The Plenary Session of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala announced, on 4 August 2022, the approval of Decree 39-2022 for the Law on Prevention and Protection Against Cybercrime ('the Law'). In particular, the Law aims to protect the personal data of Guatemalans, and to criminalise cybercrime.

Furthermore, the Law:

• establishes the Institutional Security Centre for Technical Response to Computer Incidents;
• promotes actions to prevent attacks on data or computer systems;
• qualifies cybercrime as a criminal offences, defined as offences carried out through computer systems or systems that use information technologies, and whose purpose is to harm the legal, personal, patrimonial assets of the victim;
• regulates relationships and cooperation between the public and private sector; and
• aims to safeguard the security of the individuals' data in the cyberspace.

You can read the press release, only available in Spanish, here.

UPDATE (30 August 2022)

Congress approves objections to Law on Prevention and Protection Against Cybercrime

The Plenary Session of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala announced, on 24 August 2022, that it had approved observations and objections to the Law on Prevention and Protection Against Cybercrime. In particular, the Congress outlined that the Law will now be filed with the Legislative Directorate, rather than being sent to the Executive for publication.

You can read the press release, only available in Spanish, here.