On September 25, the 2nd Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) established the understanding that the public administration can register the debtor in defaulters’ databases without a prior active debt registration.
The decision was made when reforming a judgment issued by the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF2), which had established that the registration in credit restriction agencies would only be valid if there was a prior registration of the fine as active debt.
In the specific case, a company sought the annulment of infraction notices issued by the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) and requested the illegality of registering its name in credit restriction databases. At first instance, the court ordered the removal of the company’s name from the databases, a decision upheld by TRF2.
Minister Francisco Falcão, the rapporteur of the case, pointed out that the issue does not discuss the application of Article 46 of Law 11.457/2008, but rather the possibility of the public administration registering its debtors in defaulters’ databases, regardless of prior active debt registration.
According to his understanding, the active debt certificate (CDA) evidences the debtor’s debt and allows the tax authority to adopt judicial actions. However, issuing the CDA can make collection more costly for the administration.
The rapporteur also recalled a previous judgment on Repetitive Theme 1.026, concluding that registering the debtor’s name in defaulters’ databases, as a less costly action, can be done before exhausting attempts to find assets for attachment.