Brazil and Argentina Mull Privacy Bills

THE GOVERNMENTS OF both Brazil and Argentina are considering privacy legislation that could lead them further away from the U.S. privacy model, and closer to the European example, hurting DMers.

Brazil’s proposal is “extremely serious,” says Charles Prescott, the Direct Marketing Association’s vice president of international business development and government affairs.

The legislation would require that any company with a list or database get the prior written consent of individuals to put them on the list. In addition, the firms would have to register with the government at a department to be established for that purpose.

Pio Borges, president of DraftWorldwide in Brazil and founder of the Latin American Direct Marketing Federation, adds that the government would have to be informed every time a name was used for a new purpose.

Prescott notes that the legislation applies as much to people who put their Rolodex into their computers as it does to companies maintaining a customer database. Furthermore, exactly what sort of registration would be required is unclear.

The bill has been working its way through Brazil’s legislature for four years and is currently on hold until after the national election on Oct. 4. The runoff election is scheduled for Oct. 25.

Pedro John Meinrath, a founder of the Brazilian DMA and a consultant on this issue, spoke to the senators responsible for the bill and believes he has convinced them to review the project. However, Meinrath doesn’t expect any action to be taken before the end of the year.

Argentina is considering a bill passed three years ago, which was sent back to its parliament for a re-draft. Prescott says the Argentine proposal is similar to European Union directives, and that local direct marketing groups are lobbying to make the proposed law more flexible. Like the EU’s directives, the bill calls for registration of data processors; consent from individuals to be on a database, unless the circumstances are a clear exception; and sanctions for violations.

However, in its current form, the legislation in not clear about what sorts of data can or cannot be transferred and under what circumstances. For example, “It doesn’t say that you can transfer data if you need the data to save a life or fulfill a contract,” Prescott says.

The larger question for DMers is whether Latin America will follow the EU in developing its own privacy policies or if it will follow the United States’ lead. Prescott suggests a mix of elements from both models. “The Spanish government made it a policy to get its Spanish-language trading partners to adopt policies like its own so that it could continue its trading patterns.”