The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said this Wednesday, 25th, that there is a “legal path” for tax benefits for data center services in Brazil, after the end of the provisional measure (MP) that created the Special Taxation Regime for Data Center Services (Redata).
The MP expired (lost validity) this Wednesday, 25th, and the vote, in the Senate, on the alternative project ended up being frustrated.
“If Congress wants, we will find a legal way to restore (the tax benefit). But there needs to be a political will from the Senate to consider the matter,” Haddad told journalists at the ministry’s entrance this evening.
“We will have to speak with the presidents of both Houses because the Chamber voted and we will have to understand with the president of the Senate if there is an unwillingness to the program or if there is a possible negotiation for us to approve a program that will bring tens of billions of reais of investment to Brazil”, he added.
According to him, there is a line of companies wanting to invest in Brazil and for the government, this is a question of digital sovereignty, because 60% of Brazilians’ personal data is processed abroad, without the protection of Brazilian law.
“We have a data protection law, but this law is not valid abroad. So, for us, the processing of Brazilian data in national data centers is very important because the Brazilian data protection law is valid in the national territory”, he argued.
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The minister also said that “a lot of sensitive data” goes abroad, when it should be processed in Brazil. “So, for us, Redata is very important in terms of national sovereignty and national security.”
‘Legal path’
Asked about the impediment brought about by the complementary law approved at the end of 2025 that prohibits new tax benefits, Haddad stated that there is a legal path, which is not simple, but which has been studied by his team. He also said that he is already in dialogue with some senators.
“Those who are committed to national development and national sovereignty are fully willing to face this challenge. There is a team of jurists here [no ministério]from public lawyers, with the purpose of seeking a solution”.
Haddad admitted that re-discussing this law that has just been sanctioned would be dangerous and said that the economic team does not want to open a gap for other measures to be approved “in contravention of our objective, which is to restrict benefits in the form of the fiscal responsibility law”.
And he concluded: “We have to be careful with the tax law. But, anyway, there is a team here studying how to reestablish the program without violating this principle of respect for the law of fiscal responsibility.” According to him, it would be a solution for Redata only. “We’re going to have to understand the reasons why the project wasn’t voted on today, because it was going to be sanctioned today. But, anyway, it’s an incident that we’re going to have to face.”
Alcolumbre denies that voting was scheduled for this Wednesday
The president of the Federal Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), denied that a vote on the Redata project was scheduled for this Wednesday, 25th.
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Asked by the press if the project would be considered this Wednesday, Alcolumbre replied: “No. The project arrived today”. Then, the senator was asked if the Provisional Measure will expire. “I don’t know, because I’m not voting on a Provisional Measure, I’m voting on a bill”, he stated.
The project, authored by the government leader in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), was approved by the deputies on the night of Tuesday, 24th. The expectation was that the senators would carry out the vote as an extra-agenda item this Wednesday, but Alcolumbre ended the deliberative session without considering the matter.
According to the Estadão/Broadcast had shown, interlocutors pointed to senator Eduardo Gomes (PL-TO) as the name chosen to report the proposal. However, as of Wednesday afternoon, the designation had not yet been made official.
