FCPAméricas Blog

Brazil President Signs Sweeping Anti-Bribery Bill Into Law

Author: Matteson Ellis

The following update was provided by Bruno Maeda and Carlos Ayres of Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados (associated with Baker & McKenzie) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Today, August 2, 2013, following Presidential approval, Brazil’s new Anti-Bribery Law (“Anti-Bribery Law”, Law No. 12,846/2013), which imposes civil and administrative liability on legal entities for acts committed against local and foreign public administration, especially those related to corrupt practices, was published in the Official Gazette.  The new law will come into force in 180 days.

President Dilma Rousseff vetoed three specific features of the bill:

1) Veto of limitation of sanctions to the amount of the contract. This means that fines can reach as high as 20% of the previous year’s gross revenue of the legal entity. If that amount cannot be calculated, fines can reach up to R$60 million, approximately US$26 million. With this veto, the sanction is no longer capped by the amount of the contract. This veto might be key to bringing the law into line with the requirements of the OECD Convention;

2) Veto of need for the government to show intent or fault in applying certain specific sanctions; and

3) Veto of a feature that could give more lenient treatment to companies depending on the extent of participation of government officials in the wrongdoing.

The Anti-corruption and Compliance Committee of IBRADEMP (the business law association of Brazil) had submitted a report to Congress at the end of last year outlining problems related to previous versions of the bill, regarding in particular items 1 and 3 above.  The main features of the new Anti-Bribery Law are described here.

Ed. Note: FCPAméricas has been tracking the bill’s progress for the last year and a half. You can review its progression over time below:

Brazil considers foreign bribery law overhaul.

Brazilian Congress revises the foreign bribery bill.

Business pushback against the bill.

Things that the Brazilian Congress might consider with respect to the draft bill.

The context of passage of the draft bill.

How the bill might not meet OECD standards.

The bill passes the Brazilian House of Representatives.

Key provisions for companies.

What the law could mean for Brazilian companies and compliance.

The FCPAméricas blog is not intended to provide legal advice to its readers. The blog entries and posts include only the thoughts, ideas, and impressions of its authors and contributors, and should be considered general information only about the Americas, anti-corruption laws including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, issues related to anti-corruption compliance, and any other matters addressed. Nothing in this publication should be interpreted to constitute legal advice or services of any kind. Furthermore, information found on this blog should not be used as the basis for decisions or actions that may affect your business; instead, companies and businesspeople should seek legal counsel from qualified lawyers regarding anti-corruption laws or any other legal issue. The Editor and the contributors to this blog shall not be responsible for any losses incurred by a reader or a company as a result of information provided in this publication. For more information, please contact Info@MattesonEllisLaw.com.

The author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author.

@2013 Matteson Ellis Law, PLLC

Matteson Ellis

Post authored by Matteson Ellis, FCPAméricas Founder & Editor

Categories: Brazil, FCPA

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