Title: Brazil. Constitution

TITLE V
THE DEFENSE OF THE STATE AND OF THE DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

CHAPTER I
The State of Defense and the State of Siege

Section I
The State of Defense

ARTICLE 136.- The President of the Republic may, after hearing the Council of the Republic and the National Defense Council, decree a state of defense to preserve or to promptly re-establish, in specific and restricted locations, the public order or the social peace threatened by serious and imminent institutional instability or affected by major natural calamities.

Paragraph 1 - The decree instituting the state of defense shall determine the period of its duration, shall specify the areas to be encompassed and shall indicate, within the terms and limitations of the law, the coercive measures to be in force from among the following:
I - restrictions to the rights of:
a) assembly, even if held within associations;
b) secrecy of correspondence;
c) secrecy of telegraph and telephone communication;
II - in the event of a public calamity, occupation and temporary use of public property and services, the Union being liable for the resulting damages and costs.

Paragraph 2 - The state of defense shall not exceed thirty days and it may be extended once for an identical period if the reasons that justified its decreeing persist.

Paragraph 3 - During the period in which the state of defense is in force:
I - arrest for a crime against the State, determined by the party executing the measure, shall be immediately communicated by such party to the competent judge, who shall remit it if it is illegal, it being the arrested person's choice to request examination of corpus delicti from the police authority;
II - the communication shall be accompanied by a statement by the authority as to the physical and mental state of the arrested person at the time of the filing of the charges;
III - the imprisonment or detention of any person shall not exceed ten days, unless authorized by the Judicial Power;
IV - incommunicability of the arrested person is forbidden.

Paragraph 4 - Upon decreeing a state of defense or extension thereof, the President of the Republic shall, within twenty-four hours, submit the act with the respective justification to the National Congress, which shall decide by absolute majority.

Paragraph 5 - If the National Congress is in recess, it shall be called extraordinarily within five days.

Paragraph 6 - The National Congress shall examine the decree within ten days as from receipt thereof, and shall remain in operation as long as the state of defense is in force.

Paragraph 7 - If the decree is rejected, the state of defense shall cease immediately.


Section II
The State of Siege

ARTICLE 137.- The President of the Republic may, after hearing the Council of the Republic and the National Defense Council, request authorization from the National Congress to decree the state of siege in the event of:

I - serious disturbance with nationwide effects or ocurrence of facts that evidence the innefectiveness of a measure taken during the state of defense;

II - declaration of state of war or response to foreign armed agression.

Sole paragraph - The President of the Republic shall, on requesting authorization to decree the state of siege or to extend it, submit the reasons that determine such request, and the National Congress shall decide by absolute majority.

ARTICLE 138.- The decree of the state of siege shall specify the period of its duration, the rules required to implement it and the constitutional guarantees that are to be suspended and, after it is published, the President of the Republic shall designate the executor of the specific measures and the areas encompassed.

Paragraph 1 - In the event of article 137, I, the state of siege may not be decreed for more than thirty days nor may each extension exceed such period; in the event of item II, it may be decreed for the entire period of the war or foreign armed aggression.

Paragraph 2 - If authorization to decree the state of siege is requested during parliamentary recess, the President of the Federal Senate shall immediately summon an extraordinary session of the National Congress to convene within five days in order to examine the act.

Paragraph 3 - The National Congress shall remain in session until the end of the coercive measures.

ARTICLE 139.- During the period in which the state of siege decreed under article 137, I, is in force, only the following measures may be taken against persons:

I - obligation to remain at a specific place;

II - detention in a building not intended for persons accused of or convicted for common crimes;

III - restrictions regarding the inviolability of correspondence, the secrecy of communications, the rendering of information and the freedom of press, radio broadcasting and television, as established by law;

IV - suspension of freedom of assembly;

V - home search and seizure;

VI - intervention in public utility companies;

VII - requisitioning of property.

Sole paragraph - The broadcasting of speeches made by Congressmen in their Legislative Houses is not included in the restrictions of item III, if authorized by the respective Directing Board.


Section III
General Provisions

ARTICLE 140.- The Directing Board of the National Congress shall, after hearing the party leaders, designate a Committee comprised of five of its members to monitor and supervise the implementation of the measures concerning the state of defense and the state of siege.

ARTICLE 141.- Once the state of defense or the state of siege ceases, its effects shall also cease, without prejudice to liability for illicit acts performed by the executors or agents thereof.

