INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CLIENT ALERT FEBRUARY/2015 Public consultations for the regulation of the Brazilian Internet Law (Marco Civil da Internet) and for the approval of the Data Protection Bill of Law PRACTICE AREA Intellectual Property Information Technology & Communications On January 28, 2015, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice launched two public debates that are directly linked to the use of the Internet and to the protection of personal data: Law No. 12.965/2014 (the “Internet Law”) which will be further regulated by a Decree-Law and the Data Protection Bill of Law (PL No. 181/14). Initially, public debates will remain open until February 26, 2015, but the deadline may be extended. Interested parties may provide opinions through the web portals available or directly through Twitter and Facebook. COORDINATOR Valdir Rocha Fábio Pereira The Internet Law addressed certain matters that would be subject to further regulation. Thus, the public consultation has been divided into four niches: § Net neutrality § Privacy online § Logs retention For further information, please send a message to [email protected] § Other issues and considerations Net Neutrality – Free Internet Article 9 of the Internet Law deals with net neutrality, which provides fair treatment within network traffic data packets, regardless of their content, origin and destination, service, terminal or application. The law has brought the concept of neutrality, but left the limits of the exceptions to such concept to be further regulated. Thus, this niche aims at discussing the specific exceptions to the neutrality principle, limited to technical requirements for the proper provision of services and applications, as well as prioritization of emergency services. This document was prepared exclusively for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice or an invitation to an attorney-client relationship. If you have any questions, our lawyers are available for clarification. It is forbidden to distribute, reproduce or transmit this document, in full or in part, without the prior consent of Veirano Advogados. © 2015 Veirano Advogados. All rights reserved. The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI) and the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) will be consulted for the regulation of exceptions. The CGI, responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, extended the deadline of the Contributions Call for regulation of the Internet Law until February 20, 2015. Also, according to information provided by Anatel, the agency also intends to organize a public consultation on the net neutrality principle and has already set up working groups to discuss occasional exceptions to the principle. Privacy Online The Internet Law contains certain provisions which intend to ensure the privacy of internet users and to protect personal data. However, the Internet Law generally ensures privacy rights to internet users and, thus, this niche of the consultation aims at clarifying the law’s principles and rules, as well as the safety procedures and transparency which shall be specified thereunder. The discussion should permeate attempts for balancing an appropriate degree of protection, since strict safety standards generate costs for the parties which are responsible for data retention while the absence of an appropriate degree of care with information security may expose citizens’ data. Logs Retention Retention of access records may facilitate the investigation of crimes committed over the internet without disregarding privacy or the users’ freedom of expression, guaranteed by the Internet Law. This niche will discuss which access providers and internet applications are subject to retention of records obligations, as well as procedures to retain and request connection logs. Other issues and considerations This niche will allow for clarifications on certain issues that have been addressed by the Internet Law and which have not been covered by other sections of the public consultation. Also, it is possible to provide contributions in connection with governmental initiatives relating to the Internet within the limits of the purposes of the Decree-Law, provided that constitutional guarantees are respected: governmental initiatives in connection with topics covered by the law and detailing of legal concepts that are not covered by other niches of the consultation, as well as other considerations. Data Protection Bill of Law In addition to the public consultation on the regulation of the Internet Law, a consultation on the Data Protection Bill of Law has also been launched. The Bill of Law provides for the processing of personal data and intends to protect the personality and dignity of natural persons. One of the aspects of the discussion is the conceptual difference among personal, anonymous and sensitive data and measures to protect them. The discussion platform will be based on the suggestion of a text that was extracted from the public debate occurred between 2010 and 2011. The Ministry of Justice considers that it is essential to have a legal framework on data protection in Brazil, based on consent and legitimate use of data, mechanisms for rights exercise and minimum security and privacy standards for citizens. It should be noted that the Internet Law has no definition of personal or sensitive data. Our team at Veirano Advogados is available for further clarifications concerning the public consultations for the regulation of the Internet Law and approval of the Data Protection Bill of Law. Valdir de Oliveira Rocha Filho [email protected] Fábio Luiz Barboza Pereira [email protected] Ieda Nogueira Dutra [email protected] Joao Carlos Arieira Harres [email protected] veirano.com.br Rio de Janeiro São Paulo Porto Alegre Brasília