Enforcing international financial standards in Brazil: limits and possibilities for adoption of IOSCO principles

Foreign capital and institutional investors play a key role in the Brazilian capital and financial markets. Internationally promoted regulatory patterns, especially IOSCO principles, have been increasingly influencing administrative rule making by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) as well as the adoption of transnational rules in Brazil by means of self-regulatory activity. Even though there is a certain level of convergence of market regulatory standards at the transnational level, implementation and enforcement of rules remains essentially domestic. We analyze two case studies regarding the transposition of international standards into the Brazilian legal system, which illustrate this tension between the transnational and domestic dimensions of financial markets regulation. The first case concerns a CVM rule on disclosure of executive compensation and the its interpretation by local courts. The second case refers to the adoption of suitability rules.

Dodd Frank act and the Brazilian capital market: extraterritorial effects of regulation to the over-the-counter derivatives market

This paper aims to describe the chief alterations proposed by the Dodd Frank Act to the American over-the-counter derivatives market and, at the same time, understand the extraterritorial reach of this law compared to the regulatory framework of the Brazilian derivative market. In order to do so, I will study the extraterritorial effects of the law, particularly in reference to the international nature of Title II of the Dodd Frank, which deals with the over-the-counter derivatives, in order to evaluate its reach to foreign markets, especially the Brazilian market.

Applying negotiation skills in the design of public policies: analysis of the city of São Paulo’s invoice program

The author argues that by applying problem-solving negotiation skills in the design of public policies, public administrators benefit from more effective and wide-ranging outcomes in the realization of their goals. In order to demonstrate this idea, the author analyzes how negotiation skills – such as identifying key actors and their interests, recognizing hardbargaining tactics and changing the players, knowing your best alternative, creating value and building trust – permeated and contributed to the success of the City of São Paulo’s Invoice Program (“Programa Nota Fiscal Paulistana”), a public policy aimed at combating tax evasion of service tax in the City of São Paulo.

Vida e morte no direito brasileiro : uma reflexão sobre a relação entre dogmática jurídica e estrutura dos tribunais a partir da decisão da ADPF n. 54

This paper analyzes the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) Decision (ADPF n. 54) in which the court, by majority of votes, stated that the termination of the pregnancy of an anencephalic fetus does not constitute a crime of abortion. The paper analyzes the arguments used by the judges in their opinions to show that they agree on the conclusion, but strongly disagree on their reasons, with the result that the court remains deeply divided on the legal concept of life. The paper then points to the fact that the possibility of different majority positions regarding the decision and the arguments that justify it is not accidental, but the result of the court’s structure, which does not guarantee the collective rationality of the court’s decisions.

Main problems with the taxation of civil society organizations in Brazil: certifications and impact on payroll

The objective of this paper is to identify and analyze the main problems in the taxation—regarding both taxes themselves and compliance costs of taxation—of civil society organizations in Brazil. This study is qualitative descriptive research. A multiple case study with 26 organizations was performed. The results show that the problems mainly affect organizations with lower revenue and that do not work in the areas of education, health or social care. The main problems involve the taxation of the payroll and the difficulties related to obtaining and maintaining certifications. The study concludes with suggestions for the improvement of the regulatory framework.

Beyond ‘best practices': the international regulation of capital markets

It is widely acknowledged that there is considerable international pressure for international ‘best practices’ to be adopted via national legislation. This would occur either by means of model laws or through the passing of country specific legislation that closely replicates foreign legal formats, administrative rules, and or regulation. These attempts to spread the implementation of ‘best practices’ have gained importance in the international debate due to the liberalization of international capital flows. The oversight, country reports, and technical assistance carried out by international organizations along with the growing internationalization of investors have also contributed to this growing pressure. In this respect, due to the constant evolution of transactions and the end objective of making sure that capital markets are developed with just rules, structures, and methods, this article looks to analyze the adoption of standardized models of capital market regulation. Furthermore it looks to examine the motivation and interest of states and other ‘stakeholders’ at the international level.

Teixeira de Freitas leitor de Savigny

The international circulation and reception of the works of Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861) constitute one of the main features of the first globalization of legal thought. Reaching law professors and practitioners from Brazil to Japan, readings of Savigny’s books offer a promising perspective for understanding how legal cultures around the world coped with the challenges of modernity. By focusing empirically on the circulation of books and analytically on the adaptation of texts to local contexts, the approach forwarded here tries to capture the creative aspects of the diffusion of knowledge. For this purpose, it concentrates on Brazilian readers of Savigny in the 19th Century, especially on the celebrated lawyer Augusto Teixeira de Freitas (1816-1883). It argues that Savigny’s works provided a decisive argumentative framework for some of the main issues discussed in Brazilian jurisprudence of the time. Freitas’ work documents a productive reading of Savigny that shaped his views on both normative and methodological issues, from slavery to codification. By tracing Freitas’ selective appropriation of Savigny’s texts, the article concludes that he was able both to reproduce and to subvert Savigny’s conception of private law, whenever the local context and his personal convictions demanded him to.