Data Protection Officer (DPO): Chile and Honduras

The growing importance of personal data protection has driven organisations to incorporate increasingly robust compliance models. In this context, the Data Protection Officer (DPO) emerges as a fundamental figure to supervise regulatory compliance, advise companies and act as a point of contact with authorities and data owners.

In Chile, the new Law No. 21.719 expressly regulates this figure, establishing obligations, requirements and criteria for its designation within organisations. Its functions include the supervision of regulatory compliance, internal training and the promotion of good practices in data protection.

For its part, Honduras does not yet have a specific regulation on the DPO, although the draft Personal Data Protection Law already contemplates this figure within its regulatory proposal. Currently, the country bases data protection mainly on the constitutionally recognised right of Habeas Data.

The incorporation of a DPO not only strengthens regulatory compliance and risk management, but also improves traceability, incident response and the confidence of customers and authorities in the processing of personal data.