Sole paragraph - As soon as the state of defense or the state of siege ceases, the measures applied during the period while it is in force shall be reported by the President of the Republic in a message to the National Congress, with specification and justification of the actions taken, with the listing of the names of those affected and indication of the restrictions applied.


CHAPTER II
The Armed Forces

*ARTICLE 142.- The Armed Forces, comprised of the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, are permanent and regular national institutions, organized on the basis of hierarchy and discipline, under the supreme authority of the President of the Republic, and are intended for the defense of the Country, for the guarantee of the constitutional powers, and, on the initiative of any of these, of law and order.

Paragraph 1 - A supplementary law shall establish the general rules to be adopted in the organization, training and use of the Armed Forces.

Paragraph 2 - Habeas-corpus shall not apply to military disciplinary punishments.

Paragraph 3. The members of the Armed Forces are called military, and the following provisions apply to them, in addition to other provisions that the law may establish:

I - the ranks, with the prerogatives, rights and duties inherent to them, are awarded by the President of the Republic and are guaranteed in full to officers in active service, those of the reserve or in retirement, and such officers have exclusive rights to military titles and posts, and, together with the other members, to the use of the uniforms of the Armed Forces;

II - a military in active service who takes office in a permanent civil public position or job shall be transferred to the reserve, under the terms of the law;

III - a military in active service who, under the terms of the law, takes office in a non-elective, temporary civil public position, job or function, even if in the indirect administration, shall be put on leave and, as long as he remains in this situation he may only be promoted by seniority, and his period of service shall be counted only for that promotion and for transfer to the reserve, and after two years, whether continuous or not, away from active service, he shall be transferred to the reserve, under the terms of the law;

IV - the military are forbidden to join unions and to strike;

V - while in actual service, the military are forbidden to belong to political parties;

VI - an officer shall only lose his post and rank if he is judged unworthy of or incompatible with the dignity of officership by decision of a permanent military court, in times of peace, or of a special court, in times of war;

VII - an officer sentenced in a common or military court by means of an unappealable judgment to imprisonment for more than two years shall be submitted to trial as provided in the preceding item;

VIII - the provisions of article 7, items VIII, XII, XVII, XVIII, XIX and

XXV, and of article 37, items XI, XIII, XIV and XV, apply to the military;

IX - the provisions of article 40, paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 apply to the military and to their pensioners;

X - the law shall provide for admission to the Armed Forces, age limits, tenure, and other conditions for a military to be retired, the rights, duties, remuneration, prerogatives and other circumstances which are specific to the military, the special characteristics of their activities being taken into account, including those carried out by virtue of international agreements and of war.

* CA 18/98.

ARTICLE 143.- Military service is compulsory as set forth by law.

Paragraph 1 - It is within the competence of the Armed Forces, according to the law, to assign an alternative service to those who, in times of peace, after being enlisted, claim imperative of conscience, which shall be understood as originating in religious creed and philosophical or political belief, for exemption from essentially military activities.

Paragraph 2 - Women and clergymen are exempt from compulsory military service in times of peace, but are subject to other duties assigned to them by law.


CHAPTER III
Public Security

ARTICLE 144.- Public security, the duty of the State and the right and responsibility of all, is exercised to preserve public order and the safety of persons and property, by means of the following agencies:

I - federal police;

II - federal highway police;

III - federal railway police;

IV - civil polices;

V - military polices and military fire brigades.

Paragraph 1 - The federal police, instituted by law as a permanent body and structured into a career, are intended to:
I - investigate criminal offenses against the political and the social order or to the detriment of property, services and interests of the Union and of its autonomous government entities and public companies, as well as other offenses with interstate or international effects and requiring uniform repression as the law shall establish;
II - to prevent and repress the illegal traffic of narcotics and like drugs, as well as smuggling, without prejudice to action by the treasury authorities and other government agencies in their respective areas of competence;
III - to exercise the functions of maritime, air and border police;
IV - to exercise, exclusively, the functions of criminal police of the Union.

Paragraph 2 - The federal highway police are a permanent body structured into a career and intended, according to the law, to patrol ostensibly the federal highways.

Paragraph 3 - The federal railway police are a permanent body structured into a career and intended, according to the law, to patrol ostensibly the federal railways.

