Brazil-EU Data Flows: Adequacy Decision Coming?

EDPB Reviews Brazil's LGPD Framework as Historic Cross-Border Data Transfer Agreement Nears Completion

December 28, 2025 - The European Data Protection Board has issued its official opinion on Brazil's data protection framework, marking a critical milestone toward eliminating Standard Contractual Clauses for EU-Brazil data transfers and establishing one of the most significant adequacy decisions in global privacy law history.

Breaking Down the EDPB Opinion

On November 4, 2025, the EDPB adopted Opinion 28/2025 assessing the European Commission's draft adequacy decision for Brazil. The Board's evaluation found that Brazil's General Data Protection Law (LGPD), combined with presidential decrees and regulations from the Brazilian Data Protection Authority (ANPD), demonstrates substantial alignment with the GDPR and EU case law.

The EDPB's assessment represents more than a routine regulatory review—it confirms that Brazil's data protection regime provides safeguards essentially equivalent to those required under EU law. This finding paves the way for unrestricted data flows between the two jurisdictions without requiring the additional safeguards currently mandated for international transfers.

What Makes This Decision Unprecedented

According to the ANPD, this adequacy process is "the most comprehensive ever conducted by the European Union, both due to the scope and complexity of the analysis and the potential to consolidate Brazil as an international benchmark in data protection." The mutual recognition effort represents a strategic alignment between two major economic powers, with implications reaching far beyond simple regulatory compliance.

The European Commission first published its draft adequacy decision on September 5, 2025, triggering a formal evaluation process that includes EDPB review, approval from EU Member State representatives, and scrutiny from the European Parliament. Once formally adopted, Brazil will join only 16 other jurisdictions worldwide recognized as providing GDPR-adequate protection, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, and Uruguay.

Key Findings: Where Brazil Excels

The EDPB's opinion highlights several areas where Brazil's framework mirrors or exceeds EU standards:

Constitutional Foundation: Privacy and data protection are enshrined as fundamental rights in Brazil's Federal Constitution, with the Federal Supreme Court consistently interpreting these rights in alignment with international human rights standards.

Regulatory Alignment: The LGPD incorporates core GDPR principles including purpose limitation, necessity, transparency, security, and accountability. Brazil's data protection concepts—personal data, processing, controllers, processors, recipients, and sensitive data—closely match EU definitions.

Independent Oversight: The ANPD operates as an autonomous body with comprehensive regulatory, supervisory, and enforcement powers. Since achieving independence in 2022, the authority has demonstrated both capacity and willingness to investigate infractions and impose sanctions against public and private entities.

Data Subject Rights: Brazilian law provides GDPR-equivalent rights including access, rectification, erasure, portability, and the right to object to automated decision-making. The Habeas Data Law establishes even stricter timelines than GDPR for certain rights, requiring responses to access requests within 10 days and rectification within 15 days.

Standard Contractual Clauses: In August 2024, the ANPD issued Resolution No. 19/2024, establishing comprehensive international data transfer regulations and approving Brazilian Standard Contractual Clauses. The 12-month adaptation period ended August 23, 2025, creating a robust transfer framework closely modeled on EU mechanisms.

Critical Areas Requiring Clarification

Despite the positive assessment, the EDPB identified several issues requiring the European Commission to provide additional clarification or monitoring:

Transparency Limitations: The LGPD permits organizations to withhold certain processing information based on "commercial and industrial secrecy" grounds. The EDPB urges monitoring of how these limitations affect data subject rights and ANPD oversight powers.

Law Enforcement Processing: While Brazil's Federal Supreme Court has interpreted the LGPD to partially apply to criminal investigations and public order maintenance, the EDPB requests clearer specification of the law's applicability to law enforcement and the ANPD's investigatory powers over these authorities.

National Security Scope: The EDPB asks for more precise definitions of what constitutes "national security" under Brazilian law, how LGPD exemptions operate for national security purposes, and details about the Brazilian Intelligence system's data-sharing rules.

Onward Transfers: The Board advises clarification on rules governing subsequent transfers of EU data from Brazil to third countries, ensuring derogations remain truly exceptional and adequate safeguards apply.

Governance Structure: Additional explanation is needed regarding the relationship between Brazil's National Council for Personal Data and Privacy Protection and the ANPD, including their respective roles and interaction mechanisms.

The Business Impact: Eliminating SCCs

For organizations currently managing EU-Brazil data flows, adequacy status would fundamentally transform operations. Companies have spent significant resources implementing and maintaining Standard Contractual Clauses following Brazil's August 2024 SCC regulations. The adequacy decision would eliminate these requirements entirely for EU-Brazil transfers.

Current compliance obligations for Brazil-bound transfers include:

• Executing rigid SCC templates that cannot be modified
• Publishing detailed transfer information on company websites in Portuguese
• Providing SCC copies to data subjects within 15 days of request
• Maintaining extensive transfer documentation
• Conducting regular compliance assessments

Post-adequacy, EU organizations could transfer data to Brazilian partners freely, treating these flows as equivalent to intra-EU transfers. This eliminates complex contractual arrangements, reduces administrative overhead, and provides greater legal certainty for cross-border operations.

The compliance simplification carries particular weight for multinational corporations with operations across both regions and sectors dependent on seamless data flows—technology companies, financial services, healthcare providers, e-commerce platforms, and research institutions.

