PROPERTY LAW

No laudemium is due when companies split

The 3rd Panel of the STJ upheld its decision to exempt a company from payment of laudemium –a federal tax payable on transactions involving the purchase and sale of real estate located on land owned by the Brazilian Navy—on land transferred to another firm in the course of a company split. (REsp nº 856657)

 

Cultural Heritage: publication of the Museums Statute

14 January 2009 saw the publication of Law nº 11,904 (the Museums Statute) which applies to non-profit institutions that conserve, investigate, communicate, interpret or exhibit, for the purposes of preservation, study, research, education, public exhibition or tourism, collections of historical, artistic, scientific, technical, or any other cultural value that are open to the public and benefit society and development.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Sustainability acknowledged in invitations to tender
In São Paulo, Executive Order nº 53,336 has set up the State Program for Sustainable Public Contracts to encourage the use of sustainability as a criterion in invitations to tender. According to the Program, the State Secretaries for Public Administration and for the Environment provide technical advice, recommending that sustainable products be named in the announcement of the invitation to tender. The criteria now considered in invitations to tender include: encouraging social policy, valuing transparency in administration, economizing water- and energy-consumption, minimizing waste production, rationalization of the use of raw materials, reduction in the emission of pollutants, adoption of technologies that are less harmful to the environment and the use of products that have a low level of toxicity.

 

TAX LAW

New income tax bands

The new bandings for Personal Income Tax (IRPF) have been published. Apart from raising all tax bands by 4.5%, government has created two new bands, which amount to a tax cut for those who fall within them.

Executive Order nº 53,835 outlines tax obligations for telecommunications firms in São Paulo

Executive Order nº 53,835, of 17.12.2008, of the State of São Paulo, has specified the tax-roll obligations for telecommunications firms working in that State. According to the Order, such companies, even if they do not have special ICMS arrangements, should draw up a computer file and present, whenever so requested by the tax authorities, a supplementary ledger book containing all records of fixed asset accounts, expenditure and taxed, untaxed and exempt incoming revenue, for all the Federal authorities under whose jurisdiction it operates.

Setting up of National System for the Control of Medication

Each and every type of medication produced, dispensed or sold on territory under Brazilian jurisdiction, is to be subject to control by the National System for the Control of Medication. This system was created by Law nº 11,903, on 14.1.2009, and aims to regulate the production, sale, dispensation and prescription by physicians, dentists and veterinary surgeons of medicinal drugs, as well as any other movement of such drugs deemed necessary by the sanitary authorities.

LABOR LAW

Collective Bargaining does not recognize clause regarding unavailability of company assets

In a ruling of the RODC 20192/2007.000.02.00.4, the Section Specializing in Collective Bargaining (SDC) of the Higher Court of Justice has ruled that demands of a cautionary nature in rounds of collective bargaining arising from strike action, such as those involving the seizure or inalienability of company assets and those of its partners or the acknowledgment that an economic group does not correspond to the nature of the case nor can it be adapted to this kind of judicial procedure, in compliance with Jurisprudential Guideline nº 12 of the SDC. According to the reporting justice, Walmir Oliveira da Costa, such requests require a ruling on ordinary individual demands.

ANVISA publishes new rules for advertising of medicines

The Board of Directors of ANVISA published, on 18.12.2008, RDC Resolution n° 96, which establishes new rules for the advertising of medicines, including the outlawing of the following: indirect advertising, distribution of free gifts, inclusion of advertisements on doctor’s prescriptions, the use of images of patients using the medication. Furthermore, lay people and pharmacists are no longer permitted to recommend or suggest the use of any medication.

 

 

Recife awarded best article of the year
Vanessa Arruda Ferreira (VAN), a senior lawyer at our Recife office, won the firm’s “2008 Best Article of the Year Award” for her study entitled "Tax Incentives for the Pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries in Pernambuco". Second place was awarded to Manoel Duarte Pinto (MDP), from Fortaleza, for his article, "Financial losses and the use of judicial measures ".Third place went to Carlos Rosemberg Fernandes Jr. (CRJ), of Natal, for "Eldorado: business opportunities in Rio Grande do Norte".

Executive Director of TF is the latest partner of the firm
Lauro Elias Jr., Executive Director of the Office, has of January 2009, been appointed a partner of Trigueiro Fontes Advogados. Lauro holds degrees in Economics and Law and a post-graduate qualification in Business Management.

Roberto Trigueiro and Juliana Lima Rocha at AMCHAM/PE’s CEO Forum
Roberto Trigueiro Fontes (RTF) and Juliana Oliveira de Lima Rocha (JOL) once again took part in the 2008 CEO Forum, run by AMCHAM/PE. This event brought together around 300 chief executive officers to hear illustrious business leaders from around the country, including the CEOs of Transpetro, Sérgio Machado; of Hemobrás, João Paulo Baccara; of Via Parque, Ruy Gomes do Rego; of Sherwin Williams do Brasil, Mark Pitt; of Medial Saúde, Emílio Carazzai; and of KPMG, Pedro Augusto Melo. Roberto Trigueiro, former chair of AMCHAM/PE, is currently serving as honorary counsel, while Juliana Rocha is vice-chair of the Legal Committee.

Antonio Peres Picolomini lectures in Recife
Antonio Peres (APP), Trigueiro Fontes Advogados’ labor law consulted, gave a talk to AMCHAM/PE’s Legal Committee, on the subject of "Hiring practices in societies of lawyers." The presentation was considered by AMCHAM/PE to be one of the best of the year.

Trigueiro Fontes at ADIT Nordeste, in Fortaleza
The Associate for the Development of Real Estate and Tourism in the Northeast Region of Brazil - ADIT held its ordinary meeting in Fortaleza/CE, which was attended by Fernanda Cabral (NAN) and Manoel Duarte (MDP).

Ana Luiza Duarte concludes post-graduate degree Recife
Ana Luiza Duarte P. de Castro (ALD) has concluded her post-graduation degree in Penal Law and penal Process, with merit, at the Dom Bosco Catholic University UCDB - Universidade Católica Dom Bosco.

Luiz Giffoni joins the Office’s Executive Committee
The Company’s Executive Committee comprises three partners, who must be from different units, serving three-year terms of office, with one seat being filled each year. With the end of Fábio Possídio Egashira (POS)’s term of office, Luiz Giffoni (LGF), from São Paulo, was elected by the partners to serve for the next three years from 2009/2011. The chair of the Executive Committee now passes to Juliana Oliveira de Lima Rocha (JOL), of Recife. The other member of the Committee is Daniela Espinheira (DAN), from Salvador.