Gifts, Hospitality and Corporate Liability in Brazilian Anti-Corruption Law: An Analysis of the 2025 CGU Administrative Statements

This article examines the fragile boundary between legitimate institutional courtesy and unlawful “undue advantage” under Brazil’s Anti-Corruption Law (Law 12.846/2013), with particular emphasis on gifts and hospitality offered by private entities to public officials. It takes as its starting point three Administrative Statements (Enunciados) issued in 2025 by Brazil’s Office of the Comptroller General (Controladoria-Geral da União – CGU) through the SIPRI/CGU system, which interpret the notion of undue advantage and the (il)legality of gifts, hospitality and invitations to entertainment events in light of Law 12.846/2013 and Decree 10.889/2021. After outlining the normative background and the legal status of Administrative Statements as instruments of interpretive harmonization, the article critically analyzes Enunciados 2, 5 and 6, assessing their compatibility with constitutional principles of Administrative Sanctioning Law, notably legality, typicity, roportionality and organizational culpability. It argues that, while the Statements contribute to legal certainty by anchoring the assessment of gifts and hospitality in objective parameters, they must be applied in a casesensitive manner in order to avoid both the trivialization of corruption risks and the overcriminalization of ordinary institutional courtesies. The article concludes with practical implications for corporate compliance programs and public sector integrity policies.