Ceitec Receives Maximum Certification in Governance Indicator

The Level 1 certification is the highest granted by Brazil's Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, from which the company obtained a grade of 9.46.
Published: January 7, 2019

Ceitec, a public company linked to Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC) that operates in the semiconductor segment, has received Level 1 certification in the agency’s Program of Measurement of Indicators of Governance—IG-SEST, promoted by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management. The certification was awarded at a ceremony held in Brasilia, the nation’s capital.

Level 1 certification is the highest achievable in the program. Ceitec is the company deemed to have most evolved, achieving a grade of 9.46. “This achievement is very important to consolidate the conditions,” says Paulo Luna, Ceitec’s president, “so that Ceitec can expand its operations, both in the domestic market and in the external market.”

Paulo Luna, Ceitec’s president

“It happens that the market, especially potential international partners, today demands high levels of governance, particularly with respect to compliance,” Luna states. “Certificates of Excellence in Governance, such as IG-SEST Level 1 and ISO 9001: 2015, show that the company has dedicated itself and been successful in ensuring the best conditions for good governance and management.”

According to Luna, “The current management has focused on consolidating a new market position in which Ceitec presents itself as a potential supplier or relevant articulator of solutions in microelectronics for major national challenges. So it is essential to demonstrate excellence in governance and management.” Despite having a vast potential market, he adds, “Brazil is far behind in the implementation of enabling technologies that could allow the various benefits associated with the concepts of Intelligent Cities, the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, among others.

Luna cites several examples: “Chip identity, for example, although initially foreseen in 1997 (Law No. 9,454/97), has not yet left the gates. Animal identification with a chip, provided for in the Normative Instruction of the Ministry of Agriculture No. 17/06, and the same vehicle identification with the chip—Contran Resolution no. 212/06—also did not reach even 10 percent of its potential market, and both are still associated with many uncertainties regarding its future.”

In addition to these demands, Luna explains, a number of others, such as controlling government assets and identifying retail products, can benefit from the incorporation of RFID chips into identification tags. “Making all these markets finally happen does, indeed, require institutionally safe and effective paths, and Ceitec can support the construction of these paths, insofar as its governance and management are recognized as being of excellence, and that it is an institution 100 percent federal and reputable.”

For Ceitec’s president, potential customers can now be more effective and secure in their initial chip solution deployment processes, while national and international partners, as well as other suppliers, can have greater confidence that such markets have become a reality. “The country today does not have the capacity to meet its potential demand,” Luna states. “Companies that have gone forward in the past to meet seemingly reliable and short-term demands have seen their investments turn into dust, and they do not want to go wrong again.”

“So perhaps Ceitec may be a major player in building a new moment for the country, in which microelectronics technologies in general and RFID in particular are eventually appropriated by society and value chains,” Luna says. “Significant participation of national companies are being consolidated in order to guarantee the necessary capacity to support the process of recovering the lost time.”

In order for the market to recognize Ceitec as being able to play this role, Luna says, it is necessary for the market to trust the company. The Certification of Excellence in Governance certification—IGS-EST Level 1 fuels this confidence, he adds. Ibanez Filter, the director of Governance, Risk and Compliance, affirms that “since the beginning of the indicator’s measurement, Ceitec has been evolving continuously, having moved from Level 4 to Level 1—the best that can possibly be achieved. This demonstrates greater maturity and continued concern with improving its management processes.”

The IG-SEST is an instrument of continuous monitoring of the governance level of the federal state-owned direct control companies of Brazil. It evaluates compliance with the requirements of Law 13303/2016 and the guidelines established in the Resolutions of the Interministerial Commission on Corporate Governance and Administration Corporate Partnerships (CGPAR), which seek to implement best market practices and a higher level of excellence in corporate governance.

The focus of the certification was the effectiveness regarding the implementation of the law that regulates the state. It evaluated and verified the implementation of the requirements required by the standard, such as training, the appointment of independent members in the Board of Directors, minutes of meetings of the Audit Committee and the Fiscal Council, internal controls, internal audits, risk management and more.