Paragraph 4 - It is incumbent upon the civil police, directed by career police comissioners and except for the competence of the Union, to exercise the functions of criminal police and to investigate criminal offenses, with the exception of the military ones.

Paragraph 5 - It is within the competence of the military polices the ostensive policing and the maintenance of the public order; it is incumbent upon the military fire brigades, in addition to the duties defined by law, to carry out activities of civil defense.

Paragraph 6 - The military polices and military fire brigades, ancillary forces and reserve of the Army, are subject, together with the civil police, to the Governors of the states, of the Federal District and of the territories.

Paragraph 7 - The law shall regulate the organization and operation of the agencies responsible for public security in such a manner as to guarantee the efficiency of their activities.

Paragraph 8 - The municipalities may organize municipal guards to protect their property, services and facilities, as the law shall establish.


TITLE VI
TAXATION AND BUDGET

CHAPTER I
The National Tax System

Section I
General Principles

ARTICLE 145.- The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities may institute the following tributes:

I - taxes;

II - fees, by virtue of the exercise of police power or for the effective or potential use of specific and divisible public services, rendered to the taxpayer or made available to him;

III - benefit charges, resulting from public works.

Paragraph 1 - Whenever possible, taxes shall have an individual character and shall be graded according to the economic capacity of the taxpayer, and the tax administration may, especially to confer effectiveness upon such objectives, with due respect to individual rights and under the terms of the law, identify the property, the incomes and the economic activities of the taxpayer.

Paragraph 2 - Fees may not have the assessment basis reserved for taxes.

ARTICLE 146.- A supplementary law shall:

I - provide for conflicts of competence concerning tax matters between the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities;

II - regulate the constitutional limitations on the power to tax; III - establish general rules concerning tax legislation, especially with regard to:
a) the definition of tributes and their types, as well as, regarding the taxes specified in this Constitution, the definition of the respective taxable events, assessment bases and taxpayers;
b) tax liability, assessment, credit, limitation and laches;
c) adequate tax treatment for the cooperative acts of cooperative associations.

ARTICLE 147.- In a federal territory, state taxes are within the competence of the Union and, if the territory is not divided into municipalities, also municipal taxes; municipal taxes are within the competence of the Federal District.

ARTICLE 148.- The Union may, by means of a supplementary law, institute compulsory loans:

I - to meet extraordinary expenses resulting from public calamity, foreign war or the imminence thereof;

II - in the case of public investment of an urgent nature and relevant national interest, observing the provisions of article 150, III, b.

Sole paragraph - The use of funds deriving from a compulsory loan shall be linked to the expense that justified the institution thereof.

ARTICLE 149.- The Union shall have the exclusive competence to institute social contributions regarding intervention in the economic order and the interest of categories of employees or employers, as an instrument of its activity in the respective areas, observing the provisions of articles 146, III, and 150, I and III, and without prejudice to the provisions of article 195, paragraph 6, as regards the contributions mentioned in the latter article.

Sole paragraph - The states, the Federal District and the municipalities may institute a contribution payable by their employees to fund social security and assistance systems for the benefit of the latter.

* CA 3/93.


Section II
Limitations on the Power to Tax

ARTICLE 150.- Without prejudice to any other guarantees ensured to the taxpayers, the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities are forbidden to:

I - impose or increase a tribute without a law to establish it;

II - institute unequal treatment for taxpayers who are in an equivalent situation, it being forbidden to establish any distinction by reason of professional occupation or function performed by them, independently of the juridical designation of their incomes, titles or rights;

III - collect tributes:
a) for taxable events that occurred before the law which instituted or increased such tributes came into force;
b) in the same fiscal year in which the law which instituted or increased such tributes was published;

IV - use a tribute for the purpose of confiscation;

V - establish limitations on the circulation of persons or goods, by means of interstate or intermunicipal tributes, except for the collection of toll fees for the use of highways maintained by the Government;

VI - institute taxes on:
a) the property, income or services of one another;
b) temples of any denomination;
c) the property, income or services of political parties, including their foundations, of worker unions, of non-profit education and social assistance institutions, observing the requirements of the law;
d) books, newspapers, periodicals and the paper intended for the printing thereof.

Paragraph 1 - The prohibition set forth in item III, b, shall not apply to the taxes provided upon in articles 153, I, II, IV and V, and 154, II.

