BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Octaviano Duarte, Henrique Forssell, Marcelo Lucidi and Mayara Rahman Rufino, Duarte Forssell Advogados
5.2 Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Judgments rendered outside Brazilian territory must be previously recognised by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to be valid in Brazil. Dur - ing the recognition/homologation process, the Superior Court of Justice will examine the valid - ity of the foreign award, as well as its compatibil - ity with national public policy, ultimately deciding whether to grant the exequatur requested by the interested party. The homologation action must be filed by the plaintiff and adhere to the internal rules of the Superior Court of Justice, the Code of Civil Pro - cedure, and the Rules of Introduction to Brazilian Law. These requirements include: • filing of the original or authenticated copy of the foreign award and relevant documents, all duly translated by a sworn translator in Brazil; • certification by Brazilian consular authori - ties (when applicable) or legalisation with an apostille under the Hague Convention; • issuance of the award by a competent authority; • evidence that the parties were validly served; • effectiveness of the award; and • the award must not violate sovereignty, human dignity, public policy or good cus - toms. If the application for recognition is dismissed due to formal deficiencies, the requesting party may resubmit the request after addressing the issues. If the STJ homologates the foreign award, recog - nising its enforceability, it will grant the exequa - tur. Once the foreign judgment is homologated by the STJ, it will be treated as a domestic court award and will follow the enforcement proce - dures established in the Code of Civil Procedure.
• the Commercial Registry, to receive informa - tion regarding the ownership and location of the defendant’s assets, as well as to register attachment over any shares in the name of the debtor. Attachment of bank accounts is typically auto - matic upon the granting of the attachment order and is executed directly by the judge via the SISBAJUD system, without the need for further information. However, the court may grant exceptions to the attachment order if the defendant demonstrates that it may jeopardise the payment of their daily living expenses. Attachment of vehicles can be effected via the RENAJUD system, which is used in Brazil for the automated search and blocking of vehicles to enforce judicial decisions. Liens Over the Assets Attached Once executed, the attachment order creates a lien over the attached assets. If multiple attach - ment orders are concurrent over the same assets, priority among creditors is generally determined by the date the attachment orders were issued, with a few exceptions. In cases where the same assets are subject to multiple liens, each creditor will have priority over the proceeds from the execution of the asset based on the order in which the lien of execution was established. However, this priority ceases in the event of the debtor’s insolvency. In such cases, liens lose their effect, and all assets become subject to the collective or concurrent execution of all the debtor’s property, treating all creditors equally based on their respective class.
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