On 26 June 2019, Decree No. 9,854 was published, establishing the National Plan for Internet Things (IoT). The National IoT Plan is an initiative bringing together the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC), the Ministry of Economy and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) with civil society – companies, academia, and other agencies – to ensure that Brazil benefits from IoT technology.
The National IoT Plan was one of the pillars of the Brazilian Digital Transformation Strategy (E-Digital), instituted by Decree 9.319 on 21 March 2018, and a goal of the 200 days of government. It provides an important mechanism for strengthening the national innovation ecosystem and development of IoT.
The policy established by the decree maintains the definition of IoT proposed by MCTIC, formulated by the previous government. The IoT is defined as the infrastructure that integrates the provision of value-added services with physical or virtual connection capabilities where devices are based on existing information and communication technologies and their evolution.
In other words, the IoT is not an Electronic Communication Service, it is an value-added infrastructure. This is mainly relevant at a regulatory fee level – IoT service providers will not be subject to the Fistel fee, the fee for the Telecommunications Inspection Fund. Although Fistel fee fares are low, companies maintain that this tax would prevent the expansion of IoT in the country. However, it looks like this obstacle has been overcome by the new definition.
As mentioned, the new decree establishes the Management and Monitoring Chamber for the Development of Machine-to-Machine and Internet of Things Communication Systems (IoT Chamber), as an advisory body to accompany the implementation of the National Internet of Things Plan. The IoT Chamber will be composed of the MCTIC, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Regional Development.
The role of the IoT Chamber will be to monitor the implementation of the IoT plans initiatives and to create and encourage partnerships between public and private sectors. There will be no participation from any entity of society including businesses, consumers or scientific entities. However, according to the decree, the MCTIC will identify priority areas for IoT solutions applications, including – but not limited to – health, industry and rural. The MCTIC will operate under a criteria of supply, demand and local development capacity.
Brazil is seeking to promote E-Digital transformation, adopting significant measures to achieve this and industries seem to be encouraged to provide their contribution.
Author: Ilaria Bencivenga, Policy Analyst, Access Partnership
