BRASILIA, Brazil — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday signed a decree establishing guidelines for new regulations requiring adult websites to age-verify users located in Brazil.
Brazil’s Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA), which took effect Tuesday, is aimed at protecting children and adolescents online. The law mandates that providers of adult content require age verification beyond self-declaration, and applies regardless of where site operators are based.
The law also requires marketplaces and delivery apps for adult/erotic products and services to verify purchasers’ ages and block minors from accessing those products and services.
The law will be enforced by the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), which was recently elevated to the status of regulatory agency, and which helped draft the new decree.
The ANPD has also published a document answering common questions about the Digital ECA. The document notes that, in addition to implementing age verification before allowing users to view adult content, sites must hide or blur explicit content by default if it is accessible prior to the verification process, and must prevent minors from creating or maintaining profiles or accounts.
Noncompliance with the law will result first in a warning, with a 30-day deadline for adopting corrective measures. After that, the government may impose a fine of up to 10% of a site operator’s revenue in Brazil, or up to 1,000 Brazilian reais (approximately $195 dollars) per registered user, with a maximum total of 50 million reais (approximately $9.73 million).
The ANPD has yet to issue an official timeline for compliance, or specific/technical requirements for age verification solutions. However, the Q&A document states that the agency will establish implementation guidelines and issue guidance on best practices sometime in the future.
As XBIZ reported last month, the Brazilian Association of Adult Entertainment Industry Professionals (ABIPEA), which launched in September, has offered to provide technical and institutional guidance on compliance with the new legal framework to companies based in or outside of Brazil. ABIPEA will also host a dedicated space during the industry trade show Intimi Expo, which will take place March 20-22 in São Paulo, focused on “educating and guiding the adult industry regarding the Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents, its practical implications and compliance strategies.”
