Abstract
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Brazil is foreseen in soft laws and it is still applied on a voluntary basis. Brazilian companies are beginning the process of improving compliance sectors. Although Brazil is still improving its systems of Corporate Social Responsibility, there is a strong business trend towards the creation of compliance sectors and the structuring of sectors involving environmental and labor issues. The standards of ISO 26000, concerning Corporate Social Responsibility, were adopted internally on 11/01/2010 through the rule ABNT NBR 16001. Private companies are free to adhere to the ISO standards, and may require certification under the NBR 16001. In addition, the concept embodied by the ISO 26000, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights can be applied, and has already been applied by companies based in Brazil. However, it is believed that Brazil does not have enough parameters to establish a federal legal definition of Corporate Social Responsibility, which is good, since constructing such parameters through laws may limit the evolution of this concept. The absence of a definition in law does not implicate in the absence of programs towards CSR. As an example, Brazil has a Social Responsibility program bonded to the concepts of ISO 26000, and there are internal corporate codes of conduct that, together with environmental, consumer, criminal and labor mandatory laws, form a web of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Anti-corruption Law also encourages the creation of compliance sectors as it imposes restrictions on business practices that violate national or foreign public assets, against the principles of public administration or against the international commitments undertaken by Brazil. In summary, what has been noted is that corporate codes of conduct and the international market and consumer culture implicate in a profound change in the attitude of companies towards social responsibility, ensuring that not always should financial risk prevail over social risks.
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Notes
- 1.
Reale (2002).
- 2.
Milano (2002).
- 3.
Serpa and Fourneau (2007).
- 4.
Lei 12.846/13, provides for the administrative and civil liability of legal entity for the practice of acts against the public administration, national or foreign, and provides other measures.
- 5.
For more information: http://www.inmetro.gov.br/qualidade/responsabilidade_social/programa_certificacao.asp.
- 6.
Elkington (2012), p. 33.
- 7.
Tenório (2004).
- 8.
Information available at: http://www.oecd.org/globalrelations/keypartners/.
- 9.
- 10.
BRASIL (2016). Portaria n° 14/2016-PFDC/MPF.
- 11.
Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises on its mission to Brazil, A/HRC/32/45/Add.1 (12 May 2016).
- 12.
Ibid., p. 5.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 5.
- 14.
BRASIL (2014).AtoConjunto CSJT.TST.GP n° 24.
- 15.
Equator Principles (2013).
- 16.
Resolution n 4.327 (2014).
- 17.
Recommendations on the subject of corporate governance (2002).
- 18.
Brazilian Code on the Best Corporate Governance Practices (2015).
- 19.
Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises on its mission to Brazil, A/HRC/32/45/Add.1 (12 May 2016), p. 6.
- 20.
For more information: Federal Law’s Project n. 1.305/2003; MatoGrosso—State Law 7.987/2002, Rio Grande do Sul—Law 11.440/2000, Amazonas—Law 7.987/2002); and also County laws, as per Londrina/Paraná (Law 9.536/2004), in Santo André/São Paulo (Law 7.672/1998), Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul (Law 8.118/1998 and Law 8.197/1998). See Crisóstomo et al. (2014).
- 21.
BRASIL (1988). Brazilian Constitution: article 5°, LXIX.
- 22.
See Crisóstomo et al. (2014).
- 23.
BRASIL (2013). Lei 12.846/13.
- 24.
BRASIL (2012). ABNT NBR 16001.
- 25.
- 26.
Brazil’s environmental public policy is laid down by Law n. 6.938/1981, which includes in its article 14, §1, the need to held companies liable for destructing and polluting the environment. Law n. 9.605/1998, which stipulates criminal and administrative sanctions for environmental damages, was edited to fill in this gap. The same goes for Consumer Law. Article 4 of Consumer Protection Code provides for the National Policy of Consumer Relations, which clearly asserts the need for protection of the consumer in face of large companies, as well as the need to harmonize corporate interests with the vulnerability of clients. Brazil also has strict labor laws, which are a result of a reiterated public policy since Getúlio Vargas’ first mandate (1934–1945). In 2017, President Michel Temer passed a reform that softened such laws, but its effects are still to be determined.
- 27.
BRASIL (2012). ABNT NBR 16001.
- 28.
- 29.
BRASIL (2015). Law n. 13.105/15.
- 30.
BRASIL (2002). Law n. 10.406/02.
- 31.
Cavalieri Filho (2005), p. 96.
- 32.
STJ, RESP 201102793344 (2015).
- 33.
TJRJ, 19aCC. Appeal 0008860-17.2002.8.19.0001 (2009).
- 34.
TST. E-RR—64000-94.2002.5.18.0007, (2008).
- 35.
Federal Act n. 6.938/1981, article 3, IV, states that the polluter is the “physical or legal person, of public or private law, responsible, directly or indirectly, for the activity that causes environmental degradation”.
- 36.
STJ, REsp 650.728/SC (2007).
- 37.
STF, RE 161.243 (1997); STF, RE 158.215-4/RS (1996).
- 38.
STF, RE 201.819/RJ (2006).
- 39.
Grinover et al. (1998), p. 197.
- 40.
BRASIL (1988). CF, art.5°, XXXV.
- 41.
The participation of public entities in arbitrations is still controversial in practical cases.
- 42.
BRASIL (1942). Decree n° 4.657/42.
- 43.
BRASIL (2002). Law n° 10.406/02.
- 44.
BRASIL (1942). Decree n° 4657/42.
- 45.
BRASIL (1942). Decree n° 4657/42.
- 46.
BRASIL (2002). Law n° 10.406/02.
- 47.
Cabral (2015).
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Acknowledgements
The author acknowledges the collaboration or review of colleagues and various young scholars who participated in discussions: prof. Oscar Graça Couto; Pedro Oliveira; Patrícia Guimarães; Barbara Nunes; Daniela León; Lucas Arnaud; Isabelle Kishida; and Milena Brandão Martins.
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de Sá Ribeiro, M.R. (2020). Brazil. In: Kessedjian, C., Cantú Rivera, H. (eds) Private International Law Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35187-8_4
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