What Is the LGPD? Brazil’s Data Protection Law Explained with Best Practices and Compliance Tips

Overview of the LGPD Legislation

The Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD — Law No. 13.709/2018) is Brazil’s comprehensive privacy statute governing the tratamento de dados pessoais across public and private sectors. It harmonizes rules nationwide and applies to any organization that processes personal data in Brazil or targets individuals located in Brazil, regardless of where the organization is established.

The law defines personal data broadly as any information related to an identified or identifiable natural person. It also sets stricter rules for sensitive personal data, such as health, biometric, genetic, racial or ethnic origin, religious belief, political opinion, and union membership. Children’s data receives heightened protection and must be handled in the child’s best interest.

The Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD) is the national regulator responsible for issuing guidance, supervising compliance, and applying sanctions. Organizations must be able to demonstrate conformity with the LGPD’s principles and obligations through policies, records, controls, and accountability mechanisms.

Lawful bases for processing

• Consent given by the data subject (with clear, specific, and revocable terms).
• Compliance with legal or regulatory obligations.
• Execution of contracts or preliminary procedures at the data subject’s request.
• Exercise of rights in judicial, administrative, or arbitration procedures.
• Protection of life or physical safety.
• Tutela da saúde when carried out by health professionals or entities.
• Legitimate interests, balanced against fundamental rights and expectations.
• Protection of credit and certain research or public interest bases as defined by law.

Principles of Data Protection

The LGPD requires you to embed privacy by design and by default, following core principles that guide lawful and ethical processing. These principles inform every stage of the data lifecycle—from collection to retenção de dados pessoais and deletion.

• Purpose: process data for legitimate, specific, explicit purposes communicated to the data subject.
• Adequacy: ensure processing is compatible with the informed purposes.
• Necessity: limit collection to what is strictly necessary for the purpose.
• Free Access: provide clear, easy, and free access to data and processing details.
• Data Quality: keep data accurate, relevant, up to date as needed.
• Transparency: inform data subjects plainly about processing activities and shared parties.
• Security: adopt technical and organizational measures to protect personal data.
• Prevention: proactively prevent privacy risks and harms.
• Non-Discrimination: do not process for unlawful or abusive discriminatory purposes.
• Accountability: demonstrate compliance with measures, audits, and governance.

Roles and Responsibilities

Controller (Controlador)

The controller defines purposes and means of tratamento de dados pessoais and bears primary accountability. You must document processing bases, inform data subjects, manage vendors, and respond to rights requests within reasonable timeframes.

• Establish and communicate purposes and legal bases.
• Implement governance, policies, and risk controls.
• Contractually oversee processors and international transfers.
• Coordinate incident handling and notificação de incidentes to ANPD and data subjects when required.

Processor (Operador)

The processor acts on the controller’s instructions and must adopt suitable security measures. You support audits, maintain records proportional to processing risk, and assist the controller in fulfilling obligations.

• Process only as documented by the controller.
• Apply safeguards, keep logs, and notify the controller of incidents.
• Help with data subject requests and deletion or portabilidade de dados operations as instructed.

Encarregado de Proteção de Dados (Data Protection Officer)

The Encarregado de Proteção de Dados (DPO) is the point of contact for data subjects and the ANPD. You advise on compliance, foster a privacy culture, and monitor policies and controls.

• Receive complaints and communications from data subjects.
• Interface with the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados.
• Guide staff and vendors on best practices and obligations.
• Support privacy impact assessments and accountability reporting.

Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD)

The ANPD regulates, educates, and enforces. It can issue guidance, conduct investigations, and apply sanções administrativas proportionally to the severity and context of violations.

Best Practices for LGPD Compliance

Build governance and accountability

• Appoint an Encarregado de Proteção de Dados and define roles across legal, security, and business teams.
• Adopt a privacy governance framework with policies, risk criteria, and executive oversight.
• Maintain auditable records to demonstrate compliance on demand.

Map processing and retention

• Create a living inventory of tratamento de dados pessoais, including purposes, legal bases, recipients, and retenção de dados pessoais.
• Document data flows across systems and vendors; minimize collection and retention.
• Set deletion/anonymization schedules aligned with legal and business needs.

Manage lawful bases and consent

• Assign and document a valid legal basis for each purpose.
• Use informed, granular, and easily revocable consent where required.
• Apply extra safeguards for sensitive and children’s data.

Enable rights, including portabilidade de dados

• Build standardized procedures and SLAs for access, correction, deletion, and portabilidade de dados.
• Provide simple channels to submit requests and track outcomes.
• Record decisions and communicate them transparently.

