New Anti-Corruption Law
Article in Zero Hora, on 16/12/2013, on Law 12,846/13 (Anti-Corruption Law), which provides for administrative sanctions against companies.
Translated from the original.
Law 12,846/13, known as the anti-corruption law, which enters into force in February 2014, provides for sanctioning administrative proceedings, conducted by the Executive branch, against private companies, with penalties such as a fine in the amount of 0.1% (one tenth of one percent) to 20% (twenty percent) of the gross revenue of the fiscal year prior to the opening of the administrative proceeding, excluding taxes, which will never be less than the advantage obtained, when it can be estimated, without prejudice to applicable criminal sanctions and the sanctions of Law 8,429/92. The acts of corruption listed by the legislator are described as harmful acts against the public administration, national or foreign, that undermine national or foreign public assets, the principles of public administration or the international commitments undertaken by Brazil.
The definition of the act of hindering the investigative or oversight activity of public bodies, entities or agents, or interfering in their work, draws attention. Is it companies’ duty to facilitate investigative and oversight acts, even to the detriment of their own interests and rights? To what extent, in light of the presumption of innocence and the guarantee against self-incrimination, is the company really obliged to cooperate with an investigation? This is an important limit: the private sector does not have the same obligations as state public agents. It can and should cooperate within the limits of the law and while safeguarding the confidentiality of the commitments undertaken, as well as the rights of third parties.
Lawyer