By Luis Gustavo Miranda and Paulo Teixeira Fernandes

On February 26th, 2014, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (Advocacia Geral da União - AGU) and the Ministry of Agrarian Development published the Joint Ministerial Ordinance n. 04 to regulate the application of the Opinion AGU/LA-01/2010 in administrative procedures, involving acquisitions of rural real property made between June 7th, 1994 and August 22nd, 2010.

According to the Joint Ministerial Ordinance nº 4, the acquisition made by national legal entities controlled by foreigners should be considered a perfect juridical act, provided that:

i) it was performed by a public deed drawn up between June 7th, 1994 and August 22nd, 2010, even if not registered;

ii) it was a result of the acquisition of a company which had the main instrument for business succession filed at the commercial registry until August 22nd, 2010;

iii) it was carried out between June 7th, 1994 and August 22nd, 2010, with registration depending of an act or decision of the Public Administration;

The Joint Ministerial Ordinance also establishes that in case of evidence of document falsification or fraudulent misrepresentation, the acquisition shall be deemed null, pursuant to article 15 of the Law n. 5,709/71 and the article 166 of the Brazilian Civil Code.

It is expected that the Joint Ministerial Ordinance n. 04 will provide the legal security that national legal entities controlled by foreigners needed for the acquisitions of rural real estate property made between 1994 and 2010.

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* Luis Gustavo Miranda and Paulo Teixeira Fernandes are lawyers at Rolim, Viotti & Leite Campos Advogados.