The company was investigated for personal data commercialization and for the lack of a data protection officer. According to the legal procedure prior to the sanction, the company offered a list of personal telephone numbers of voters for use in promoting electoral campaign materials in 2020. LGPD prohibits the commercialization and improper use of individuals' personal information. On top of that, the company did not have a designated professional responsible for any activities related to the use, processing, and storage of personal information. According to the LGPD, companies are required to have a Data Protection Officer responsible for ensuring the adequate protection of individuals' data and compliance with the law. ANPD stated that Telekall failed to demonstrate that it did not engage in high-risk data processing, which would be a condition to exempt the requirement of appointing a Data Protection Officer.
The company was penalized for the following violations of LGPD: (i) the failure to appoint a Data Protection Officer, (ii) the lack of a legal basis for data processing, and (iii) non-compliance with ANPD's requests during its administrative process with respect to the company. In March 2023, ANPD released a list of the initial seven entities under investigation, consisting of six public agencies in addition to the company which has been convicted. The first fine issued by ANPD comes nearly three years after the approval of the law, which was approved in September 2020.
Authored by Isabel Costa Carvalho, Lizandra Baptista and Julio Alves.
*Hogan Lovells is registered and licensed as a foreign legal consultancy with the Brazilian Bar Association. In accordance with Brazilian Bar Association rules, Hogan Lovells does not practice Brazilian law and the discussion above regarding Brazilian laws, rules and/or regulations has been obtained from publicly-available sources and is for informational purposes only. The discussion above is limited by the nature of our practice in Brazil and is solely derived from publicly-available information. The information contained herein should not to be construed as legal advice or otherwise be a substitute for advice provided by practitioners licensed to practice Brazilian law.
