Will Enforcement Undermine Brazil Corruption Law?

World Cup, Olympics heighten risk, focus on Brazil’s corruption, experts say.

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Although Brazil has recently implemented an ambitious new law against corruption, some experts warn that its success will depend on how it is enforced. The Anti-Bribery Law (Law No. 12,846/2013) was signed by President Dilma Rousseff in August and went into effect on January 29, 2014.

“It depends on enforcement,” says Todd Crider, Partner and Co-Head of São Paulo office of  Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.  “Remember that corruption was already illegal in Brazil before this law. It certainly raises the risk for corrupt behavior.”

However, the new law has already increased compliance efforts among Brazilian companies, points out Matteson Ellis, Special Counsel at Miller & Chevalier and Founder/Principal at Matteson Ellis Law. “Brazil's new Anti-Bribery Law is already having a profound impact, even before one company has been prosecuted,” he says. “Its adoption has fueled an important shift in Brazil towards corporate compliance, a shift that was already underway given the anti-corruption standards that Brazilian subsidiaries of multinational companies have been introducing for some years now.”