Thirteen jurisdictions in Latin America now have comprehensive privacy laws including: Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. The two laws that are most closely aligned with the European laws (and thus deemed to the European Commission to provide adequate protection) are Argentina and Uruguay.

Other countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and territories such as the Cayman Islands have draft bills that have either been or are expected to be introduced to their legislatures. In addition, Chile, which has had a high-level data protection law since 1999, may amend its existing law in 2015 to include registration, impose cross-border restrictions and establish a data protection regulator.

Originally published in Privacy & Security Law Report on April 27, 2015.