Paragraph 2 - The prohibition set forth in item VI, a, extends to the autonomous government agencies and to the foundations instituted and maintained by the Government, as regards the property, income and services related to their essential purposes or resulting therefrom.

Paragraph 3 - The prohibitions set forth in item VI, a, and in the preceding paragraph do not apply to the property, income and services related to the exploitation of economic activities governed by the regulations which apply to private undertakings, or in which users pay consideration or prices or tariffs, nor exempt a promissor purchaser of real property from the obligation to pay tax thereon.

Paragraph 4 - The prohibitions set forth in item VI, subitems b and c, encompass only the property, income and services related to the essential purposes of the entities mentioned therein.

Paragraph 5 - The law shall determine measures for consumers to be informed about taxes levied on goods and services.

Paragraph 6 - Any subsidy or exemption, reduction of assessment basis, concession of presumed credit, amnesty or remission, related to taxes, fees or contributions, may only be granted by means of a specific federal, state or municipal law, which provides exclusively for the above-enumerated matters or the corresponding tax, fee or contribution, without prejudice to the provisions of article 155, paragraph 2, item XII, g.

Paragraph 7 - The law may impose upon the taxpayer the burden of the payment of a tax or contribution, whose taxable event will occur later, the immediate and preferential restitution of the amount paid being ensured, in case the presumed taxable event does not occur.

ARTICLE 151.- It is forbidden for the Union:

I - to institute a tribute which is not uniform throughout the entire national territory or which implies a distinction or preference regarding a state, the Federal District or a municipality to the detriment of another, it being allowed to grant tax incentives for the purpose of promoting the balanced social and economic development of the various regions of the country;

II - to tax income from public debt bonds of the states, of the Federal District and of the municipalities, as well as the remuneration and earnings of the respective public agents, at levels above those established for its own bonds and agents;

III - to institute exemptions from tributes within the powers of the states, of the Federal District or of the municipalities.

ARTICLE 152.- The states, the Federal District and the municipalities are forbidden to establish a tax difference between goods and services of any nature, by reason of their origin or destination.


Section III
Federal Taxes

ARTICLE 153.- The Union shall have the power to institute taxes on:

I - importation of foreign products;

II - exportation to other countries of national or nationalized products;

III - income and earnings of any nature;

IV - industrialized products;

V - credit, foreign exchange and insurance transactions, or transactions relating to bonds or securities;

VI - rural property;

VII - large fortunes, under the terms of a supplementary law.

Paragraph 1 - The Executive Power may, observing the conditions and the limits established in law, alter the rates of the taxes enumerated in items I, II, IV and V.

Paragraph 2 - The tax established in item III:
I - shall be based on the criteria of generality, universality and progressiveness, under the terms of the law;
II - shall not be levied, under the terms and within the limits established in law, on income deriving from retirement and pension paid by the social security system of the Union, of the states, of the Federal District and of the municipalities, to a person over sixty-five years of age, whose total income consists exclusively of work earnings.

Paragraph 3 - The tax established in item IV:
I - shall be selective, based on the essentiality of the product;
II - shall be non-cumulative, and the tax due in each transaction shall be compensated by the amount charged in previous transactions;
III - shall not be levied on industrialized products intended for export.

Paragraph 4 - The tax established in item VI shall have its rates determined in such a manner as to discourage the retention of unproductive real property and shall not be levied on small tracts of land, as defined in law, when a proprietor who owns no other real property explores them by himself or with his family.

Paragraph 5 - Gold, when defined in law as a financial asset or an exchange instrument, is subject exclusively to the tax established in item V of the caption of the present article, due on the original transaction; the minimum rate shall be one per cent, and the transference of the amount collected is ensured under the following terms:
I - thirty per cent to the state, the Federal District or the territory, depending on the origin;
II - seventy per cent to the municipality of origin.

ARTICLE 154.- The Union may institute:

I - by means of a supplementary law, taxes not instituted in the preceding article, provided that they are non-cumulative and not founded on a taxable event or an assessment basis reserved for the taxes specified in this Constitution;

II - in the imminence or in the event of foreign war, extraordinary taxes, encompassed or not by its power to tax, which shall be gradually suppressed when the causes for their institution have ceased.


