International guidelines and the Brazilian law of state-owned companies: convergence toward cutting-edge integrity, compliance, and anti-corruption practices

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the convergence of the integrity, compliance, and anti-corruption guidelines introduced by the Brazilian law of state-owned companies, in view of the best international practices, adopting as an analysis parameter the Anti-Corruption and Integrity Guidelines for State-Owned Companies, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This descriptive study used bibliographic and documentary research and adopted a comparative analysis between the integrity, compliance, and anti-corruption system introduced by the Brazilian law of state-owned companies and the guidelines established by the OECD. The practices analyzed suggest a considerable degree of convergence between the Brazilian legislation and the OEDC guidelines. Thus, the Brazilian legal system presents what can be considered a cutting-edge normative arrangement of integrity, compliance, and anti-corruption practices. However, despite substantially adhering to the transnational recommendations, the law still presents gaps and omissions in at least three perspectives: integrated risk management; internal controls, ethics, and compliance; and autonomy of state-owned companies and their decision-making bodies. The research results point to a propositional agenda for future studies, focusing on investigating the alternatives for improving the law of state-owned companies and the Brazilian institutional environment, based on the gaps identified. It also points to an agenda of applied studies devoted to investigating and understanding the challenges of law implementation and its concrete results in the universe of state-owned companies.

Keywords:
Integrity; Anti-corruption; Law of State-owned Companies