Law 14.905/24, which amends the Civil Code to regulate and standardize the way in which inflation adjustment and interest are applied to civil debts, was enacted. The text was published in the Official Gazette of the Union on Monday, 1st.
According to the new law, unfulfilled contractual obligations will give rise to an order for damages, plus interest, inflation adjustment and attorney’s fees. Furthermore, in the event that the inflation adjustment index has not been agreed or is not provided for in a specific law, the IPCA variation, calculated by the IBGE, or the index that replaces it, will be applied. The same applies to interest, when it is not agreed, when it is without a stipulated rate or when it is determined by law, it will be fixed according to the legal rate, which will correspond to the Selic rate, minus the inflation adjustment index.
It is also important to highlight two points of the new law, which are: a) the methodology for calculating the legal rate and how it is applied will be defined by the National Monetary Council and published by the Central Bank; and b) if the legal rate shows a negative result, it will be considered equal to 0 (zero) for the purposes of calculating interest in the reference period.
Finally, the new law will come into force within 60 (sixty) days of the date of its publication, with the exception of the item referring to the methodology for calculating the legal rate and its form of application defined by the National Monetary Council and published by the Central Bank of Brazil, which have been in force since its publication.