Section IV
State and Federal District Taxes

*ARTICLE 155.- The states and the Federal District shall have the competence to institute taxes on:

I - transfer by death and donation of any property or rights;

II - transactions relating to the circulation of goods and to the rendering of interstate and intermunicipal transportation services and services of communication, even when such transactions and renderings begin abroad;

III - ownership of automotive vehicles.

Paragraph 1 - The tax established in item I:
I - regarding real property and the respective rights, is within the competence of the state where the property is located, or of the Federal District;
II - regarding bonds, titles and credits, is within the competence of the Federal District or of the state where the probate or enrollment is processed, or where the donor is domiciled;
III - a suplementary law shall regulate the competence for the institution of such tax:
a) if the donor is domiciled or residing abroad;
b) if the deceased owned property, was resident or domiciled or had his probate processed abroad;
IV - the Federal Senate shall establish the maximum rates for such tax.

Paragraph 2 - The tax established in item II shall observe the following:
I - it shall be non-cumulative, and the tax due in each transaction concerning the circulation of goods or rendering of services shall be compensated by the amount charged in the previous transactions by the same or by another state or by the Federal District;
II - exemption or non-levy, except as otherwise determined in the law:
a) shall not imply credit for compensation relative to the amount due in the subsequent transactions or renderings of services;
b) shall cause the annulment of the credit for the previous transactions;
III - it may be selective, based on the essentiality of the goods or services;
IV - a resolution of the Federal Senate, on the initiative of the President of the Republic or of one-third of the Senators, approved by the absolute majority of its members, shall establish the rates that apply to interstate and export transactions and rendering of services;
V - the Federal Senate may:
a) establish minimum rates for domestic transactions, by means of a resolution on the initiative of one-third and approved by the absolute majority of its members;
b) establish maximum rates for the same transactions to settle a specific conflict involving the interest of the states, by means of a resolution on the initiative of the absolute majority and approved by two-thirds of its members;
VI - unless otherwise determined by the states and the Federal District, under the terms of the provisions of item XII, g, the domestic rates for transactions concerning the circulation of goods and the rendering of services may not be lower than those established for interstate transactions;
VII - the following shall be adopted for transactions and rendering of goods and services to end-users located in another state:
a) the interstate rate, when it is incumbent upon the recipient to pay that tax;
b) the internal rate, when it is not incumbent upon the recipient to pay that tax;
VIII - in the case of subitem a of the preceding item, the tax corresponding to the difference between the internal and the interstate rate shall be attributed to the state where the recipient is located;
IX - it shall also be levied:
a) on the entry of goods imported from abroad, even in the case of goods intended for consumption or for the fixed assets of the establishment, as well as on services rendered abroad, and the tax shall be attributed to the state where the establishment receiving the goods or sevices is located;
b) on the total value of the transaction, when goods are supplied with services not included in the power to tax of the municipalities;
X - it shall not be levied:
a) on transactions transferring industrialized products abroad, excluding semi-finished products as defined in a supplementary law;
b) on transactions transferring petroleum, including lubricants, liquid and gaseous fuels derived therefrom, and electric energy to other states;
c) on gold, in the cases defined in article 153, paragraph 5;
XI - its assessment basis shall not include the amount of the tax on industrialized products when the transaction carried out between taxpayers and concerning a product intended for industrialization or sale represents a taxable event for both taxes;
XII - A supplementary law shall:
a) define its taxpayers;
b) provide for tax substitution;
c) regulate the system of tax compensation;
d) establish, for purposes of collection of the tax and definition of the responsible establishment, the location of the transactions concerning the circulation of goods and the rendering of services;
e) exclude from levy of the tax, in exports to other countries, services and other products other than those mentioned in item X, a;
f) provide for the event of maintenance of a credit for services and goods remitted to another state and exported to other countries;
g) regulate the manner in which, through deliberation by the states and the Federal District, tax exemptions, incentives and benefits shall be granted and revoked.

Paragraph 3 - With the exception of the taxes mentioned in item II of the caption of the present article, and article 153, I and II, no other tribute may be levied on transactions concerning electric energy, telecommunications services, petroleum by-products, fuels and minerals of the country.

* CA 3/93.


Section V
Municipal Taxes

*ARTICLE 156.- The municipalities shall have the competence to institute taxes on:

I - urban buildings and urban land property;

II - inter vivos transfer, on any account, by onerous acts, of real property, by nature or physical accession, and of real rights to property, except for real security, as well as the assignment of rights to the purchase thereof;

III - services of any nature not included in article 155, II, as defined in a supplementary law.

