What Is Ley No. 172-13 que tiene por objeto integral la protección de los datos personales asentados en archivos, registros públicos, bancos de datos u otros medios técnicos de tratamiento de datos destinados a dar informes, sean estos públicos o privados?
The Dominican Republic’s principal general personal-data statute is Ley No. 172-13. The current official Superintendencia de Bancos record marks the law as vigente and identifies its December 2013 publication. The statute covers personal data in public and private files, records, and databases used to provide reports, while devoting detailed provisions to Sociedades de Información Crediticia (SIC) and credit references. Ley No. 172-13 provides access, rectification, updating, suppression, blocking, and opposition-related protections, and it establishes a judicial habeas-data route. It also contains consent and transfer rules, public-source and marketing-list provisions, professional-list limitations, and a specific supervisory and sanctioning role for the Superintendencia de Bancos in the SIC and credit-reporting area. The reviewed official sources did not identify a single dedicated authority with general supervisory jurisdiction over every personal-data controller. This is directly relevant to credit-reporting-adjacent data brokers and marketing databases, but no official people-search-specific opt-out registry, public-record suppression portal, or named people-search enforcement history was located. The applicable route depends on whether the service is a SIC, a report provider, a marketing list, a public-source database, or another type of controller.
At a glance
- Full name
- Ley No. 172-13 que tiene por objeto integral la protección de los datos personales asentados en archivos, registros públicos, bancos de datos u otros medios técnicos de tratamiento de datos destinados a dar informes, sean estos públicos o privados
- Short code
- Ley 172-13
- Jurisdiction
- Dominican Republic
- Enacted
- 2013
- Last major update
- The Superintendencia de Bancos identifies Ley No. 172-13 as vigente and records its publication in December 2013. No later amending act or single general data-protection authority was located in the reviewed official sources; the law’s SIB oversight is principally tied to credit-reporting and SIC files
- Regulator
- Superintendencia de Bancos for credit-reporting files and Sociedades de Información Crediticia (SIC); no single dedicated general data-protection authority identified
- Private right of action
- Yes
Scope, who Ley 172-13 covers
Protected data
Data subject rights
Right to access personal data held in public or private files and to receive the relevant report or processing information
Right to rectification or updating of inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated data
Right to cancellation or suppression and, where appropriate, blocking after cancellation or during a dispute
Right to invoke judicial habeas data for access, rectification, suppression, or updating, subject to the statutory procedure and standing rules
Right to receive a free SIC credit report up to four times per year at intervals of at least three months, under the statute’s conditions
Right to object to or opt out of specified advertising, prospecting, marketing-list, and professional-list uses
Right to challenge unlawful processing through the responsible database, the applicable SIB/SIC route, and judicial remedies
Notable features
The statute combines a general personal-data and habeas-data framework with detailed credit-reporting rules. It regulates SIC authorization and supervision, free periodic credit-report access, public-source and marketing-list uses, professional lists, transfers, civil compensation, administrative sanctions for SICs, and criminal consequences for specified conduct.
Enforcement & penalties
Penalties: For SIC-related violations, the Superintendencia de Bancos may impose administrative sanctions; Article 81 provides fines of 10–100 minimum salaries for serious or repeated violations of court judgments and permits consequences affecting an SIC’s authorization. The law also provides civil compensation, civil infractions, and criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment for specified unlawful access, disclosure, or processing. These provisions do not establish one universal administrative fine for every non-SIC controller.
Private right of action: Article 16 provides indemnification under common-law rules, and Articles 17–24 establish a judicial habeas-data action with statutory standing and procedure. The availability and remedy for a particular claim remain fact-dependent, and the SIB’s administrative sanctioning role is specifically connected to SIC and credit-reporting supervision.
Relevance to data brokers
Ley No. 172-13 is especially relevant to credit-reporting-adjacent brokers, report databases, and marketing or prospecting lists. It does not, in the reviewed official sources, create a dedicated people-search broker registry or public-record suppression portal, and the law’s public-source and marketing exceptions must be assessed against the specific data and use.
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FAQ
Does the Dominican Republic have a personal-data law?+
Yes. Ley No. 172-13 is the principal statute reviewed here, and the current Superintendencia de Bancos record marks it vigente. It covers general personal-data files and includes detailed rules for credit-reporting SICs.
Can a person correct or delete a Dominican credit or report record?+
The statute provides access, rectification or updating, cancellation or suppression, blocking in appropriate circumstances, and a judicial habeas-data route. SIC reports also have specific access and timing rules, so the correct process depends on the database and request.
Is there a Dominican Republic data-broker opt-out registry?+
No official people-search-specific opt-out registry or public-record suppression portal was located. The law is still relevant to report providers, SICs, marketing lists, and other databases, but authority and remedy depend on the activity.
Official sources & citations
Other international privacy regimes
Ley 172-13 sits in a global ecosystem of data-protection laws. Start with these comparative frameworks, or visit the privacy research hub for the complete jurisdiction index: