Possible changes to the sanction’s regime in Argentina
By Andrea Sánchez Vicentini, Candela Basilotta and Mariano Peruzzotti
The 2024 Budget Bill
Recently, the National Congress began the debate on the Budget Bill for the period 2024 introduced by the Executive Branch (the “Budget Bill”).
Unexpectedly, the Budget Bill includes an amendment to Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326 (the “PDPL”) on the sanction’s regime. Specifically, article 77 of the Budget Bill proposes the following:
- The fines that may be applied by the Agency for Access to Public Information (“AAPI”), controlling authority of the PDPL, for non-compliance with the current regime will be based on a mobile unit whose initial value is Pesos 10,000 (equivalent to, as of October 31, 2023, approximately USD 28.66);
- Fines may range from 5 to 1,000,000 mobile units; and
- The value of the mobile unit will be updated annually pursuant to the variation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Thus, the value of the fines that the AAPI could apply if the Budget Bill is finally passed would be from Pesos 50,000 to 10,000,000,000 (USD 143 to USD 28,653,300 approximately).
Currently, article 31 of the PDPL provides that fines may range from Pesos 1,000 (USD 2) to Pesos 100,000 (USD 286). In turn, the PDPL does not provide any criteria for the update of fines.
It is not usual in Argentina for a budget law to modify the PDPL. However, this practice has taken place previously in Uruguay, which in 2018 modified its Personal Data Protection Law No. 18.331, originally sanctioned in 2008, through the Law on Accountability and Budget Balance.
The reform to the PDPL
This initiative is in line with the AAPI’s intention to modify the PDPL’s sanctions regime. In this sense, the Personal Data Protection Bill aimed at replacing the PDPL introduced in Congress in June 2023 (please see our latest article about this here) also modifies the sanction’s regime. This Bill was developed by the AAPI.
Article 79 of the Personal Data Protection Bill replaces article 31 of the PDPL similarly to article 77 of the Budget Bill. The only difference is that the Personal Data Protection Bill includes as an additional parameter for estimating fines the possibility of considering the total worldwide annual turnover of the financial year preceding to the application of the sanction (from 2% to 4%).
Additionally, there is another Personal Data Protection Bill that seeks to modify the PDPL introduced by Congresswoman Karina Banfi that also proposes increasing the value of fines.
Conclusion
Several legislative initiatives that include amendments to the personal data protection sanction regime were introduced in Congress. The values of fines established at the time that the PDPL was passed in 2000 are outdated and need to be adjusted accordingly.
For further information please contact asanchezvicentini@ojambf.com, cbasilotta@ojambf.com or mperuzzotti@ojambf.com