Paragraph 1 - The tax set forth in item I may be progressive, under the terms of a municipal law, in order to ensure achievement of the social function of the property.

Paragraph 2 - The tax set forth in item II:
I - shall not be levied on the transfer of goods or rights incorporated into the assets of a corporate body to pay up its capital, nor on the transfer of goods or rights resulting from the merger, incorporation, division or dissolution of corporate bodies, unless, in such cases, the predominant activity of the purchaser is the purchase and sale of such goods or rights, the lease of real property or leasing;
II - is within the competence of the municipality where the property is located.

Paragraph 3 - As regards the tax established in item III, a supplementary law shall:
I - establish its maximum rates;
II - exclude exportations of services to other countries from levy of the said tax.

* CA 3/93.


Section VI
Tax Revenue Sharing

ARTICLE 157.- The following shall be assigned to the states and to the Federal District:

I - the proceeds from the collection of the federal tax on income and earnings of any nature, levied at source on income paid on any account by them, by their autonomous government entities and by the foundations they institute and maintain;

II - twenty per cent of the proceeds from the collection of the tax that the Union may institute in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by article 154, I.

ARTICLE 158.- The following shall be assigned to the municipalities:

I - the proceeds from the collection of the federal tax on income and earnings of any nature, levied at source on income paid on any account by them, by their autonomous government entities and by the foundations they institute and maintain;

II - fifty per cent of the proceeds from the collection of the federal tax on rural property, concerning real property located in the municipalities;

III - fifty per cent of the proceeds from the collection of the state tax on the ownership of automotive vehicles licensed in the municipalities;

IV - twenty-five per cent of the proceeds from the collection of the state tax on transactions regarding the circulation of goods and on rendering of interstate and intermunicipal transportation services and services of communication.

Sole paragraph - The revenue portions assigned to the municipalities, as mentioned in item IV, shall be credited in accordance with the following criteria:
I - at least three-fourths, in proportion to the value added in the transactions regarding the circulation of goods and the rendering of services carried out in the territory of the municipalities;
II - up to one-quarter, in accordance with the provisions of a state law or, in the case of the territories, of a federal law.

ARTICLE 159.- The Union shall remit:

I - of the proceeds from the collection of taxes on income and earnings of any nature and on industrialized products, forty-seven per cent as follows:
a) twenty-one and a half of one per cent to the Revenue Sharing Fund of the States and of the Federal District;
b) twenty-two and a half of one per cent to the Revenue Sharing Fund of the Municipalities;
c) three per cent, for application in programs to finance the productive sector of the North, Northeast and Centre-West Regions, through their regional financial institutions, in accordance with regional development plans, the semi-arid area of the Northeast being ensured of half of the funds intended for that Region, as provided by law;

II - of the proceeds from the collection of the tax on industrialized products, ten per cent to the states and to the Federal District, in proportion to the value of the respective exportations of industrialized products.

Paragraph 1 - For purposes of calculating the amount to be remitted in accordance with the provisions in item I, the portion of the collected tax on income and earnings of any nature assigned to the states, to the Federal District and to the municipalities shall be excluded, as provided by articles 157, I, and 158, I.

Paragraph 2 - No federated unit may be allocated a portion in excess of twenty per cent of the amount referred to in item II, and any excess shall be distributed among the other participants, maintaining, for the latter, the apportionment criterion established therein.

Paragraph 3 - The states shall remit twenty-five per cent of the funds they may receive as provided by item II to the respective municipalities, observing the criteria established in article 158, sole paragraph, I and II.

*ARTICLE 160.- It is forbidden to withhold or to make any restriction to the remittance and use of the funds assigned in this section to the states, to the Federal District and to the municipalities, including any tax additions and increases.

Sole paragraph - The prohibition mentioned in the present article does not prevent the Union and the states from remitting the funds on condition of payment of their credits, including those of the autonomous government agencies.

* CA 3/93.

ARTICLE 161.- A supplementary law shall:

I - define the added value for the purposes provided by article 158, sole paragraph, I;

II - establish rules for the remittance of the funds referred to in article 159, especially the criteria for the sharing of the funds set forth in its item I, seeking to promote social and economic balance among states and among municipalities;

III - provide for the monitoring, by the beneficiaries, of the calculation of the quotas and release of the participations set forth in articles 157, 158 and 159.

