Regulations Under Brazil's Anticorruption Law: Practical Implications

Federal Decree 8.420/2015, the long-awaited exec­utive decree issuing regulations under the Anticor­ruption Law, sheds light on questions that can guide companies in adopting policies to mitigate potential risks in their interactions with government agents.

One of the more important matters dealt with in the regulations is the criteria that compliance programs must meet in order to be taken into consideration when determining penalties, as provided for in ar­ticle 7 (VIII) of the Anticorruption Law. The criteria consolidate best practices internationally and, for the most part, are based on the U.S.'s experience in fighting corruption.

According to the regulations, some of the main elements that contribute to an effective compliance program are: senior management's commit­ment to the program, implementa­tion of policies and procedures to mitigate identified risks, which must be reviewed periodically, period­ic training programs, due diligence checks on