On Wednesday, the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) published Ordinance no. 169/2022, which provides for the specific regulations of the administrative procedures for the investigation of safeguards by the Brazilian Government, provided for in Decree n. 1,488/1995.
The Ordinance brings updates to the rules of safeguard processes that have already been introduced in dumping and subsidies investigation processes, as well as presenting certain innovations that aim to create predictability and facilitate the representation of foreign parties.
The Ordinance’s provisions focus on the rules of the treatment of confidential information, counting of procedural deadlines, and presentation of information in a foreign language.
Treatment of confidential information: There are no substantial changes, nevertheless, the new Ordinance provides for greater detail, in regards to certain points when compared to Circular Secex n. 59/2001. For example, the listing of information that will not be considered confidential, and the confirmation that confidential numerical information must be presented in the form of index numbers.
Counting deadlines: The Ordinance also applies rules already established for anti-dumping and subsidies procedures to safeguard procedures, like the presumption of receipt notifications within certain deadlines after their issuance by the authority. According to the Ordinance, notification is understood to be a period of up to five days after the date that an official document was sent or transmitted, if the parties are nationals, or a period of up to ten days, if the parties are foreigners. In the case of documents transmitted electronically, the period of notification will be three days.
Information in a foreign language: In accordance with Law no. 12,995/2014, documents prepared in the official languages of the WTO may be incorporated into records. In the case of documents prepared in a foreign language without a public translator in Brazil, translations prepared by the official representation of the exporting origin in Brazil will be accepted. Additionally, the Ordinance brings an innovation, which is allowing translations made by the legal representative of the interested party to be accepted, provided that they are accompanied by official communication attesting to authorship, accuracy, and reliability.
Initial Petition Guide: The Ordinance also establishes, in its Only Attachment, a new and updated guide of minimum information necessary to submit a plea for the application of safeguards, which must be submitted through the Electronic Information System of the Ministry of Economy (SEI/ME).
SECEX Ordinance no. 169/2022 goes into effect on February 1, 2022 and can be accessed in full here.
