The Forum on the Right of Access to Public Information, a coalition of which Transparência Brasil is a member, issued a public statement on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, warning of the risks that Bill 6,423/2025 poses to transparency. The bill, currently under consideration in the Federal Senate, addresses state intelligence activities and proposes amendments to the Access to Information Act (LAI).

The text adds the director-general of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) to the list of officials authorized to classify documents as top secret, with a 25-year classification period that may be extended for the same duration. Currently, the LAI restricts this authority to the President and Vice President of the Republic, ministers of state, commanders of the Armed Forces, and heads of permanent diplomatic and consular missions abroad.

For the Forum, granting this power to ABIN is concerning, given the history of indiscriminate imposition of secrecy by security agencies and intelligence operations in the country. The statement also points out that the bill establishes that intelligence operations and products inherently involve protected information, which could result in the expansion of entire areas of the public administration that are less subject to public oversight.

The Forum also believes that the bill reduces oversight of ABIN’s activities by granting the agency autonomy to classify information without undergoing review by the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic.

The bill also allows contracts for the acquisition of cell phone and computer monitoring tools to be exempt from active transparency requirements. The documents would only be made available upon order by the competent authorities. At the same time, the proposal expands the state’s access to data—including from public and private databases—without a commensurate strengthening of social control mechanisms.

A survey conducted by Transparência Brasil in 2024 helps illustrate the scale of the problem. Of the 61 contracts signed since 2020 by the Public Security Departments of Bahia, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, 92% were awarded without a competitive bidding process. And only 28% make direct reference to the General Data Protection Law (LGPD). 

The Forum notes that the LAI establishes transparency as the rule and secrecy as the exception. The organizations that make up the coalition call on the National Congress to:

• Reject Article 39, which includes ABIN on the list of authorities with the power to classify information as “top secret”;
• Establish effective mechanisms for external oversight of intelligence activities;
• Ensure that restrictions on access to information are proportionate and duly justified;
• Promote public debate on the proposal’s impact on the right to information.

“Preserving the right of access to information is an essential condition for social oversight, public integrity, and the full functioning of democracy,” the organizations state in their joint statement.