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The webinar New Times: Legal Challenges, Security, Digital Economy, promoted by ABES on April 15, had the moderation of Rodolfo Fücher, president of the entity, who opened the presentation saying that, with the Covid-19 pandemic, ABES included in its purpose helping to build a healthier country , more digital and less unequal. The full video of the webinar is available on the ABES channel at Youtube.
Fücher stressed that the IT sector plays an important role in the democratization of knowledge, education and the creation of new opportunities. He also spoke about the importance of government actions and measures in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the business sector and the less favored classes. “How are we going to be able to help with this change process? What are the government's actions and new measures? What are the legal impacts on taxes, contracts, labor relations, security and the digital economy? These are issues that we will address in this webinar ”, he explained.
Legal Challenges
The first speaker was Dr. Manoel dos Santos, legal director of ABES and master in law, who highlighted the action plan formulated by the association and which will be forwarded to the Ministry of Economy, with the aim of minimizing the effects of the pandemic for the sector IT (the plan is available for consultation here). Among the items in this plan is the postponement of tax payments. “A part of our claims has already been completed, but for a short time. ABES wants to plead for suspension of payments to be reissued for a longer period of at least 12 months. This is the case with the collection of Social Security Contributions, PIS, Cofins, ICMS, Guarantee Fund, Certificates of Good Standing. Dr. Manoel also addressed the different ordinances and laws issued in this period and explained their impacts. The information was made available for consultation.
Alternatives for managing employment contracts
Dr. Ana Claudia Moro, a lawyer specialized in Labor Law and Data Protection and Legal Consultant at ABES, spoke about the alternatives made available by the government's Provisional Measures to face the crisis.
One of the measures allows the easy adoption of teleworking, anticipation of vacations, concession of collective vacations, postponement of FGTS payment, anticipation of holidays, adoption of hour bank with extended compensation up to 18 months. Another measure relates to the regulation of workload and wage reduction, which can be adopted for 30 days and renewable for another 60 days, with the possibility of a wage reduction of 25%, 50% and 70%. In companies that choose to reduce their wages, employees will receive a share in the same percentage of the cut as their unemployment insurance would be, if they were dismissed. The lawyer recalled that the ABES legal department is at the disposal of the associates to pass more information on duty, in view of the importance of assessing the reality of each associate.
The impact of the pandemic on contractual relations
The lawyer, specialist in Corporate, Tax and Data Protection Law and ABES 'legal consultant, Dr. Thomaz Côrte Real spoke about the impact of pandemics on contract management and pointed out that bill 1179 must be approved and will bring legal certainty to in order to curb pandemic-based non-payment abuses.
“One of the articles sets March 20 as the starting date for the effects derived from Covid-19. Therefore, contractual obligations before that date must be fulfilled ”, explained Dr. Thomaz With this proposal, there is a need for proof of the contractual situation before and after the pandemic. The project also suggests that companies should create a crisis committee, made up of representatives from the legal, financial and commercial departments to analyze the situation as a whole. In addition, the expert explained the importance of applying the contractual principles: common sense, good faith and renegotiation, as they help to pass the period and mitigate impacts within the best possibilities.
The importance of digital certification in pandemic times
Paulo Milliet Roque, co-founder of DigiForte and vice-president of ABES, spoke about the government's intention to massify the digitalization of public services in order to reduce costs and expand citizen access to services. For this, three types of certificates were created: simple identity, advanced identity and qualified identity, guaranteed by the digital certificate (e-CPF or e-CNPJ). “Today, there are more than 10 million digital certifications and the Government intends to reach the mark of 40 million qualified identities by the end of the current government,” he said.
ABES action plan
The presentations of the webinar ended with the participation of Dr. Ariel Uarian Queiroz Bezerra, a lawyer with expertise in the areas of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Tax Law, in addition to a Specialist in Public Law at ATAME (Universidade Cândido Mendes). He stressed that the world will be more digital and more connected and explained some points of ABES 'action plan, of which he participates in the elaboration.
Dr. Ariel explained that an important point pleaded by ABES is the discharge of payments that governments (federal, state and municipal) owe to suppliers and said that the Union will need to help states and municipalities. He also pointed out the need for credit lines offered by banks - whether state or private - to finance companies, as well as the easing of guarantees applied to the debtors' register. In addition, he cited other measures requested in the plan: the extension of the payment of water, electricity, telephone for the population and companies for a period of 180 days, in addition to the shortage in the payment of IPTU.
O full webinar video is available on the ABES channel on Youtube.
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