## Facts

- The Brazilian Union of Composers (União Brasileira de Compositores, UBC) is a nonprofit private civil association in Brazil that participates in the ECAD structure for collective copyright collection and distribution.
- UBC expelled one of its members, Arthur Rodrigues Villarinho, based on alleged violations of the association’s bylaws and internal rules.
- Villarinho challenged the expulsion in the Rio de Janeiro state courts, alleging that UBC failed to provide constitutionally required procedural guarantees, including the right to adversarial proceedings and a full defense before punishment (Brazilian Constitution, art. 5, LV).
- The Rio de Janeiro court annulled the expulsion and ordered Villarinho’s reinstatement, reasoning that the disciplinary process did not provide the required procedural protections.
- UBC filed an extraordinary appeal (RE 201.819/RJ) to the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF), arguing that constitutional procedural guarantees bind the state, not private associations, and that private entities may govern membership through their bylaws.
- In the STF, the reporting Justice initially voted to grant UBC’s appeal on the view that private associations have freedom to set internal rules and that members accept those rules when joining.
- After further deliberation, the Second Panel declined to follow the initial report and decided the case on an opinion authored by Justice Gilmar Mendes, denying relief to UBC.

## Issues

1. Do the constitutional guarantees of adversarial proceedings and full defense (art. 5, LV) apply directly to a private civil association’s decision to expel a member?
2. If constitutional procedural guarantees can apply in private relationships, does an association with a predominant role in an economic and social sector have a heightened duty to provide due process in internal disciplinary proceedings?

## Decision

- The STF recognized the extraordinary appeal but denied it, leaving in place the Rio de Janeiro judgment annulling Villarinho’s expulsion and ordering his reinstatement.
- The Court held that violations of fundamental rights can occur not only in citizen–state relations, but also in relationships between private persons and private legal entities; fundamental rights may bind private actors in appropriate settings.
- The Court concluded that the constitutional space for private autonomy of associations is limited by constitutional principles protecting fundamental rights of members.
- The Court treated UBC as operating in a “public, though non-state, space” because of its role within the ECAD framework and its ability to significantly affect members’ enjoyment of copyright-related economic rights.
- Because UBC’s expulsion decision materially burdened Villarinho without providing adequate opportunity for defense and adversarial participation, the disciplinary sanction was constitutionally invalid.

## Legal Principles

- Fundamental rights may have direct effect in private legal relationships, not only against the state, when private power can harm protected liberties.
- Freedom of association and internal self-governance do not permit private associations to disregard constitutional guarantees that protect members from arbitrary punishment.
- When a private association performs a predominant function in an economic or social field and members may be economically dependent on it, constitutional limits on private power apply more strongly.
- Disciplinary proceedings that can substantially affect a member’s professional or economic position must provide basic procedural guarantees, including notice, an opportunity to be heard, and an opportunity to present a defense consistent with art. 5, LV.

## Conclusion

In RE 201.819/RJ (2005), the STF’s Second Panel refused to restore UBC’s expulsion of Arthur Rodrigues Villarinho, holding that constitutional guarantees of defense and adversarial process can apply directly to private associations, especially where the entity holds sector-wide power through the ECAD-linked copyright system, and therefore must provide due process before imposing severe internal sanctions like membership exclusion.


Brazilian Union of Composers v. Arthur Rodrigues Villarinho, Extraordinary Review 201819-S (Rio de Janeiro) RE-201819 (2005)