Effects of Brazil’s New Anti-Bribery Law
In response to public protests against government corruption, the Brazilian parliament recently passed a new anti-bribery law. The law holds pharmaceutical companies operating in the country liable for bribing either Brazilian or foreign public officials.
Until now, the law only punished individuals convicted of bribery in Brazil, while companies were not liable for bribes made by their employees. According to the new law implemented this past August, companies found guilty of bribery will face fines of up to 20% of their gross annual revenue and in some cases even dissolution.
An initial request for a new anti-bribery law was made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – suggesting that the country’s current anti-corruption laws were inadequate. Although not a member of the organization, Brazil is part of the OECD’s Anti-bribery Convention. In 2007, as part of a peer review, the OECD asked Brazil to hasten the process of passing legislation that would make companies directly liable for bribing foreign officials. It is interesting to note that the law was passed in record time as a result of public pressure during last month’s protests.
So going forward when dealing with Brazil, do not forget any due diligence on documents that require Portuguese to English translation services.
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