adherence to Convention 108+, the updated version of Convention 108 for the Protection of Persons regarding the automated processing of Personal Data. In this sense, the Agency of Access to Public Information promoted the sanction and was a pioneer in issuing different provisions in order to achieve the parameters of the modernized Agreement, in order to respond to the new challenges imposed by technological transformations and the development of the digital economy.

The ratification of Convention 108+ strengthens the regulatory framework of our country and grants more instruments to the Agency of Access to Public Information, the enforcement authority for the protection of personal data, in order to protect and guarantee these rights to citizens. . This implies a significant advance in terms of protection of the privacy of people against possible abuses in the treatment of their data, since this Convention constitutes the most recent international standard in the protection of privacy.

Meanwhile, Argentina has been a State party to Convention 108 since June 1, 2019, the date on which it became the 54th to sign it and the third in Latin America, and it is the 33rd country to sign the modernized Convention 108.

Argentina assumes the presidency of the Strategic Management Sub-Committee

Our country has been chosen in the context of the 44th Global Privacy Assembly, which brought together more than 130 authorities and privacy experts from around the world.

Within the framework of the 44th Meeting of the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), Beatriz Anchorena -as a member of the Executive Committee and representative of Argentina- assumed the presidency of the Strategic Management Sub-Committee. With the aim of addressing a joint work agenda, she held a bilateral meeting with the head of the Office of the Information Commissioner of Australia Angelene Falk - whose term ends in 2022.

The purpose of the Strategic Management Sub-Committee is to guarantee compliance with the GPA Work Plan 2021-2023, coordinate the different thematic working groups and produce progress reports for presentation to the Executive Committee and the Assembly.

"We are convinced that Argentina is up to the challenge of carrying out the GPA Strategic Plan and institutionally strengthening this field of personal data protection worldwide" Anchorena said.

Likewise, at the 44th Meeting of the GPA, the Head of the Agency presented a panel on the progress of the Ethics and Artificial Intelligence and International Humanitarian Assistance working groups together with Veronique Cimina and Catherine Lennman, experts in protection of personal data. On the other hand, the Agency signed a resolution on "Principles and Expectations for the Appropriate Use of Personal Information in Facial Recognition Technology."

Within this framework, a meeting was also held with Adrián Alcalá and Josefina Román from the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) of Mexico, in order to exchange experiences and strengthen cooperation ties between the Guarantor agencies of Mexico and Argentina.

Presentation of the Personal Data Protection Bill

As a result of the participatory, open and transparent debate process, the Personal Data Protection Bill was presented.

After the Public Consultation instance and the analysis of the contributions, opinions and comments received, the Agency of Access to Public Information presented the Personal Data Protection Bill.

Throughout this process, 173 opinions, contributions and comments presented by 123 participants corresponding to the general public, civil society organizations, universities and researchers, the private sector and the national and international public sector were received.

From the total of contributions received, 133 entered through the web form, 28 through email, 6 through the Agency's ticket desk, 5 through the Electronic Document Management (GDE) system, and 1 through the order form. access to public information, in accordance with Law 27,275.

Besides, of the 76 articles that made up the proposed regulatory update draft, 43 articles were reviewed and modified based on the contributions and comments received. Likewise, 4 new articles that were proposed in the framework of the public consultation were incorporated. For this reason, the final project has a total of 80 articles.

The public consultation concluded with broad participation

More than 140 contributions and opinions were received on the Agency's Personal Data Protection Bill.

Within the framework of the participatory, open and transparent process that the Agency of Access to Public Information has been carrying out, on October 11th the public consultation for the update of the Personal Data Protection Law ended.

More than 140 contributions and opinions from citizens, civil society organizations, universities and researchers, the private sector and the national and international public sector were presented.

Beatriz Anchorena presented the update of the Personal Data Protection Law

With more than 150 participants, live broadcast and panels of national and international experts, the main guidelines for the modernization of the law were presented.

Within the framework of a participatory, open and transparent debate process, the Agency for Access to Public Information organized the meeting "Debates around the update of the Personal Data Protection Law: new challenges of technological transformation from a human rights approach”, in the Dome of the Kirchner Cultural Center, with more than 150 participants, including national authorities and public sector officials, ambassadors, representatives of international and regional organizations, national and provincial legislators, civil society organizations, representatives of the business chambers, leaders in the academic field, experts in the field of personal data protection and privacy.

“Promoting the regulatory update of the Personal Data Protection Law was the commitment that I assumed at the Public Hearing on February 25th, in this same place, during the application process as head of the Agency. This was one of the strategic axes of the Work Plan that I presented on that occasion. Today, after 5 months of assuming as Director of the Agency, that commitment becomes a reality”, stated the Head of the Agency Beatriz Anchorena in the opening remarks of the meeting.

Then the conference "Global harmonization of the human right to the protection of personal data and privacy" was held, with a presentation by Ana Brian Nougrères, Rapporteur for the Right to Privacy of the United Nations Organization (UN). And, to conclude the first part, the panel "Debate on the need to update the personal data protection legislation" was held with the participation of Valeria Milanés, Executive Director of the Association for Civil Rights (ADC); Pablo Palazzi, Director of the Center for Studies in Technology and Society (CETyS), Universidad San Andrés; Pablo Segura, Latin American Privacy Director of Mercado Libre and Vice President of the Latin American Privacy Association (ALAP); Beatriz Busaniche, President of the Vía Libre Foundation; and Horacio Azzolin, Head of the Specialized Fiscal Unit in Cybercrime (UFECI), which was moderated by Fernando Schapachnik, Executive Director of the Sadosky Foundation.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the panel "Privacy as a global challenge: lessons learned and key elements for debate", with presentations by Bruno Gencarelli, Deputy Director of Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law, Head of the Cross-Border Flows Unit and Data Protection of the European Commission; Dante Negro, Director of the Department of International Law of the Organization of American States (OAS); Felipe Harboe Bascuñán, Constituent Convention Member of Chile; Nelson Remolina Angarita, expert in personal data protection and associate professor at the Law School of the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; and Danilo Doneda, Professor at the IDP University and member of the National Council for the Protection of Personal Data and Privacy of Brazil. The panel was moderated by Cecilia Gómez Mirada, Undersecretary for Parliamentary Affairs of the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers.

To conclude, the Head of the Agency presented the main guidelines for the update of Law 25,326 on the Protection of Personal Data, and announced the start of the public consultation of the project during the month of September, based on the provisions of Decree 1172. /2003.

For more information of the process of updating the Personal Data Protection Law, enter here.