Colombia’s new Habeas Data Act will protect citizens’ personal information from third parties, which was previously used without restriction by banks and call centers, reported RCN Radio on Thursday.
Judge Juan Carlos Henao, president of the Supreme Court, said that the law will have “very clear principles of data protection of the holder, for example, in the case of a patient that provides information such as age, marital status, previous diseases, etc. He, as the owner of the personal data, acquires rights against the person who has the data and can share it.”
He explained that “there will be a series of limitations on the transfer of data generated by such situations.”
The law will also determine the punishment of financial institutions, universities, and business that share personal data without the consent of it’s owners.
The Habeas Data Act is part of the modernization projects that Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has been promoting in order to strengthen the protection of private information.