The new regulations introduce several changes to the Brazilian foreign exchange market, allowing individuals, legal entities, and financial institutions a wider range of options for using their foreign currency assets in their transactions abroad. The new legislation resulted in the repeal of several previously valid laws and decrees.
To outline the main changes introduced by the new legislation, we highlight:
- Increased manual exchange limit (buying and selling foreign currency), allowing inflows and outflows of up to USD 10.000,00 or its equivalent in other foreign currencies without requiring an authorized transaction from an authorized financial institution. The USD 500,00 limit for transactions between individuals remains;
- Authorization to apply resources raised by banks and financial institutions in Brazil and abroad for credit or financing operations directly abroad, in accordance with other regulatory requirements and the specific activities of each institution;
- Authorization for foreign currency bank accounts in Brazil for individuals and legal entities. The Central Bank will specifically regulate this matter;
- Expansion of the number of cases in which payment in foreign currency is permitted, now being accepted in leasing contracts based on raising funds from abroad, with a reduction in regulatory requirements for authorization of assignment and registration;
- Authorization for remittance abroad of profits, dividends, interest and royalties by multinationals without the need for registration with the Central Bank, maintaining the obligation to pay the respective applicable taxes.
- Authorization of private international clearing of values in cases that will be regulated by the Central Bank and;
- End of the requirement for the client to submit documentation, data and certificates to financial institutions authorized to operate in the foreign exchange market that have this information available in their databases or in widely accessible public and private databases.
The Law will come into force 1 (one) year after its publication, that is, in December 30, 2022, this interval allows the National Monetary Council (CMN) and the Central Bank to issue specific regulations for the changes provided for in the Law and market agents to prepare their systems for the necessary adjustments.
Our team is available to answer any questions you may have regarding the new legal framework for foreign exchange regulations.
Montgomery & Associates
