Asunción, Agencia IP.- Gustavo Villate, the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (Mitic), emphasized the importance of Paraguay having a law on personal data protection that considers the specificities of the current context, with a primary focus on safeguarding personal interests over data.
«In essence, what we seek is to safeguard personal interests, where we, as individuals, own our data and decide how we will use it and who will use it; that is the criterion,» stated the Minister on Tuesday in a conversation with 730 AM.
He indicated that Mitic is currently analyzing the legislative proposal, which will be discussed in Congress once the parliamentary recess concludes.
«There are several points that we are reviewing, and that is why the extensive review we are conducting still takes some time on our side,» he said.
He pointed out that the institution’s criterion is that a law on personal data protection is necessary. Still, it must be suitable for the citizens and adapted to the current context.
He considered the current legislative proposal in Congress «extensive and covers many issues based on a reality that is not ours.»
«We have to adapt it to our reality and start building what we need as a country to implement it. Otherwise, it ends up being a law that does not apply to our scenario,» he said.
He also questioned the proposal to create a new organization as the scope of application, as this would necessarily lead to an increase in the public budget and structure in a context where the need is to restructure the size of the State.
Also, Villate mentioned that the project contemplates «quite large» fines and many other requirements for companies, which should occur in the context of gradual implementation.
«In general, it seems to me that it is a too extensive law that leaves no room for regulation in a country where we do not have a culture of data treatment, where we still have to adopt these internal issues.»
«Being a law makes it too rigid, and there is no room to work on regulation and cover scenarios that are not foreseen or do not occur in other countries where the draft law was based,» added the Minister.
The bill aims to fill a legal gap due to the repeal of Law No. 1,682/2001 and its amending laws by Law No. 6,534/2020, which left personal data without protection in general.
The legislation under consideration includes a significant number of articles covering topics such as limitations on the right to protection, data accuracy, loyalty principles, transparency, responsibility, confidentiality, deadline for data retention, consent of adults, children, and adolescents, legitimate interest; sensitive data processing; credit data processing; video surveillance data; public administration data; etc.