Anti-Money Laundering Law and the Legislative Process Behind it: a Study About the Brazilian Legislative Procedures

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze in detail the legislative procedures relating to laws that regulate money laundering in Brazil and their future tendencies, exploring the research field called criminal legislative policy. The main objective of this paper is to help build this research area in Brazil, as well as to map out some characteristics of the Brazilian legislative process concerning the criminalization of conduct related to the economy (political parties involved, foreign influences, etc.). The first part of the paper is theoretical and explores the concept of legislative policy and the international regulation of money laundering, mainly in Latin America, that could have influenced Brazilian legislation. The last part of the paper is composed of graphs that explore details about the legislative procedure of the two main Brazilian pieces of legislation on money laundering. This part also contains a table with the main active bills that seek to change the current legislation on the matter, as well as a critical analysis. The initial conclusions point to an increase in punishment in the years analyzed, with future trends heading in the same direction. The methodology used is bibliographic, legislative, and documental research.