Manage vendors and cross-border transfers

• Assess processors for security, privacy maturity, and incident history.
• Use contracts covering instructions, security, audits, and cooperation on rights requests.
• For international transfers, rely on LGPD-permitted mechanisms and keep documentation current.

Security by design and by default

• Embed privacy risk reviews into product, analytics, and AI workflows.
• Adopt encryption, strong access controls, pseudonymization, and monitoring.
• Test controls regularly and remediate vulnerabilities promptly.

Prepare for incidents and notificação de incidentes

• Maintain an incident response plan with roles, decision trees, and communication templates.
• Define criteria for notifying the ANPD and affected individuals when risk or harm is likely.
• Run tabletop exercises and preserve evidence, timelines, and remediation steps.

Train, audit, and improve

• Provide recurring, role-based training for employees and contractors.
• Audit high-risk processing, vendors, and special categories of data.
• Track metrics (requests handled, incidents, completion of actions) and refine controls.

Data Subject Rights Under LGPD

Individuals (titulares) benefit from a robust set of rights. You must offer clear channels to exercise these rights, verify identity proportionally, and respond within reasonable timeframes, documenting your decisions.

• Confirmation and Access: confirm whether you process data and provide access to it.
• Correction: rectify incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated data.
• Anonymization, Blocking, or Deletion: apply when data is unnecessary, excessive, or processed unlawfully.
• Portability: enable portabilidade de dados to another service or product provider, when regulated and technically feasible.
• Information on Sharing: identify public and private entities with whom you share data.
• Consent Management: inform about the option to deny consent and its consequences; allow revocation.
• Automated Decisions: request review of decisions made solely on automated processing that affect interests.
• Petition: lodge complaints with the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados.

To operationalize these rights, maintain a centralized request portal, define response workflows across teams, and log outcomes for accountability and continuous improvement.

Security Measures and Incident Notification

Core security safeguards

• Risk assessment: classify data, map threats, and prioritize controls for high-risk processing.
• Access and identity: least privilege, multifactor authentication, and periodic access reviews.
• Data protection: encryption at rest and in transit, key management, and data minimization.
• Systems hardening: patching, configuration baselines, and network segmentation.
• Monitoring and logging: detect anomalies, preserve logs, and investigate promptly.
• Resilience: backups, disaster recovery, and business continuity testing.

Incident response and notificação de incidentes

• Detect and triage events rapidly; determine scope, impacted data, and risk to titulares.
• Contain, eradicate, and recover while documenting actions and timelines.
• Notify the ANPD and affected individuals when the incident may cause relevant risk or damage, including facts, affected categories, measures taken, and guidance for protection.
• Conduct post-incident reviews to fix root causes and update controls and training.

Penalties and Enforcement Mechanisms

The ANPD applies sanções administrativas proportionally, considering severity, cooperation, and remediation. Sanctions escalate when violations persist, involve sensitive data, or create significant risk or harm.

• Warning with corrective measures and deadlines.
• Single or daily fines of up to 2% of a company’s Brazilian revenue, capped at 50 million BRL per infraction.
• Publicizing the infraction after verified investigation.
• Blocking or deletion of personal data related to the violation.
• Partial suspension of database operation or processing activities for a set period.
• Partial or total prohibition of activities related to data processing.

Enforcement approach

Administrative proceedings ensure due process, with opportunities to present defenses and evidence. Mitigating factors include swift remediation, cooperation with the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados, and strong preventive programs.

Conclusion

The LGPD sets clear principles, roles, and rights to make privacy a disciplined business practice. By mapping processing, minimizing collection, enforcing strong security, and preparing for notificação de incidentes, you build trust and resilience. Treat compliance as an ongoing program—rooted in governance, transparency, and measurable outcomes.

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the LGPD?

The LGPD protects fundamental rights of freedom and privacy by regulating tratamento de dados pessoais in Brazil. It establishes principles, lawful bases, and safeguards so organizations handle personal data transparently, securely, and for legitimate, specific purposes.

Who is required to comply with the LGPD?

Any public or private entity that processes personal data in Brazil or offers goods or services to individuals located in Brazil must comply, regardless of where the entity is established. This includes controllers and processors in domestic and cross-border contexts.

What are the obligations of a Data Protection Officer under the LGPD?

The Encarregado de Proteção de Dados (DPO) serves as the contact point for data subjects and the ANPD, advises on compliance, promotes training, monitors policies and controls, and supports incident handling and responses to rights requests.

What penalties can be applied for non-compliance with the LGPD?

Sanctions range from warnings and corrective measures to fines of up to 2% of Brazilian revenue (capped at 50 million BRL per infraction), publicizing the violation, blocking or deletion of data, and suspension or prohibition of processing activities.