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In addition to operating in the area of the mitigation of risks for investments in lesser-developedcountries, MIGA has a sector for the mediation of disputes, technical assistance and disclosure ofinformation.19.6. Agreements on the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of InvestmentsBrazil signed 14 Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) 3 in the period of 1994-1999, but none of these isin force nowadays due to the lack of approval by the National Congress.In a recent change of attitude towards this type of treaty, Brazil has begun to conceive a type of BIT tobe signed with African and Latin American countries in which Brazilian companies – especially in theinfrastructure sector – have been making significant investments. These treaties are to be calledCooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements and should be adapted to the reality of eachsignatory country. So far, the Brazilian government has not released any draft text, and concretedevelopments in the negotiation of such agreements remain to be seen.19.7. Treaty for International Legal Cooperation in Civil, Commercial, Labor and AdministrativeMattersBrazil has various Treaties for Legal Cooperation in Civil, Commercial, Labor and AdministrativeMatters with Mercosur countries, Spain, France, Italy, Japan Belgium and Portugal. Among them, wemay mention the treaty between Brazil and France, promulgated through Decree 3,598/00.The most important point of this treaty is the abolishment of the legalization or analogous formalities ofall public acts issued in the territory of either signatory State, defining such as documents thatemanate from judicial or notary entities, marital status certificates and official certificates, such asregistration transcriptions, visas with definite dates and the certification of signatures affixed on privatedocuments. The legalization of the respective documents with the diplomatic authorities of eachsignatory country is thus dispensed with in such cases.19.8 Treaty for Legal Cooperation in Criminal Matters3 The BITs signed by Brazil and filed to the National Congress are: Portugal (February 9, 1994), Chile (March 22,1994), United Kingdom (July 19, 1994), Switzerland (November 11, 1994), France (March 21, 1995), Germany(September 21, 1995). The following BITs have not been filed to the National Congress: Finland (March 28,1995), Italy (April 3, 1995), Denmark (May 4, 1995), Venezuela (July 4, 1995), Korean Republic (September 1,1995), Cuba (June 26, 1997), Netherlands (November 25, 1998) and Belgium-Luxemburg (January 6, 1999).102