Originally published in the January 5, 2010 edition of World Tax Daily (Copyrights Tax Analysts)
Presidential Decree 7,030/2009, introducing the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties into Brazil’s legal system, was published in the country’s official gazette on December 15, 2009.
The only provisions that will not apply in Brazil are articles 25 and 66, which deal with the provisional application of treaties and with procedures for judicial settlement, arbitration, and conciliation.
The convention enters Brazil’s legal system almost 40 years after its signature. Although it generally regulates the way international treaties must be concluded, many professionals believe that the introduction of the convention into Brazil’s legal system will strengthen tax treaties’ precedence over domestic tax laws.
The Vienna convention contains provisions such as article 27, which establishes that a country may not invoke domestic law as justification for failure to observe a treaty provision.
David Roberto R. Soares da Silva