The regulation of Marco Civil da Internet (Law n. 12,965 / 2014) was the subject of a public debate sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice from 28 January to 30 April 2015. The participants discussed on an online platform the issues that should be addressed on a presidential decree. After the Marco Civil passed through the necessary proceedings at Congress, this new phase then framed the debate on how it can be applied, or what should be understood from its general lines.

The text of the decree will be essential for the future of the Internet in Brazil. The text will establish the lines of enforcement of the net neutrality rule, for instance. The discussion about whether zero-rating plans violate or not the rule was one of a number of important and polemic issues that the decree can address.

The effectiveness of Marco Civil relies on this oncoming decree. Controversially, the State of São Paulo Court of Appeals, for example, issued decisions stating that the obligations and duties created by this law should be not enforced until its regulation is edited. This makes the edition of the regulatory decree become urgent, especially considering that Marco Civil has created important rights to Internet users in Brazil.

The InternetLab followed the entire process of public consultation, producing weekly reports on what was being discussed on the Ministry of Justice platform. At the end of this debate term we conducted an organization of everything that was raised, clarifying:

(i) what are the regulatory issues at stake,

(ii) what are the different solutions that were presented to these questions during the public debate,

(iii) who are the stakeholders involved, and

(iv) based on which arguments.

Click on the image below and access the report produced by our team.