Morrison & Foerster - Legal Update - Tower Records Consent Order Underscores Importance of Data Protection

Morrison & Foerster - Legal Update - Tower Records Consent Order Underscores Importance of Data Protection

Fines in the data protection act of Argentina cannot be imposed by judges

The Court of Apeals of Tucuman ruled on Feb. 2004 that fines in the Data Protection Act of Argentina (section 31) cannot be imposed by judges. "The only one authorized by law to impose fines under the Arg. Data Protection Act is the Data Protection Agency" said the judges. Since its creation, the Argentine DPA have not imposed any fines. In a recent seminar, held in Buenos Ares the staff of the DPA explained that the agency is in the process of educating the controllers and responsibles for databases. So far, the DPA has implemented a register and a census for private databases.

This feature of DP laws seems not be exclusive of Argentina. Recently, Prof. Michael Geist has questioned in his regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column the effectiveness of Canada's privacy legislation, arguing that privacy laws without effective enforcement and genuine transparency may provide Canadians with little more than placebo privacy protection.

See more information and text of the decision at
DiarioJudicial.Com - La actualidad desde el Derecho - Martes, 20 de Abril de 2004

The Public Voice Roundtable on Consumers and Privacy in South America (Buenos Aires, April 16, 2004)

The Public Voice Roundtable on Consumers and Privacy in South America (Buenos Aires, April 16, 2004)