Law No. 13,606/18, published on January 10, brought in changes to Law No. 10,522/02, which provides for the Credit Information Register (Cadin), and authorized the National Treasury to freeze assets of debtors as soon as the tax debt is enrolled by Federal Attorney of the National Treasury and before the filing of a tax foreclosure, without the need for court order.

Once the debt is enrolled (CDA), the debtor will be summoned to make payment of the amount within up to five days. This summons may occur electronically or by mail to the address provided by the taxpayer or the person responsible to the Public Treasury and will be deemed delivered 15 days after it is sent.

If the debtor does not pay the debt within five days of the summons, the National Treasury may: (i) report the registration of the enrolled debt to databases and registries related to consumer and credit reporting services and the like; and (ii) register the seizure, by electronic means, by the registry of real estate and assets, thereby rendering them frozen.

That is, after registration of the enrolled debt and before the filing of a tax foreclosure, there is a new procedure, called a “pre-foreclosure annotation", carried out by the Federal Attorney of the National Treasury, by which the debtors who do not pay their debts may have their property subject to public registry (mainly real estate and vehicles) encumbered.

For the new legislation to be implemented, it is necessary for the Attorney-General of the National Treasury to issue a regulatory standard. The expectation is that it will be issued within 90 days.

Although the legitimacy of this procedure is questionable, in view of this change, companies must take the measures necessary as soon as administrative proceedings come to a close or as soon as they are summoned for the purposes of collection of the debt in order to avoid being subject to any freeze on their assets.