Coronavirus postpones Brazil’s Data Privacy Law to January 2021

The Senate approved a bill this morning to suspend specific rules until the end of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In what was a joint initiative by the judicial and legislative branches, the bill forbids evictions until October 30 and adjourns the law that states online purchases can only be returned within a 7-day period. Most importantly, however, it also changes the date for Brazil’s new Data Privacy Law to come into effect.

Initially scheduled to be implemented this October, the Data Privacy Law will now be postponed to January 2021. The original bill presented by Congress had proposed January 2022 as the initial date. Administrative sanctions, however, will only come into effect starting in August 2021. As our Brasilia correspondent Brenno Grillo reported yesterday, governments could take advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to enhance surveillance. Some are already doing so. 

The bill now goes back to the House for a final vote, before being sent for sanctioning by President Jair Bolsonaro.

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