Originally published in Estadão

On September 24, 2022, we celebrate the 26th anniversary of the creation of Law No. 9,307/1996, which provides for arbitration in Brazil. Since then, much progress has been made in the country regarding the use of this dispute resolution method that only involves available property rights. Seen as an alternative to the Judiciary, arbitration is often surrounded by controversies.

Some love it, some hate it, but the fact is that the practice has been increasingly consolidated in the country, having as its strengths the technical character and the quality of decisions. According to the results of the latest edition of the survey “Arbitration in Numbers and Values”, organized by arbitrator Selma Ferreira Lemes, arbitration has set a record in the last two years (2020-2021), and currently has a number of 1,000 cases in progress in the largest arbitration chambers in the country.

Arbitration and public administration
Over these almost 3 decades, the Arbitration Law underwent welcome changes in 2015, when it finally ended with a doubt that had dragged on for years among the most skeptical, which was the consolidation of the authorization of the Public Administration, direct and indirect. , use arbitration as a dispute resolution method. Since then, there have been several state and municipal laws on arbitration with the Public Administration, with the new Bidding Law (No. of the institute by the public sector.

Public entities, in fact, currently represent a significant number of participants in arbitration, especially in infrastructure cases, and in 2021, the CAM-CCBC (Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce), a reference in arbitration in the country, recorded the existence of 42 arbitration proceedings in progress involving the Public Administration. This number only tends to increase after the law was amended in 2015.

In addition, the Arbitration Chambers also deserve to be highlighted on the anniversary of the Law. With regulations in constant evolution, Brazil has entities of international prestige and notoriety. According to data released by the CAM-CCBC, in 2021, 128 new procedures were received, which represents more than double the number of new cases received a decade earlier, in 2011.

The use of arbitration in Brazil is such that the CCI (Court of International Commerce) even installed, in 2017, its own office in São Paulo (its third office in its 100-year history). According to data released by the CCI, Brazil ranked second in its world ranking in terms of number of arbitration proceedings.

But every now and then, lawyers in the field are faced with the following question from their clients: “Is arbitration a good alternative after all?” The answer is pretty cliché in the legal industry: it depends. Arbitration was not made for any dispute, but for more complex and strategic causes, involving legal and technical specificities and a multiplicity of issues that the Judiciary simply could not resolve adequately.

Recém-encerrado o mandato de Diretor da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo (USP), o sócio fundador da Manesco, Ramires, Perez, Azevedo Marques, Sociedade de Advogados, Floriano de Azevedo Marques, volta a se dedicar plenamente à advocacia e reassume a área de arbitragem, que criou há mais de 15 anos.

O escritório foi um dos precursores de arbitragem em contratos de infraestrutura e envolvendo a Administração pública. “É uma área importante, crescente, que demanda expertise conjunta em direito arbitral, administrativo e regulatório”, diz. Floriano conta com a liderança de Carolina Smirnovas e Telma Rocha Lisowski, participação da advogada Maúra C. Guerra Polidoro e um time dedicado a arbitragens, notadamente nos setores de rodovias, ferrovias, metroviário, energia, telecomunicações, saneamento e obras públicas.

Floriano acumula experiência como árbitro em dezenas de arbitragens, além de ser membro do Conselho de Câmaras Arbitrais em vários estados. Em 2021 lecionou em conjunto com os professores Paula Forgioni e Carlos Alberto Carmona uma disciplina na pós-graduação da USP sobre arbitragem e Administração Pública.

O reforço da área de arbitragem com o incremento da experiência e notoriedade do Professor Floriano é resultado de planejamento estratégico do escritório e demonstra a importância desta área, que tende a crescer com a vigência plena da nova lei de licitações.

O tema da prescrição no Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) é um assunto que está em alta. Em algumas decisões, o STF entende que a Lei 9.873/99, a Lei da Prescrição, deve balizar a atuação do TCU.

Entretanto, a Corte de Contas resiste. De modo contrário ao entendimento da Suprema Corte, firma posição de que é imprescritível sua análise no que se refere a prejuízo ao erário.
O advogado Eduardo Stenio escreve sobre o tema no texto “É hora do TCU se submeter ao STF”, publicado no portal Link Jurídico.