The letter of the law
According to Law 3206, the services offered by private investigator firms are limited exclusively to: the search for missing individuals, items or animals that have been stolen; the protection of commercial rights; and participation in the investigation of a crime up to the point that the relevant authorities take over. Licenses are not issued to individuals who have a criminal record or who have worked in the police force, state financial services or telecoms, unless five years have elapsed since they left their post. PIs are allowed to glean information from the public activities or behavior of an individual as long as they do not violate third-party privacy laws. People operating a PI office without a license are liable for a jail sentence of three years and a fine of -50,000.
