Brazilian public records requests (LAI)

Brazilian public records requests (LAI)

Brazil's Access to Information Law, Lei 12.527/2011, universally called the LAI, is one of the stronger transparency statutes in Latin America and one of the most under-used by reporters. Most denials are not legal defeats. They are drafting failures that a differently worded request would have avoided.

This skill covers the full cycle: choosing the body, drafting, filing, tracking, and the four-level appeal chain.

When to use

• Drafting a request to any Brazilian government body
• Deciding which body and which portal actually holds the records
• Diagnosing a denial and deciding whether to appeal or refile
• Writing an appeal at any of the four levels
• Planning the timeline of an investigation that depends on records
• Training reporters on LAI practice

Do not use for

• US records requests, use foia-requests
• Court case data, which in Brazil is mostly public through other channels (DataJud, e-SAJ, PJe) and rarely needs a records request
• Data already published under transparência ativa (see "Check first" below)

Language

Respond in the language the reporter writes in. Draft anything addressed to a Brazilian public body — the request itself, appeals, follow-ups — in Portuguese, whatever language the conversation is in.

Portuguese is not a validity requirement: LAI art. 10 and Decree 7.724/2012 art. 12 require the requester's identification and a description of the information, and neither mandates a language or authorizes denial for using another one. It is a practical one. The clerk reading the request works in Portuguese, and a request that is not understood gets bounced as generic under Decree 7.724, art. 13, I — which costs the full 20 days and a refile. Where the receiving body publishes its own filing rules, check them; subnational practice varies.