Reciprocal Recognition: Brazil's Parallel Process

Significantly, Brazil is pursuing reciprocal adequacy recognition of the EU under LGPD provisions. ANPD President Waldemar Gonçalves confirmed that Brazil's adequacy decision recognizing the EU is in final technical analysis stages and will be presented to the ANPD Board of Directors for final deliberation by the end of 2025.

This mutual recognition approach demonstrates unprecedented regulatory cooperation. Both jurisdictions recognize that aligned privacy frameworks create strategic advantages in the global digital economy while maintaining strong individual privacy protections.

The reciprocal adequacy decisions would create a comprehensive transatlantic data protection bridge, benefiting:

• Citizens: Enhanced privacy rights with equivalent protections on both sides
• Businesses: Simplified operations, reduced compliance costs, streamlined international projects
• Regulators: Strengthened cooperation, information sharing, coordinated enforcement
• Innovation: Easier development and deployment of data-intensive technologies like AI and cloud services

Strategic Implications for Latin America

Brazil becoming the third Latin American country to receive EU adequacy status—following Argentina (2003) and Uruguay (2012)—positions the region as a trusted zone for international data transfers. This designation strengthens Brazil's role as a regional leader and could catalyze similar adequacy processes for other Latin American nations with strong data protection frameworks.

The adequacy recognition also reinforces Brazil's position as a strategic hub for data storage and processing in Latin America. With simplified regulatory requirements, European companies expanding into the region may increasingly choose Brazil as their regional base for data operations, driving demand for local data centers and cloud infrastructure.

Timeline and Next Steps

The adequacy adoption process involves several remaining stages:

1. EDPB Opinion: ✅ Completed November 4, 2025
2. Member State Approval: Committee of EU Member State representatives must approve the decision
3. Parliamentary Review: European Parliament and Council conduct oversight
4. Final Adoption: European Commission formally adopts the adequacy decision
5. Implementation: Decision enters into force, periodic review cycle begins

Legal experts anticipate final adoption in early 2026, though the exact timeline depends on the Commission's response to EDPB recommendations and the pace of Member State approvals.

What Organizations Should Do Now

Companies managing EU-Brazil data flows should take proactive steps:

Immediate Actions:

• Map all current data transfer arrangements between EU and Brazilian entities
• Document which transfers rely on SCCs or other transfer mechanisms
• Review existing contracts to identify SCC provisions that may become obsolete
• Monitor official announcements from the European Commission and ANPD

Preparation for Adequacy:

• Update data protection impact assessments to reflect anticipated adequacy status
• Draft revised privacy notices explaining the new transfer framework
• Prepare internal policies for post-adequacy compliance requirements
• Engage with Brazilian partners about ongoing LGPD compliance obligations

Ongoing Compliance:

• Remember that adequacy eliminates SCC requirements but doesn't exempt organizations from LGPD compliance
• Brazilian entities receiving EU data must still comply with all LGPD provisions
• Maintain documentation of transfer purposes, data categories, and retention periods
• Monitor for any conditions or limitations attached to the final adequacy decision

The Broader Context: Global Data Protection Evolution

The Brazil-EU adequacy decision represents a significant moment in global privacy law evolution. As data protection regulations proliferate worldwide, adequacy mechanisms provide critical infrastructure for the international data economy. They enable data flows while maintaining strong privacy protections—a balance essential for digital trade, scientific collaboration, and technological innovation.

The close alignment between LGPD and GDPR demonstrates how modern privacy frameworks increasingly converge around common principles: transparency, purpose limitation, data minimization, security, and individual rights. This convergence facilitates international cooperation and reduces compliance complexity for multinational organizations.

The adequacy process also validates the regulatory maturity of Brazil's data protection regime. ANPD's transformation into an independent authority with demonstrated enforcement capability affirms Brazil's commitment to privacy as a fundamental right. This credibility extends beyond EU recognition to influence Brazil's relationships with other trading partners and positions the country as a trusted jurisdiction for sensitive data processing.

Conclusion: A New Era for Transatlantic Data Flows

The EDPB's positive opinion on Brazil's adequacy moves both jurisdictions significantly closer to establishing frictionless, legally certain data flows across the Atlantic. Once formally adopted, the adequacy decisions—both EU recognition of Brazil and Brazil's reciprocal recognition of the EU—will create one of the most comprehensive bilateral data protection agreements in history.

For privacy professionals and compliance teams, this development offers both opportunities and obligations. The elimination of SCC requirements simplifies operations but doesn't reduce the need for robust data protection practices. Organizations must continue ensuring LGPD compliance, maintaining transparent processing practices, and protecting individual rights.

The adequacy decision ultimately serves three critical goals: facilitating legitimate international data flows, upholding strong privacy protections, and demonstrating that high-quality privacy frameworks can coexist with dynamic digital economies. As Brazil and the EU finalize this historic agreement, they establish a model for privacy cooperation that other jurisdictions may follow in building the global digital future.

This analysis is based on the EDPB Opinion 28/2025 adopted November 4, 2025, the European Commission's draft adequacy decision published September 5, 2025, and official statements from the Brazilian ANPD. Organizations should monitor official channels for final adoption announcements and implementation guidance.

Key Resources:

• EDPB Opinion 28/2025: [European Data Protection Board website]
• European Commission Draft Adequacy Decision: [EC official documentation]
• ANPD Resolution No. 19/2024: [ANPD official website]
• Brazil-EU Adequacy Updates: Monitor both EDPB and ANPD official announcements

About This Analysis: This article provides general information about the Brazil-EU adequacy process and should not be considered legal advice. Organizations should consult with privacy counsel regarding specific compliance obligations and strategic planning for international data transfers.