Simple Credit Enterprises, Criminal intervention and the Theories of Winfried Hassemer and Juarez Tavares

Abstract

In 2019, without requiring prior authorization, the Brazilian government has allowed Simple Credit Enterprises (Empresas Simples de Crédito – ESC) to engage in activities that previously private to a financial institution authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil, that is, loans, financing and title discount. In return, imposed nine criminal sanctions involving its performance. Applying Winfried Hassemer's personal theory of legal interest and the elements proposed by Juarez Tavares to distinguish legal interest from the function of the state, this paper concluded that such intervention was legitimate only in seven of the nine criminal types instituted because there was the protection of authentic criminal legal interests. The criminal intervention was not shown to be legitimate in the cases of the requirement of a written contractual instrument and the imposition of transacting the loan resources through deposit accounts, since they were shown to be mere functions of the state.