Sole paragraph - The Federal Court of Accounts shall calculate the quotas referring to the participation funds mentioned in item II.

ARTICLE 162.- The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall announce, on or before the last day of the month following that of collection, the amounts of each of the tributes collected, the funds received, the tax sums remitted and to be remitted and the numerical expression of the apportionment criteria.

Sole paragraph - The data announced by the Union shall be discriminated by state and by municipality; those of the states, by municipality.


CHAPTER II
Public Finances

Section I
General Rules

ARTICLE 163.- A supplementary law shall make provisions for:

I - public finances;

II - foreign and domestic public debt, including the debt of the autonomous government agencies, foundations and other entities controlled by the Government;

III - granting of guarantees by government entities;

IV - issuance and redemption of public debt bonds;

V - supervision of financial institutions;

VI - foreign exchange transactions carried out by bodies and agencies of the Union, of the states, of the Federal District and of the municipalities;

VII - compatibility of the functions of the official credit institutions of the Union, safeguarding all the characteristics and full operational conditions of those intended for regional development.

ARTICLE 164.- The competence of the Union to issue currency shall be exercised exclusively by the central bank.

Paragraph 1 - It is forbidden for the central bank to grant, either directly or indirectly, loans to the National Treasury and to any body or agency which is not a financial institution.

Paragraph 2 - The central bank may purchase and sell bonds issued by the National Treasury, for the purpose of regulating the money supply or the interest rate.

Paragraph 3 - The cash assets of the Union shall be deposited at the central bank; those of the states, of the Federal District, of the municipalities and of the bodies or agencies of the Government and of the companies controlled by the same, at official financial institutions, excepting the cases established in law.


Section II
Budgets

ARTICLE 165.- Laws of the initiative of the Executive Power shall establish:

I - the pluriannual plan;

II - the budgetary directives;

III - the annual budgets.

Paragraph 1 - The law which institutes the pluriannual plan shall establish, on a regional basis, the directives, objectives and targets of the federal public administration for the capital expenditures and other expenses resulting therefrom and for those regarding continuous programmes.

Paragraph 2 - The law of budgetary directives shall comprise the targets and priorities of the federal public administration, including the capital expenditures for the subsequent fiscal year, shall guide the drawing up of the annual budget law, shall make provisions for alterations in tax legislation and shall establish the investment policy for the official development financing agencies.

Paragraph 3 - The Executive Power shall, within thirty days after the closing of each two-month period, publish a summarized report on budget implementation.

Paragraph 4 - The national, regional and sectorial plans and programmes set forth in this Constitution shall be drawn up in compliance with the pluriannual plan and shall be examined by the National Congress.

Paragraph 5 - The annual budget law shall include:
I - the fiscal budget regarding the Powers of the Union, their funds, bodies and entities of the direct and indirect administration, including foundations instituted and maintained by the Government;
II - the investment budget of companies in which the Union directly or indirectly holds the majority of the voting capital;
III - the social welfare budget, comprising all direct and indirect administration entities or bodies connected with social security, as well as funds and foundations instituted and maintained by the Government.

Paragraph 6 - The budget bill shall be accompanied by a regionalized statement on the effect on revenues and expenses, deriving from exemptions, amnesties, remissions, subsidies and benefits of a financial, tributary and credit nature.

Paragraph 7 - The functions of the budgets set forth in paragraph 5, I and II, of the present article, compatible with the pluriannual plan, shall include the function of reducing interregional inequalities, according to populational criteria.

Paragraph 8 - The annual budget law shall not contain any provision extraneous to a forecast of revenues and to the establishment of expenses, such prohibition not including authorization to open supplementary credits and to contract credit transactions, even if by advance of revenues, under the terms of the law.

Paragraph 9 - A supplementary law shall:
I - make provisions for the fiscal year, effectiveness, terms, drawing up and organization of the pluriannual plan, of the law of budgetary directives and of the annual budget law;
II - establish rules for the financial and property management of the direct and indirect administration, as well as conditions for the institution and operation of funds.

ARTICLE 166.- The bills regarding the pluriannual plan, the budgetary directives, the annual budget and the additional credits shall be examined by the two Houses of the National Congress, in accordance with their common regulations.

