Brazil - PBIA Management Group (8/2025)

Overview

Portaria nº 8/2025, issued under the CITDigital/Casa Civil framework, formally establishes the composition of the Group of Work charged with managing the Plano Brasileiro de Inteligência Artificial (GT-PBIA). The measure, dated 21 July 2025 and published in the Diário Oficial da União in late July 2025, designates representatives and alternates from 16 federal bodies and designates the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) as the GT coordinator. The Portaria implements the institutional decisions made by the CITDigital and follows Resolution CITDIGITAL nº 2/2025 which instituted the GT. The GT’s mandate is operational: coordinate and monitor implementation of PBIA actions across infrastructure, capacity-building, public service modernization, industrial innovation and governance. Official references include a Planalto summary of the CITDigital architecture and press coverage summarizing the DOU publication; see Planalto (Decree 12.308/2024 and CITDigital instruments) and Telesíntese reporting on Portaria nº 8/2025.

Definitions

For the purposes of Portaria nº 8/2025 and associated material: "PBIA" means the Plano Brasileiro de Inteligência Artificial, the national public-policy plan for AI; "GT-PBIA" or "Group of Work" means the interministerial working group constituted to manage and operationalize PBIA activities; "Coordinator" refers to the MCTI representative designated to lead the GT; "Titular" and "Alternate/Suplente" indicate primary and substitute representatives named by each participating body; "CITDigital" or "Comitê Interministerial para a Transformação Digital" is the institutional forum (created by Decree nº 12.308/2024) responsible for strategic coordination of digital transformation policies; "DOU" refers to the Diário Oficial da União, the official federal gazette for publication of the Portaria.

Governance and Institutional Framework

The Portaria places the GT-PBIA inside the institutional architecture created by Decree nº 12.308/2024 and subsequent CITDigital resolutions. The composition includes ministries, sectoral agencies and public financing or research institutions (e.g., MCTI, Casa Civil, MCom, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Relations, BNDES, Finep, CNPq, Capes, Embrapii, Anatel and Telebras among others). The MCTI is named coordinator and is authorized to manage substitutions and day-to-day planning. The GT functions as the operational arm that translates the PBIA’s strategic axes into deliverables, coordinates inter-agency inputs, aligns sectoral policies and prepares consolidated briefings for CITDigital. This arrangement is consistent with Government publications and with the CITDigital governance instruments; see the Planalto listing for CITDigital instruments and the MCTI PBIA status reporting at MCTI - PBIA status.

Key Focus Areas

The GT-PBIA is tasked with operational oversight of the PBIA's main axes: (1) Infrastructure — developing national computing and data infrastructure for research and public use (e.g., supercomputing investments); (2) Diffusion, education and capacity building — coordinating national training, INCT funding and public sector capacity initiatives; (3) Public service improvement — integrating AI into public service modernization while ensuring rights safeguards; (4) Enterprise innovation and industrial policy — aligning finance and credit instruments (BNDES, Finep) with ecosystem needs; (5) Regulatory and governance support — creating transparency instruments, observatories and conformity mechanisms to support sectoral regulators. The GT will convene technical sessions, develop indicators, coordinate pilot projects and liaise with sectoral regulators (e.g., Anatel) and research institutions to ensure the PBIA’s actions are implemented coherently. Press reporting and MCTI briefings note these priorities and financial commitments; see Telesíntese and MCTI status for program highlights.

Implementation Framework

Portaria nº 8/2025 specifies membership and gives the MCTI coordinator authority to designate substitutes, request technical inputs and convene subgroups. Implementation will rely on periodic meetings, defined workstreams and outputs (work plans, progress reports, indicator dashboards). The GT must coordinate with other CITDigital bodies and will support the PBIA’s scheduled public deliverables, including the updated PBIA presentation at the 5th National Conference on Science and Technology (July 30 - August 1, 2025). The Portaria empowers the coordinator to manage administrative tasks and inter-agency requests under the general rules of public administration; it does not establish binding regulatory obligations for private-sector actors but creates the governance route for future instruments or sectoral rules driven by PBIA outputs.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring under the Portaria is organizational and administrative: the GT-PBIA must track program delivery milestones, produce consolidated reports for CITDigital and propose performance indicators related to infrastructure deployment, capacity-building enrollments, R&D investments and regulatory coordination. The GT is expected to adopt a regular cadence of meetings and publish consolidated situational reports for internal government audiences; the Portaria’s administrative nature leaves detailed M&E methodologies to GT workplans and supporting technical teams drawn from participating institutions.

Penalties, Liability, and Appeals

As an organizational portaria, Portaria nº 8/2025 itself does not prescribe sector-specific penalties or civil liability rules. It governs membership and coordination. Non-compliance by federal representatives would, in practice, be subject to existing administrative accountability frameworks for public servants (disciplinary measures under the legal regime of public administration) and to the institutional prerogatives of represented bodies (including replacement of representatives). The Portaria does not create new administrative sanctioning powers against private entities; any future enforcement regime for AI systems would be established by separate normative acts or sectoral regulation.

Relationship to Other Instruments

Portaria nº 8/2025 implements institutional decisions taken under Resolutions and Decrees in the CITDigital framework, especially Decree nº 12.308/2024 (which created CITDigital) and Resolutions CITDIGITAL nº 1-4/2025 (which define committees and working groups). It operationalizes Resolution CITDIGITAL nº 2/2025 (institutionalising the GT for PBIA management) and works in conjunction with other portarias that set composition for CITDigital chambers and the Executive Committee. The Portaria is therefore administrative and integrative: it does not supersede substantive regulatory texts but provides the composition and procedural basis for PBIA execution.

International Alignment

The Portaria’s emphasis on interagency coordination facilitates alignment of Brazil’s national AI strategy with international standards and multilateral initiatives. By centralizing coordination within a cross-ministerial GT that includes external-facing ministries (Foreign Affairs) and sector regulators, the government enables coherent participation in international AI fora and alignment with frameworks from OECD, G20, and technical cooperation partners. The GT structure supports cross-border collaboration for research infrastructure, data-sharing arrangements and discussions on conformity and safety standards.

Implementation Timeline

Sources and References