The Role of Compliance Programs in Preventing Age Discrimination: an Analysis in the Light of Brazilian Law 10.741/03

Abstract

It is indisputable that contemporary society is marked by mass consumption, which has as protagonists large companies (often multinationals) that operate in the production, distribution and sale of the most varied products. The emergence of these entities that are undeniably complex, powerful and active in the most varied sectors of society, brought with it a greater concern with the crimes committed from this business environment and harmful to the interests not only of the company it-self, but also of its employees and third parties. It is precisely in this context that compliance programs have gained prominence as an important instrument for pre-venting and repressing economic and business crimes. That being said, the object of this investigation focuses on a specific niche of crime that can also be committed from the business environment: elderly discrimination. It is a fact that in each of the stages of the customer chain, there may be facts that are harmful to the interests of the elderly, either by preventing or unjustifiably hindering their access to rights, services, products or jobs, or by displaying or conveying in media, advertisements with information or images that are derogatory or offensive to the elderly person. Aware of this reality, Brazilian legislators approved in 2003 the so-called Statute of the Elderly (Law 10.741/03), which also underwent significant changes through Law 14.423/22. This is a law that provides not only for some fundamental rights of the elderly, but also criminalizes various behaviors that are harmful to the interests of these people. In view of this scenario, the aim of this paper is to analyze the role of compliance programs in preventing elderly discrimination and how they can af-fect criminal liability, in the light of the Brazilian legal system. To do so, we will initially study the concept, fundamentals and concrete structure of compliance pro-grams. Subsequently, we will analyze Law 10.741/03 (with the modifications brought by Law 14.423/22) in detail, with special attention to the crimes foreseen therein. At the end of the investigation, we will seek to understand how compliance programs should be structured so that they can be effective in preventing crimes against the elderly and how they can be considered in the attribution of criminal responsibility to individuals and legal entities, for the crimes provided for in the Law under analysis.