PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Kharla Aizpurua Olmos, Roberto Vidal, Miguel Arias and Eduardo Oteiza, Morgan & Morgan
registration to carry out the activities, suspension of activities, removal of personnel from the position of administration or control, or other measures as man - dated by the applicable law. 2.11 Implications of Additional, Non- Financial Services Regulations As mentioned above, there are no regulatory distinc - tions between legacy players and fintech companies. In general terms, however, there are a few applicable In Panama, electronic commerce is regulated by Law 51 of 2008, as amended (the “Electronic Commerce Law”), which applies to businesses that work through the internet and offer their services in Panama. The Electronic Commerce Law relates mainly to electronic contracts and the conditions relating to the validity and effectiveness of said contracts, and establishes the obligations and responsibilities of providers of commercial services through the internet, including those that act as intermediaries in the transmission of content by social media networks and the exchange of commercial information and documentation elec - tronically, including offers, promotions and competi - tions. The Data Protection Regulation non-financial service regulations. The Electronic Commerce Law Law 81 of 2019, regulated by Executive Decree 285 of 2021 (the “Data Protection Regulation”), regulates the protection of personal data of natural persons and its handling, storage and treatment. The Data Protection Regulation applies to data processing that originates from or is stored in Panama and data processing car - ried out within the framework of a commercial activity on the internet, or any other means of electronic or digital communication in accordance with the Elec - tronic Commerce Law to guarantee data protection in activities aimed at the Panamanian market. Whenever a person or entity obtains its users’ person - al data, the person or entity must implement a privacy policy that respects the “ARCO rights” enshrined in the Data Protection Regulation. Such person or entity must also obtain the necessary consent from its users for the collection, use and processing of their personal data, in addition to complying with the requirements in
case of transfer of said personal data to third parties (local or cross-border). Law 45 Law 45 of 2007 (“Law 45”), which dictates regulations on consumer protection and defence of competition, is also applicable to financial service providers. In general, Law 45 implements standards for provid - ing information clearly, truthfully and without induc - ing confusion. For example, credit products must expressly and visibly indicate the total amount of the debt, the effective interest rate applied and its calcula - tion method, the commissions, and the natural or legal person providing the credit. 2.12 Review of Industry Participants by Parties Other Than Regulators Assuming that industry participants have some kind of registration or licensing, they will generally be required to obtain audited financial statements from auditing firms and present them to the regulators, along with other information. 2.13 Conjunction of Unregulated and Regulated Products and Services Industry participants generally do not offer unregu - lated products and services in conjunction with reg - ulated ones. However, different legal entities within the same economic group can offer regulated and unregulated products separately, and regulators have not opposed this practice. In any case, this must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine the regulator’s possible interpretation. 2.14 Impact of AML and Sanctions Rules AML rules impact fintech companies because the regulations do not distinguish between established legacy players and fintech companies. Thus, the obli - gations and responsibilities will be the same across the board except for specific vertical regulations. Law 23 of 2015 (“Law 23”) adopts measures to pre - vent money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and dictates other provisions which are further regulated by Executive Decree 363 of 2015 (“Regulation of Law 23”). Article 22 of Law 23 lists the financially obliged subjects, which the SBP supervises
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