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Brazil moves forward with online data protection efforts

GDPR-inspired Bill was passed this week.
Written by Angelica Mari, Contributing Writer

Brazil has moved towards creating a better data protection environment on the Internet as a new Bill on the topic was passed.

The Bill authored by congressman Milton Monti proposes the creation of a general legal framework to protect data about individuals and businesses online, which would prevent the commercial use of information such as names, telephone numbers and addresses without consent of the user in question.

The draft legislation, which was inspired by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would also see the creation of a government body, dubbed National Data Protection Authority, dedicated to subjects relating to data protection including monitoring, law enforcement and sanctions.

If the proposals become law, the rules would be applicable to any organization collecting and processing data in Brazil - so international companies like Google and Facebook would need to comply with the local regulations. To get access to their data, organizations would need to inform users and delete data after the relationship between the parties has ended or if the user has not requested to be contacted afterwards.

Data leaks are also covered by the Bill. When such occurrences take place, users will need to be informed immediately and the party holding the data will be held responsible for any damage relating to the leak. Additionally, fines of up to 4 percent of revenues will be applicable to the organizations failing to comply.

Before it becomes law, the Bill will need to be analyzed by the Brazilian Senate, the Science, Technology and Innovation commission and the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship commission.

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