COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jaime Trujillo, Juan David Velasco, Natalia Ponce de León and Angelica Navarro, Baker McKenzie S.A.S.
7.5 Others Other protected IP rights include trade secrets, which can be enforced via unfair competition actions. Trade secrets encompass undisclosed information usable in productive, industrial or commercial activities, capable of transmission to third parties. Software is safeguarded under copyright law in Colombia and follows similar procedures. Law 1581 of 2012 is the primary regulation gov - erning data protection in Colombia. It adopts a consent-based approach for the processing of personal data concerning Colombian data subjects. It covers various important matters, including: • requirements for valid consent for the pro - cessing of personal data; • special treatment and protection of sensitive personal data; • rights of data subjects regarding their per - sonal data; • transmission and transfer of personal data to third parties; • obligations imposed on data controllers and processors; and • penalties for violations of the data protection regulations. 8. Data Protection 8.1 Applicable Regulations Additionally, Decree 1377 of 2013 (compiled in Decree 1074 of 2015) supplements these provi - sions by imposing additional obligations related to the minimum content requirements for privacy policies, notices, data transmission and transfer agreements, and specifications for international data transfers.
8.2 Geographical Scope The SIC has consistently ruled that Colombian data protection laws apply to any company that processes personal data in Colombia. According to the definition of “processing” in Law 1581 of 2012, which includes data collection, any com - pany, whether local or foreign, that collects or processes personal data from Colombian resi - dents is subject to the provisions and obligations of Colombian data protection law. In several cases, the SIC has explicitly stated that even the act of collecting data through cookies from web or mobile browsers falls under the scope of Colombian data protection regula - tions. Therefore, any foreign entity engaged in online data collection from Colombian individu - als must comply with local data protection laws. 8.3 Role and Authority of the Data Protection Agency The data protection authority in Colombia is the SIC. The current government submitted a labour reform bill of law to Congress, which was approved on 20 June 2025. The main changes are as follows. • The general applicable rule is that employ - ment contracts should be indefinite term agreements, with fixed-term contracts being the exception. After four years, fixed-term agreements will automatically become indefinite-term contracts. • Increase of surcharge for work performed during Sundays and holidays. 9. Looking Forward 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms Labour Reform
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