The Brazil Senate unanimously approved a bill today that would delay implementation of the Brazil General Law for Data Protection, or LGPD, until January 1, 2021 and enforcement of fines and penalties until August 1, 2021. The LGPD is currently scheduled to take effect on August 15, 2020.
The draft bill — one of four pending in the Senate that propose to delay implementation of the LGPD — is broad in scope, encompassing not only the LGPD, but also statutes of limitations and sanctions for certain anti-competitive conduct. Senator Antonio Anastasia, the sponsor of the bill, explained that the bill is intended to give businesses an opportunity to focus on other urgent matters arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Passed in August 2018, the LGPD is the first comprehensive general data protection law in Latin America to be modeled after the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). As with the GDPR, the LGPD sets forth several legal bases for the processing of personal data. Although the LGPD is scheduled to take effect on August 15, the National Data Protection Authority (“ANDP”) responsible for the law’s enforcement has not yet been appointed. This delay has been attributed to the President’s delay in publishing a presidential decree establishing rules to govern the ANDP.
The bill postponing implementation of the LGPD will be sent to the Brazil House of Delegates for consideration. If the House approves the bill, it will then be sent to President Bolsonaro to be signed into law.