BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) on Friday launched a public consultation on developing guidelines for age verification mechanisms under the country’s Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (Digital ECA), which requires adult websites to age-verify users located in Brazil.
According to a statement posted by the ANPD, the consultation, which began Friday and runs until July 9, aims to update the agency’s preliminary guidelines on the subject, published in March.
ANPD Superintendent of Regulation Lucas Borges de Carvalho said, “The Age Verification Guide is an important milestone for the implementation of the Digital ECA. The guidelines presented to society in this consultation seek to establish the regulatory conditions for guaranteeing the rights of children and adolescents in the digital environment and to provide greater predictability and legal certainty in the implementation of the new rules.”
As XBIZ reported in April, the ANPD previously solicited public comment to help improve overall interpretation and application of the Digital ECA, to help the ANPD clarify the scope and general obligations of suppliers of information technology products and services — including providers of adult content — under the new law, which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed in March. That consultation is still in progress and runs until June 15.
The law mandates that providers of adult content require age verification beyond self-declaration and applies regardless of where site operators are based. In addition to addressing initial parameters for AV implementation in the preliminary guidelines, the ANPD has laid out planned stages for compliance monitoring as the agency ramps up enforcement of the new rules. Stage 1, now underway, includes the ongoing public consultations.
According to the ANPD, the final guide to age verification mechanisms will expand on the content of the preliminary guidelines and address “the digital chain of responsibilities and specific requirements for the use of technical solutions such as facial recognition and document verification.”
Anyone wishing to contribute input, comments or questions can do so here. Non-Brazilians using the portal are required to provide passport information.
