Executive Decree 30 of the Ministry of Government, published in Official Gazette No. 30647-A of November 2, 2026, regulates coordination between the State and private technology providers to send early earthquake warnings to mobile devices. It takes effect upon promulgation (article 7) and comes just over three weeks after the earthquake of October 9, 2026.

Article 1 specifies that these are systems that detect earthquakes already under way, not predictions, and that their warnings are informational: they are not official alerts or evacuation orders, which remain the responsibility of the National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc), under article 4. Article 2 allows providers to operate detection and warnings, including with automatic activation, and lets the warning be the first notice of the event, without waiting for an official declaration or State authorization for each alert. Users must be able to turn the feature off.

The most demanding component concerns personal data. Article 3 limits the use of the information to detecting earthquakes and issuing warnings, with the lowest compatible geographic precision, and bans its use for marketing, advertising, commercial profiling or individual tracking. Names and phone numbers may not be collected for this feature. Automatic activation does not amount to consent, and all processing must rest on a lawful basis under Law 81 of 2019.

Article 5 imposes documentation duties on operators: they must provide the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) with information on the data processed, its legal basis, transfers and retention periods, and tell users whether the service carries a cost. Data supervision belongs exclusively to the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai). Article 6 distinguishes telecommunications companies that only carry the warnings, without generating or controlling them, unless they also operate the system. For operating system makers and app developers, these rules could provide legal certainty to activate in Panama alert features available in other markets.

Still pending are the coordination protocols among Sinaproc, Antai, the AIG and the University of Panama's Geosciences Institute (article 6), and verification that each provider complies with the data rules. The decree warns that neither reception nor advance notice is guaranteed in every case (article 2).

Nexo Capital will follow the implementation of Executive Decree 30.

Research assisted by Sentinel, with editorial verification of official sources. Discover Legislat.ai