Brazil Creates Regulatory Agency for Data Protection Law

Brazilian attorneys are questioning the independence of a new regulatory agency under the president’s control that will enforce Brazil’s 2018 data protection law.

Former president Michel Temer Dec. 28 created the agency under the presidency as one of his last acts before leaving office. The National Congress had approved legislation containing a National Authority for Data Protection under the justice ministry, but Temer vetoed that section of the law, saying only the president could create a regulatory agency.

Temer’s move ended companies’ concern that they would be operating in a judicial no-man’s land without a regulator. But attorneys told Bloomberg ...