Chile Senate backs moving its data protection law to October 2027

Chile Senate backs moving its data protection law to October 2027

28 October 2026: Chile's Senate has approved a bill that would push the start of personal data protection Law 21.719 from 1 December 2026 to 15 October 2027. The Chamber of Deputies still has to vote, so companies cannot yet treat the later date as settled.

Not yet independently verified. The Senate's own news item refused our requests, so the vote date and details rest on a Garrigues law firm note and the Senate's bill list, which shows the bill as in process. We found no vote count or Chamber timetable. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Where the bill stands

Boletin 18.623-07 was tabled by the Executive, with its message dated 31 August and entry on 1 September. It first proposed 1 December 2027. According to law firm Garrigues, the Senate passed it in the first constitutional stage on 28 October with the new date of 15 October 2027.

The Senate's bill list still shows it as in process. The next stop is the second constitutional stage in the Chamber of Deputies, and 1 December 2026 stays in force until an amendment is published. That is less than a month away, which leaves a short gap for a vote and publication.

Changes to the agency, not to the duties

Most of the bill concerns the new data protection agency rather than companies:

• The board grows from three to five councillors, on six-year terms with no re-designation and partial renewal every two years
• The quorum rises from two to three
• First councillors must be designated at least nine months before the law takes effect, rather than six
• The President proposes all initial councillors in one act, on terms of six, four and two years, for approval by two thirds of senators in office
• If fewer than twelve months remain when the amendment is published, that proposal is due within ten days
• Extra first-year spending comes from the Ministry of Economy

The substantive obligations on those handling personal data are not changed, as we read the reports of the bill. Anyone reading it as a lighter law would be mistaken.

What to do with the extra time

Diario Financiero reports that lawyers back the delay, and that fines run up to UTM 20,000, which the paper puts at about CLP 1,400 million. It paraphrases one lawyer, Diego Lizama, as saying that companies kept preparing mainly out of fear of those fines.

For a software buyer in Chile, the practical step is to keep contract and processor reviews going until the Chamber votes, because the old date binds if the bill stalls. Vendors selling into the country face the same question from customers. Our compliance software listings and privacy software listings cover tools used in that work, and our item on SII Resolution 144 tracks another Chilean deadline with a date in 2027.

Neither the Senate list nor the Garrigues note gives a date for the Chamber's vote.

Sources

• Senado de Chile: bill tracking for Boletin 18.623-07 (read 7 November 2026), 7 November 2026
• Garrigues: Senado chileno aprueba proyecto de ley que busca postergar al 15 de octubre de 2027 la entrada en vigencia, 30 October 2026, 30 October 2026
• Diario Financiero: lawyers on postponing the data protection law (read 7 November 2026), 7 November 2026