On May 15th, 2012, the Law No. 12,527/2011 entered
into force. Such Law, which regulates broad access to public
information, in accordance with Brazilian Federal Constitution,
item XXXIII of Art. 5, § 3º of Art. 37 and §
2º of Art. 216, brought a significant change in the way
public information shall be disclosed to the society.
Information is considered as any type of data, regardless of its
format, which can be used for producing and transmitting knowledge.
Access to information, however, does not include data used in
scientific or technological research and development projects when
their disclosure may affect the society and/or State safety.
The basic guidelines of Law 12,527 are: (i) the rule is that all
public documents shall be publicly disclosed and the data
confidentiality shall be exceptional; (ii) the disclosure of
information of public interest shall occur regardless of requests;
(iii) the disclosure of information shall be made by means of any
type
