During a debate in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday (5), experts argued that the protection of personal data, including digitized data, should be among the fundamental rights provided for in the Constitution. That is what PEC 17/19 says. The topic was discussed at a public hearing of the special committee that analyzes the proposal.
The data in question are generated when a citizen makes a registration, a purchase, or even when surfing the internet, and have been marketed by companies and used for marketing.
Representative of the Rio de Janeiro Institute of Technology and Society, Christian Perrone, said that in most sophisticated international legal systems data protection is a fundamental right.
He cited as an example the European Union, which has in its Charter of Fundamental Rights the rights to privacy and data protection. Perrone also spoke of the impact that PEC can have on Brazil.
"It updates the Brazilian legal system and brings confidence, certainty and a commitment of the country with data protection," he said. "We understand that it also explains that the country is serious and that it is interested in being a relevant actor in the economy. in this new information age, in this digital age. ”
Evolution
Vítor Morais de Andrade, representative of various entities in the media sector, including the Brazilian Data Marketing Association (Abemd), presented a study by Brascom Tecnologia that reveals that in 2022 there will be 3.6 devices connected per person in Brazil. . Smartphones will account for 44% of total data traffic.
“This reality of data movement obviously requires that we evolve and adapt our legal system so that the issue of privacy today is dealt with by a new bias, which is the subject of data protection. And this adaptation, which now comes through the PEC, and the PEC stands as an important pillar of this legislative architecture, obviously makes the sector support the PEC. ”
Absence of government
The rapporteur of the proposal, Deputy Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), took advantage of the meeting to protest against the absence of the federal government in the debates on the PEC.
He said representatives of the Ministries of Economy, Science and Technology and the Office of Institutional Security have already been invited, but no one has responded to the invitations. Orlando Silva considers contempt for Parliament as one of the reasons for the absence of government bodies in the deliberations.
The deputy also recalled that when the Constitution was made in 1988, the constituents could not foresee the need to include in the Magna Carta the right to data protection, which today became commodity.
Orlando also spoke of the possibility for states and municipalities to legislate on the issue, since the PEC places data protection legislation as the responsibility of the Union.
“In my view, the competence of this matter should be that of the Union, leaving additional regulatory competence for municipalities to collaborate in ensuring people's privacy while developing connectivity policies – as long as there is no contradiction with the Constitution. nor with the General Data Protection Act ”.
The General Data Protection Act was passed in August 2018. It establishes rules for the collection and processing of information from individuals, companies and public institutions.