The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) has established new rules on the process in administrative proceedings for assessing merger acts (Apac), through which the agency investigates and punishes the early consummation of these acts, also known as gun jumping, and defined parameters for calculating the applicable fine. The changes were published in Resolution No. 24/19.

The Labor Reform (Law No. 13,467/17) expanded the use of judicial performance bonds in the labor sphere. Already employed to ensure enforcement due to suppletory application of the Code of Civil Procedure, it was also provided for also by the new law in order to replace the appeal deposit, pursuant to paragraph 11 included into article 899 of the Consolidated Labor Laws (CLT).[1]

The breaking of a dam in Mariana in 2015 was not the first incident of its kind in Brazil, but it was a milestone for the mining industry for having caused extensive environmental and social damage in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. As occurred after other large-scale events that were under wide media coverage in Brazil, the public understanding regarding the need for regulatory improvements, coupled with the opportunity for political action under the public’s attention, triggered legislative processes and amendments in dam regulations and disaster prevention in general. Thus, an intense process of changes in rules and regulations began after the incident.

Signed by the President of the Republic on September 20, Executive Order No. 881/19, the Economic Freedom Executive Order, was converted into Law No. 13,874/19, instituting the Declaration of Rights of Economic Freedom, which establishes rules for the protection of free initiative and the free exercise of economic activity.

In the previous article, we discussed the measures that can be taken by startups to protect their intellectual capital and the strategic information of their businesses by means confidentiality obligations and obligations relating to intellectual property.

There is much discussion today regarding the best ways to decommission, to deactivate, the rigs used in the oil and gas exploration and production process, as most of them are approaching or are already at the end of their useful life.