Brazil's certification center will be operational by next year to certify security equipment that can protect information from espionage, head of the department Sinclair Mayer told a Congress hearing over the case of recently-disclosed U.S. intelligence agencies' espionage in Brazil.

　　The move is aimed at preventing unsafe equipment from being used in the country, Mayer added.

　　The U.S. intelligence agencies had been spying on Brazilian companies and citizens via online monitoring, according to information leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

　　U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Brazil on Tuesday, argued that the surveillance was set up after 9/11 terror attack to prevent terrorist attacks, and will continue.