The National Institute of Statistics (INE) suspended the contract it had with the company Cloudflare, which was responsible for the security of the platform where citizens must submit their answers to the Census 2021, after the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) demanded the suspension of any transfer of personal data to the US or other countries, as provided for in the contract.

“Following some complaints about the conditions for collecting Census data via the Internet, the CNPD carried out a quick investigation, having concluded that the INE used the company Cloudflare, Inc. for the operationalization of the census survey, which provides in its contract for the transfer of personal data to the USA”, said the CNPD.

Cloudflare provides services that are directly subject to US surveillance legislation for national security purposes, which imposes you legal right to give US authorities access to personal data in your possession, without your being able to disclose this to your customers.

The US company has said that it complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has indicated a number of precedents in the EU that prove it, but the CNPD indicates in its deliberation that “does not have an adequate level of data protection”, under the terms of the GDPR.