Proposed in 1988, under a statute which was never actually implemented, the idea of Export Processing Zones (ZEP in the Portuguese acronym) just received a new opportunity in Brazil through a new Federal Law (Lei nº 11.508, of July 20, 2007).

Through the Provisional Measure # 352 of January 22nd, 2007, the President of Brazil created a new protection for Semiconductor Topographies. This new law corresponds to the US Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 with some changes referring to the WTO´s TRIPS Agreement rules on this kind of Intellectual Property.

Starting April 15th, 2008, the Brazilian reinsurance market will be open to foreign and domestic competitors. IRB Brasil Re, until now the only authorized reinsurance entity, will lose its statutory monopoly. Susep (Private Insurance Superintendency) will regulate the reinsurance market (which covers both reinsurance and retrocession, usually involved in large policies).

Law 11.638 of 12/28/2007 makes significant changes to our accounting system regarding companies (S.A.) and economically large entities.

In the past years, Brazilian Government has established tax incentives to stimulate research and innovation in the market. We shall analyze here some benefits of the new law and rules that became known as "Lei do Bem" or "Good Law".

There has been a large amount of real estate investments in Brazil in the last years. Not only large investors have been appreciating the hotel and shopping center areas, small investors have been viewing the Brazilian environment as a great opportunity for retirement plans.