About Us

Projects and Initiatives

Electronic invoice

We contributed to the design, implementation and improvement of the Electronic Invoice project, which began to take effect in 2006. The System improved inspection, reduced tax evasion and reduced costs for tax authorities and companies.

Inspection Support Systems

We help to develop mechanisms to control the manufacture of products with high tax evasion power, such as the Beverage Production Control System (Sicobe) and the Cigarette Production Control and Tracking System (Scorpios).

Member of CNCP - National Council for Combating Piracy and Intellectual Property Offenses

The National Council for Combating Piracy and Offenses against Intellectual Property (CNCP), a collegiate and advisory body of the Ministry of Justice, aims to develop guidelines for the formulation and proposition of a national plan to combat piracy, its tax evasion. arising and offenses against intellectual property.

Underground Economy Index

ETCO believes that knowing the size of the problem is critical to tackling it. Much is said, but little is known about informality, piracy and evasion, as, as illegal activities, they are difficult to measure. In a pioneering initiative, ETCO, together with the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (IBRE-FGV), annually publishes the Underground Economy Index, a study that estimates the values ​​of activities deliberately not declared to public authorities with the purpose of evading taxes.

To learn more about the Shadow Economy Index, click here

Simplification of the Tax System

Convinced that the complexity of the Brazilian tax system is one of the factors that encourage tax evasion, ETCO has contributed with concrete suggestions for greater efficiency in the payment, inspection and tax collection system. Among these proposals are the federal, state and municipal cadastral unification; the principle of full anteriority, with main ancillary obligations defined until June 30 of the previous year, subject to regulatory taxes; and the simplification of procedures for registration and registration of companies.

Special taxation regimes

One of ETCO's suggestions culminated in the promulgation of Article 146-A, resulting from Constitutional Amendment No. 42/2003. The article foresees that States, the Federal District and municipalities, in addition to the Union, institute differentiated taxation systems in order to prevent competitive imbalances caused by the actions of individuals who use the reduction of their tax costs to gain spurious competitive advantages. ETCO acts with a view to the enactment of a complementary law, essential for the application of the article.

Union of forces for the legal market

We created, in partnership with the National Forum to Combat Piracy (FNCP), the Movement in Defense of the Brazilian Legal Market, which joins forces to act in a coordinated manner in the fight against smuggling, piracy, fraud and counterfeiting of products and defends border control actions. The Movement has the support of 70 entities. Within the scope of cities, also in partnership with the FNCP, we created the Legality Movement, which unites forces between civil society, city halls, the Federal Revenue Service, the Federal Police, parliament, state agencies and the National Front of Mayors to fight, effectively and forcefully the illegal market in Brazilian cities.

Studies, seminars and publications

We sponsor dozens of research, events and books on topics related to ethics, including the Culture of Transgressions in Brazil series, which brings together contributions from great Brazilian thinkers, including the sociologist and former President of the Republic Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

International operations

We are members of committees that fight transnational illicit practices that provoke unfair competition. In 2016, we joined the Latin American Anti-Smuggling Alliance (ALAC), which brings together civil society entities and government agencies from 15 Latin American nations in the search for joint actions to stop smuggling in the region; in 2017, we started to act in this direction also with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Recognition of ethical companies

We are part of the management committee of Pró-Ética, a recognition program for companies committed to ethics in their relations with the public sector. Pró-Ética was created in 2010 by the Ministry of Transparency, Inspection and Controllership-General of the Union (CGU) in partnership with the Ethos Institute.

Ethics for young people

To strengthen the ethical principles in the training of Brazilian students, we created the Ethics for Young People project. The initiative developed and made available to high school teachers, at the address www.eticaparajovens.com.br, a series of pedagogical activities to deal with the theme with its students in a pleasant and engaging way, stimulating critical thinking.