BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) on Friday published a timeline outlining planned steps for monitoring and enforcing age verification under the country’s Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA), which took effect Tuesday.
As XBIZ reported earlier this week, 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. Those guidelines mandate that providers of adult content require age verification beyond self-declaration, and apply 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 such products and services.
The ANPD statement issued Friday lays out stages for compliance monitoring as the agency ramps up enforcement of the new rules.
Stage 1, now underway, will include — in addition to Friday’s release of preliminary guidelines for adoption of reliable AV mechanisms — creation of a web page disseminating information about the Digital ECA, and monitoring of adoption of AV solutions by app stores and operating systems. In April, the ANPD will also conduct a public consultation to gather input for improving interpretation and application of the law.
Stage 2, which will begin in August, will include publication of more specific guidelines and parameters for AV solutions, followed by an “adaptation and monitoring period” during which regulated sites can adapt to the ANPD's determinations while the agency evaluates the efficacy of their age verification solutions. Starting in November, the ANPD will also publish updated regulations for inspection and application of administrative sanctions. During this stage, the ANPD will expand monitoring to other regulated entities, such as adult sites and platforms, based on information gathered during Stage 1's consultation, and on the assessed risk level of sites and services.
Stage 3, commencing in January 2027, will include inspection actions to ensure compliance, plus updating of regulations for inspection, investigation of possible infractions, and application of administrative sanctions and penalties.
The agency also addressed initial parameters for AV implementation, intended to provide “predictability and legal certainty” to regulated platforms as the law takes effect.
Largely reflecting similar frameworks set forth by regulators in the U.K. and the EU, those parameters include criteria such as proportionality, accuracy, robustness, reliability, privacy protection and nondiscrimination.
More specific and granular metrics for addressing those issues remain forthcoming pending the release of future guidance.
