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/ Legislative agenda in Chile: current status of various bills

July 8, 2020

The health crisis and subsequent measures adopted by the Chilean authority in the Covid-19 pandemic context have had a direct influence on the duration of the processing and discussion of the bills in the country. Notwithstanding this, the status of the following legislative initiatives should be highlighted.

Álvaro Ávila P.

Associate Attorney

Jaime Urzúa W.

Associate Attorney

  • Short Law of INAPI to amend Law No. 19,039 on Industrial Property (Bulletin No. 12135-03): This project is currently in the second constitutional stage in the Senate, after having been issued various reports by the Economy and Finance Committee.

The bill contemplates measures that tend to update the Industrial Property Law in accordance with international standards, such as the extension of the definition of a trademark to cover those of an olfactory and three-dimensional type; incorporation of temporary applications for patent rights; extension of the term of validity of industrial design registrations from 10 to 15 years; allowing the Chilean National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) to take part in appeals; updating the legal concept of trade secrets, among others.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 12135-03.

  • Drugs Act II (Bulletin No. 9914-11): The bill proposing the amendment of the Health Code to regulate generic bioequivalent drugs and prevent the vertical integration of laboratories and pharmacies is in its third constitutional stage in the Senate, after the amendments proposed by the Chamber of Deputies in January 2020 were partially rejected. By virtue of this, a joint committee was formed in the same month, which has been meeting since March of this year.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 9914-11.

  • Bill on the protection of personal data and that creates the data protection agency, modifies Law No. 19,628 (Bulletin No. 11144-07): This bill is in the first constitutional stage in the Senate, and in March 2020 it was sent to the Finance Committee for revision, after its unanimous approval by the Constitution, Legislation, Justice and Regulations Committee. The purpose of this initiative is to update and modernize the current regulatory and institutional framework, establishing that the processing of personal data of individuals is carried out with the consent of the data owner or in the cases authorized by law, proposing the establishment of regulatory conditions; modern and flexible legislation on the processing of personal data; a control authority of a technical nature and public institutions; among others.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 11144-07.

  • Bill allowing the use of certain data during a pandemic for proper health control (Bulletin No. 13452-11): Submitted in April 2020, the bill that seeks to amend Law No. 20,584 on Patient Rights and Duties, to authorize the processing of data for the control of a pandemic derived from Covid-19 is in the first constitutional stage in the Senate and is being reviewed by the Health Committee.

In a session on June 23, this committee generally approved the idea of legislating and agreed on a series of points that were awaiting resolution, among others:

  • The context allowed for the processing of these data will be exclusively for the case of a health alert and not a state of emergency.
  • Those authorized to process such data will be the Armed Forces and the primary health care services.
  • Since there are doubts regarding the publication of geo-referenced data, it was determined that this would be done only for scientific, academic, statistical and pandemic management purposes.
  • In relation to the penalties, guilt or negligence in the processing of data was added, in addition to willful misconduct, and the person liable to penalty was extended to the public officer authorized to process the data subject to this law.

We are waiting for the indications to be submitted by the Executive branch within the next few days.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 13452-11.

  • Bill allowing the use of certain data during a pandemic for proper health control (Bulletin No. 13350-11): Similar to the bill described in the previous section – insofar as it proposes the amendment of Law No. 20,584, the initiative is currently in its second constitutional stage in the Senate, having been approved in general and in particular by the Chamber of Deputies in June 2020. It proposes the regulation of the rights and duties that people have in relation to actions linked to their health care, to allow the processing of sensitive data, in cases of epidemics or pandemics, to develop health control, and under certain conditions.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 13350-11.

  • Bill on computer crimes (Bulletin No. 12192-25): It is in the second constitutional stage in the Chamber of Deputies. It is being revised by the Constitution, Legislation, Justice and Regulations Committee. The initiative seeks to establish rules on computer crimes and repeals Law No. 19,223 and modifies other legal bodies in order to bring them into line with the Budapest Convention.

Review the processing of Bulletin No. 12192-25.

For more information on other important aspects of the abovementioned bills, please contact us at: ip@alessandri.cl