Brazil-EU mutual adequacy: What changes for data transfers, and what doesn't

In January, the European Commission recognized that Brazil ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from the European Union under the General Data Protection Regulation. In Resolution No. 32/2026, Brazil's data protection authority, the Agência Nacional de Proteção de Dados, recognized the EU as an international organization providing an adequate level of protection for purposes of international data transfers under its General Data Protection Law.

While these acts are clearly aligned, they are distinct, each adopted within its own legal order. For those dealing with contracts and operations daily, this is a milestone that can feel like it "solves everything." That is precisely the risk. 

Adequacy simplifies the legal mechanism used to transfer data, but it does not, by itself, make the underlying processing compliant. From Brazil's perspective, there are key takeaways on what changes and what does not.

The adequacy decision in the Brazilian legal and operational context

In Brazil, adequacy functions as a shortcut within the LGPD's chapter on international data transfers. Article 33 provides an exhaustive list of grounds that allow international data transfers, including those to countries or international organizations that provide a level of personal data protection adequate to that set out in the LGPD. In practical terms, once a destination is recognized as adequate, which depends on a formal act by the ANPD following an assessment of the destination's level of protection, there is no need to rely on another Article 33 mechanism to legitimize the transfer because the adequacy decision itself is one of those mechanisms.