The Department of Business Registration and Integration (“DREI”), the regulatory body overseeing business companies in Brazil, to which the Boards of Trade are subordinate, has issued Normative Instruction No. 34. This new regulation modifies the rules concerning powers of attorney for the representation of foreign partners in Brazilian companies by residents in the national territory.

As of May 4, 2017, powers of attorney granted for representation in Brazil by individuals or entities residing or headquartered abroad must have an indefinite term.

“Article 2 – Any individual, whether Brazilian or foreign, residing abroad, and any legal entity headquartered abroad, participating in a company, partnership, or cooperative, must file with the Board of Trade, in a separate proceeding, a specific power of attorney with an indefinite term. This power of attorney must grant its representative in Brazil the authority to receive judicial summonses in legal actions brought against them, in accordance with the legislation governing the respective corporate structure.”

Therefore, clients whose powers of attorney for the representation of foreign partners are approaching expiration must now renew them for an indefinite term, in accordance with DREI Ordinance No. 34.