The year 2020, plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic, has passed. European countries suffered amid the coronavirus's spread, with Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France most negatively affected in the first wave. Subsequently, during the second wave, the United Kingdom and Portugal ended up leading in infection rates and discovering a new yet more contagious strain.

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The General Data Protection Law (LGPD), created in 2018, finally came into force in Brazil in 2020. The National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) was structured accordingly to begin managing and controlling the effective protection of personal data. However, to date, the ANPD has not yet started to standardize obscure aspects of the law and address gaps that need regulation.

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The recently formed National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has a challenging mission to standardize or regulate various situations that require more detailed regulation by the primary authority responsible for personal data in Brazil.

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Recently, in an article on this website, the USA’s 2003 CAN-SPAM law that helped regulate spam was mentioned (Sending and Posting Advertisement in Mass, translated into Portuguese as ““Enviar e Postar Publicidade em Massa,” or Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages, which translates into Portuguese as “Mensagens Perturbadoras, Estúpidas e Sem Noção”).

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Under the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) now in force, a frequently asked question is whether collection companies contracted by financial institutions, retail chains, or other lending organizations can continue to call individuals – allegedly using their personal data shared by the companies which contracted the service and, therefore, creditors of the vindicated amount – or not.

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The National Council for AdvertisingSelf-Regulation (CONAR) launched the Guide for Digital Influencers in November2020 to establish standards and ethical criteria in advertising to be carriedby the channels used by such influencers.

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In this unique year of 2020, the significant milestone in the area of privacy and protection of personal data in the United States of America (USA) remains undoubtedly the CCPA - California Consumer Privacy Act, which started to protect the citizens of the State of California against commercial use of their personal data without their consent. But does privacy and protection of personal data in the US come down to the CCPA only?

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The Governor of the State of São Paulo, João Agripino da Costa Doria Junior – better known as João Doria – sanctioned State Bill # 1212/2019 on December 1, 2020. The bill was authored by State Deputy Alex de Madureira as he is known, since his name is Alexander Muniz de Oliveira, being born in Piracicaba, SP, and affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

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The General Data Protection Law (LGPD) – Law 13.709 / 2018 – was designed to standardize the protection of personal data handled by third parties (individuals, companies, or the government) for commercial purposes.

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According to Reuters, Pfizer Inc. filed a lawsuit on June 26, 2020, to make it possible to help beneficiaries of the federal healthcare program - Medicare - pay for two drugs to treat a rare and sometimes fatal heart disease, and that cost $225,000 a year.

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Corruption is a topic that always attracts the attention of the media and society.  In some ways, it resembles a kind of metastatic societal cancer, in which a cell released into the bloodstream may burst like a new tumor, anytime, anywhere.

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A TV commercial recently broadcast to promote a vehicle hire application informed viewers that it was the first and only company in the sector security certified by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT).

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Is your risk assessment up to date?  This is a question that should regularly be asked within any financial institution.  Unfortunately, in most cases, the answer is postponed or even ignored, up until the moment when a government agent needs to evaluate that company's compliance program.

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The US Department of Justice (USDOJ) announced a historic nationwide enforcement action against healthcare fraud.  This unprecedented initiative involves 345 charged defendants in 51 federal districts, including more than 100 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals.

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