On Tuesday (19), the House Floor approved the Bill 836/03, proposed by Deputy Bernardo Ariston (PMDB-RJ), which creates a positive credit record of consumers, with information on payments punctually made by them. That bill, which also regulates the actuation of private databanks for credit protection (such as SPC and Serasa), follows now to Senate.

The approved text belongs to a substitution amendment by Deputy Maurício Rands (PT-PE), who is its rapporteur of the Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship (CCJ). The opening of a positive credit record will depend on a written authorization, and on the signature of a specific contract, both in case of individuals or corporations. They can also determine the cancellation of the positive record at anytime, provided that there is no credit operation with pending payments.

Although the text does not oblige the databanks to communicate to the recorded person the inclusion of information on punctual payments, it could forbid managers to supply his/her positive history. That is valid both for individuals and for corporations.

Spread
According to Rands, in all countries in which that record was created, there have been two consequences: the broadening of credit offer, and the drop in interest rates. Rands mentioned Canada, Chile, South Korea and the United States as examples. “By approving that bill, the Chamber will give to Brazil a modern legislation, which protects the rights of consumers, thus enabling the poorer population to a broader access to credit”, he affirmed.

The leader of Psol, Deputy Ivan Valente (SP), criticized the argument proposed by the defenders of that project, that the positive credit record will help reduce banking spread. According to him, several measures of information sharing, which had been adopted before, did not have that effect.

Consumer will have the right to access record
To improve the citizens’ control on their data, PL 836/03 obliges credit-protection companies to supply to them, when requested: the content of recorded information on them; what sources requested the inclusion of data and their contact phone numbers; those who shared that information; those who made any query about them in the last six months.

The recorded people will be entitled to request the impugnation of data on them. The response to that request should be given in up to ten workdays. If the complaint is accepted, the exclusion of the error should happen in the same deadline. If not, the manager should justify in written why he/she has maintained that information.

If the information on the record changes, the databank manager should, upon the consumer’s request, notice those who made queries on him/her.

Information sharing
The bill allows information sharing among databanks, except those protected by secrecy. However, those in the positive record depend on the express authorization of the recorded person.

The use of data for market researches and for the identification of potential clients, or by companies of direct marketing, can only happen with the express authorization of the recorded person, who can cancel it at any time.

The reclusion, from one to three years, is the penalty established for the responsible person for the databank which, with malice (intention to harm), opens a positive record without the express authorization in written by the consumer. That penalty is independent from the ones already previewed in the Consumers’ Defense Code (Law 8.078/90).

The right to file a suit for pain and suffering or material damages because of undue information by the databank will prescribe in five years, since the date that information was recorded.

The use of information for objectives which are not previewed in the bill, without legal authorization, will be considered as breach of bank secrecy.

Report - Eduardo Piovesan
Editing - João Pitella Junior
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda