14.540/23 establishes the Program for Prevention and Confrontation of Sexual Harassment and Other Crimes against Sexual Dignity and Sexual Violence

Law 14,540/23, promulgated on April 3, 2023, establishes the Program for the Prevention and Confrontation of Sexual Harassment and other Crimes against Sexual Dignity and Sexual Violence within the scope of the Public Administration, direct and indirect, federal, state, district and municipal.

Published in the Official Gazette on April 4, 2023, the law applies to all public entities and private entities that provide public services through concession, permission, authorization, or any other form of delegation.

The initiative shows the growing concern of the government with integrity issues.

The Program uses as parameters for the characterization of violence provided for in Law 14,540/23 the definitions of sexual crime contained in the Criminal Code and other crimes inserted in special laws, such as Law 11,340/06 (Maria da Penha Law) and Law 13,431/17 (Law of Guarantee of the Child or Adolescent Victim or Witness of Violence).

The goals of the Program are:

• To prevent and address harassment and other forms of violence.
• To train the Public Administration agents in preventing and solving cases of violence; and
• To implement educational campaigns on harassment and other forms of violence.

To achieve these goals, the law sets the following guidelines:

• Clarification to Public Administration agents about the elements that characterize harassment and other forms of violence.
• Provision of educational and informative materials with examples of conduct that can be characterized as sexual harassment or other crime against sexual dignity, or any other form of sexual violence, to guide the actions of public agents and society in general.
• Implementation of good practices for the prevention of the conducts covered by the Program.
• Dissemination of relevant legislation on the subject and public policies for the protection, reception, assistance and guarantee of the victims’ rights.
• Disclosure of reporting channels accessible to servers, agencies, entities, and other actors involved.
• Establishment of procedures to forward complaints, ensuring confidentiality and due process; and
• Creation of training programs, in the face-to-face or distance modality, with specific mandatory content addressing victims’ health, legal developments, victims’ rights, mechanisms and whistleblowing channels, and existing legal instruments for prevention and confrontation of sexual harassment and other violence.

The Program also contains provisions to provide efficiency to the prevention and mitigation of sexual violence by setting practical measures, such as:

• Duty to report by any person who becomes aware of conducts related to sexual harassment or violence.
• Investigation and punishment of retaliation of victims, witnesses, and investigators; and
• Registration, physical or electronic, for five years of frequency of the training initiatives given, by all agencies and entities covered by the Program.

The monitoring of the development of the Program will be carried out by the Executive Branch, to subsidize the planning of future actions and the analysis and achievement of its objectives and guidelines.

The law shall enter into force on the date of its publication. However, its application to private entities is subject to the specific regulation of the matter by the federative entity responsible for the concession, permission, authorization or delegation.