President Sanctioned Amendments To The Brazilian Arbitration Law

On May 26, 2015, the President in office, Michel Temer, sanctioned the Law 13.129/2015, amending specific provisions of the Brazilian Arbitration Law, Law n. 9.307 of September 1996 ("BAL"), and of the Brazilian Corporations Law, Law n. 6.404 of December 1976 ("BCL").

Instead of establishing a new legislation, the legislator decided it was important to preserve the BAL—which has been regarded by the arbitral community as a huge success—and amended only specific provisions to strengthen and fine-tune the arbitration framework in Brazil.

The main amendments are the following:

1. Participation of the Direct and Indirect Public Administration in Arbitration: The new language of the BAL expressly allows the Direct and Indirect Public Administration to submit its cases to arbitration to solve disputes related to available property rights arising from contracts concluded by them. Besides, the amendments bring provisions to assure such arbitrations should follow