Juliana Mello

Juliana Mello


The Brazil Business

Updated

Daniel Y. Go

Junta Comercial

Juliana Mello

Juliana Mello


The Brazil Business

Updated

If you intend to start a business in Brazil, you will have to get familiar with Junta Comercial, an autarchy responsible for registering the commercial companies in the country. In this article, you will get some general information about this institution, knowing its main attributions and operations.

What is Junta Comercial?

Junta Comercial (Board of Trade) is the governmental body responsible for the registration of all the activities related to business partnerships in Brazil. There is a Junta Comercial for each of the 26 Brazilian states, plus one for the Federal District. Technically, they are subjected to the National Department of Business Registration (DNRC), an agency linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

The DNCR is responsible for supervising the work performed by the Boards of Trade and establishing the rules and laws they will follow. The department also corrects eventual mistakes made by the Juntas Comerciais.

Each Junta Comercial is an independent organism with its own policies, administrative structure and intern procedures. However, they are all obliged to execute and follow the rules of the National System of Commercial Registration (Sinren), what guarantees that the registration service of the companies will be done uniformly throughout the country.

Most of the Boards of Trade are defined as public autarchies, with administrative, financial and property autonomy but subordinated to the state govern, except for the Board of Trade of the Federal District which is directly subordinated to the DNCR. All the Boards of Trade maintain their head offices in the capital city of their states. However, there are several offices and service stations distributed throughout each state. The addresses can be consulted in the Boards’ official websites, which can be accessed in the end of this article.

Speaking of websites, the Boards of Trade are in the process of leaving paper behind and are following the advance of the electronic government in Brazil. A great number of the business procedures can be done online. That is why it is important to get familiar with these websites. Unfortunately, if you don’t speak Portuguese, you will need a translator, because ALL the Boards of Trade’s websites lack translation to English.

Through the Board’s website you can also research other companies that were formed.

What does the Junta Comercial do?

The general responsibilities of the Boards of Trade are to:

  • Give warranty, advertising, authenticity, safety and efficacy to the legal acts of commercial companies subject to registration
  • Register commercial companies in the archives
  • Keep up to date relevant information about the companies registered
  • Register the trade auxiliary professionals, such as sworn translators, auctioneers, official interpreters, among others

Recently, the Boards of Trade started to issue the CNPJ too, which was only under the responsibility of Receita Federal before.

Companies and Boards of Trade

The registration at the local Board of Trade is the first step for the entrepreneur to start business activities in Brazil. Only after filing the Articles of Association at the Board’s archives, the entrepreneur will be able to issue the company’s CNPJ and registering at the municipality and the State Treasury Office.

All companies formed under the following categories must be registered in the local Board of Trade:

The Boards are responsible for archiving documents related to the formation, alteration, dissolution and termination of individual firms, commercial partnerships and cooperatives.

Important: Entrepreneurs shall always consult the Junta Comercial from the state where their busineness is located. If the business is located in São Paulo, for example, its documents have to be registered at the JUCESP (São Paulo state's Board of Trade).

Boards of Trade’s linked websites

Down below, you can have access to the website of the Junta Comercial of each Brazilian state.