This article discusses the genesis of the regulatory agencies (RAs) in Brazil, the model modification proposals and the different forms of control over these new entities. During the RA creation process, between 1996 and 2002, the infrastructure sector model was improperly extended to the other agencies. This inadequacy was not corrected by the model reviews proposed to Congress by the new government. After comparing the American and the Brazilian contexts, the article retrieves from the American experience the differences between the forms of control: hierarchical, political, and social. In Brazil, in the discussion about the extent of AR autonomy the forms of control are confused, and very often what is called 'political control' is in fact hierarchical control, and 'social control' is a synonym for political control. The author believes that agency independence and political control are not antonymous, but hierarchical control and independence are. It is also wrong to confuse social control and political control. Agency creation under a single model and indistinction between control forms can be explained by the combination of characteristics of the Brazilian institutional-political system, with preferences and resistances by actors within the government, especially from the federal Executive branch.
Brazil; regulatory credibility; political control; hierarchical control
