Publicado em 02/05/2020

Published Provisional Measure postponing the entry into force of the Brazilian General Data Protection Law

On April 29 2020, Provisional Measure No. 959/2020 was published, which, among other provisions, establishes that the General Data Protection Law (“LGPD”) will only come into force on May 3, 2021. This measure has immediate effect, but needs to be confirmed, by both legislative houses, under penalty of losing its effects.

According to its original wording, the LGPD would come into force on August 16, 2020, with little more than 100 days remaining for companies to adjust their operations related to personal data. However, given the current scenario of uncertainty, since the beginning of the pandemic caused by COVID-19, there has been discussions about postponing the deadline for the law to come into force, or at least postponing the application of administrative sanctions to companies for non-compliance with that law.

In this context, at the beginning of April, Bill no. 1.179/2020 was approved in the Senate. This bill also intends to amend the vacatio legis of the LGPD, providing that the law will come into force on 01/01/2021, and that the administrative sanctions of the LGPD could only be applied from August next year. This PL is pending review and approval by the House of Representatives and, if approved, would still need to be sanctioned by the president. 

In summary, with the publication of Provisional Measure 959, there are now two legislative instruments being processed in parallel in Congress, which intend to postpone the entry into force of the LGPD: Provisional Measure 959 will bring LGPD into force on May 3, 2021, while Provisional Measure 1179/2020 will postpone the entry into force of the LGPD to January 1, 2021. In the meantime, there have been demonstrations by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and other entities against the postponement of the LGPD. Therefore, a scenario in which the LGPD still comes into force in August 2020 cannot be ruled out if MP 959 lapses and PL 1.179/2020 does not change the original wording of the law. 

Considering that there are several factors of uncertainty as to the effective date of entry into force of the Law, the most conservative and safe scenario still indicates that companies should consider the August 2020 deadline for its adequacy to the LGPD in order to minimize eventual losses in the event the Law is not postponed after all. 

The Data Protection and Privacy team at Dias Carneiro Advogados will continue to monitor developments in the matter.