Ley No. 787, Ley de Proteccion de Datos Personales
Ley No. 787, 29-Mar-2012; Gaceta Oficial No. 61
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 29 March 2012.
A comprehensive regime rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- Before processing personal data, obtain the data subject's consent, unless a listed exception applies.
- Process sensitive personal data (racial or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religious or philosophical belief, union membership, health or sex life, criminal record, or financial and credit information) only on a general-interest ground recognized by law, the data subject's consent, or a judicial order.
- Process personal data only to the extent adequate, proportional, and necessary for the stated purpose, and adopt technical and organizational security measures against unauthorized access, use, alteration, loss, disclosure, transfer, or dissemination.
- Before transferring personal data outside Nicaragua, confirm the receiving country or organization provides an adequate level of security and protection, and notify the Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales of the transfer.
- Do not send electronic advertising to a person who has expressly stated they do not want to receive it.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales (DIPRODAP), attached to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit
What it reaches
Obligation class
Consent, Data subject rights, Transfer, Security
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 1 states the Act's object as protecting natural or legal persons against automated or non-automated processing of their personal data held in public or private data files. Article 6 makes the data subject's consent the general basis for processing, with narrow exceptions including a judicial order and data drawn from unrestricted public-access sources limited to name, national-identity-document number, and date of birth.
Article 8 gives sensitive personal data (racial or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religious, philosophical or moral belief, union membership, health or sex life, criminal record or administrative infractions, and financial or credit information) a narrower processing basis limited to general-interest grounds recognized by law, the data subject's consent, or a judicial order.
Article 9 requires that all processing be adequate, proportional, and necessary to its stated purpose, and requires the data controller to adopt technical and organizational security measures against unauthorized access, use, alteration, loss, disclosure, transfer, or dissemination.
Articles 14 and 15 prohibit transferring personal data to a country or international body that does not provide adequate levels of security and protection, subject to listed exceptions, and require the data controller to notify the Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales of any transfer it does make.
Article 28 creates the Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales, attached to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, with control, supervision, and protection functions over the treatment of personal data.
Articles 44 through 46 classify infractions as minor or serious and give the Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales power to impose administrative sanctions only (warning, suspension of processing operations, or temporary or permanent closure of a data file), without prejudice to any criminal sanction that may separately apply.
Articles 47 through 52 give the data subject an administrative protection action before the Direccion de Proteccion de Datos Personales and, once that route is exhausted, a constitutional amparo action before the courts.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_modelsautomated_outreach
Read the law
Official text, Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua legislation database (Normas Juridicas de Nicaragua)