Paragraph 1 - It is incumbent upon a permanent joint committee of Senators and Deputies to:
I - examine and issue its opinion on the bills referred to in the present article and on the accounts submitted annually by the President of the Republic;
II - examine and issue its opinion on the national, regional and sectorial plans and programmes established in this Constitution, and exercise budgetary monitoring and supervision, without affecting the operation of the other committees of the National Congress and of its Houses, created in accordance with article 58.

Paragraph 2 - Amendments shall be submitted to the joint committee, which shall report on them, and shall be examined, in accordance with the regulations, by the Plenary Session of the two Houses of the National Congress.

Paragraph 3 - Amendments to the bill of the annual budget or to the bills which modify it may only be approved if:
I - they are compatible with the pluriannual plan and with the law of budgetary directives;
II - they specify the necessary funds, allowing only those resulting from the annulment of expenses, and excluding those which apply to:
a) allocations for personnel and their charges;
b) debt servicing;
c) constitutional tax transfers to the states, the municipalities and the Federal District; or
III - they are related:
a) to the correction of errors or omissions; or
b) to the provisions of the text of the bill of law.

Paragraph 4 - Amendments to the bill of budgetary directives may not be approved if they are incompatible with the pluriannual plan.

Paragraph 5 - The President of the Republic may send a message to the National Congress to propose modifications in the bills referred to in the present article as long as the joint committee has not started to vote on the part for which an alteration is being proposed.

Paragraph 6 - The bills of the pluriannual plan law, of the law of budgetary directives and of the annual budget law shall be forwarded by the President of the Republic to the National Congress, under the terms of the supplementary law referred to in article 165, paragraph 9.

Paragraph 7 - The other rules regarding legislative procedure shall apply to the bills mentioned in this article, as long as they are not contrary to the provisions of this section.

Paragraph 8 - Any funds which, as a result of a veto, amendment or rejection of the bill of the annual budget law, have no corresponding expenses, may be allocated, as the case may be, by means of special or supplementary credits, with prior and specific legislative authorization.

*ARTICLE 167.- The following are forbidden:

I - to begin programmes or projects not included in the annual budget law;

II - to incur expenses or to assume direct obligations which exceed the budgetary or additional credits;

III - to carry out credit transactions, which exceed the amount of capital expenses, excepting those authorized by means of supplementary or special credits with a specific purpose and approved by an absolute majority of the Legislative Power;

IV - to bind tax revenues to an agency, fund or expense, excepting the sharing of the proceeds from the collection of the taxes referred to in articles 158 and 159, the allocation of funds for the maintenance and development of education, as determined in article 212, and the granting of guarantees on credit transactions by advance of revenues, as established in article 165, paragraph 8, as well as in paragraph 4 of the present article;

V - to open a supplementary or special credit without prior legislative authorization and without specification of the corresponding funds;

VI - to reassign, reallocate or transfer funds from one programming category to another or from one agency to another without prior legislative authorization;

VII - to grant or use unlimited credits;

VIII - to use, without specific legislative authorization, funds from the fiscal and social security budgets to supply a necessity or to cover a deficit of companies, foundations and funds, including those mentioned in article 165, paragraph 5;

IX - to institute funds of any nature without prior legislative authorization.

Paragraph 1 - No investment whose execution exceeds one fiscal year may be implemented without prior inclusion in the pluriannual plan, or without a law to authorize such inclusion, subject to crime of malversation.

Paragraph 2 - Special and extraordinary credits shall be effective in the fiscal year in which they are authorized, unless the authorization act is enacted during the last four months of that fiscal year, in which case, reopened within the limits of their balances, such credits shall be incorporated into the budget of the subsequent fiscal year.

Paragraph 3 - The opening of extraordinary credit may only be allowed to meet unforeseeable and urgent expenses, such as those resulting from war, internal commotion or public calamity, observing the provisions in article 62.

Paragraph 4 - It is permitted to bind proper revenues generated by the taxes referred to in articles 155 and 156, and the funds mentioned in articles 157, 158 and 159, I, a and b, and II, to the granting of a guarantee or a counterguarantee to the Union, and to the payment of debits owed to the same.

* CA 3/93.

ARTICLE 168.- The funds corresponding to the budgetary allocations, including the supplementary and special credits, intended for the bodies of the Legislative and Judicial Powers and for the Public Prosecution, shall be remitted to them on or before the twentieth of each month, as provided by the supplementary law referred to in article 165, paragraph 9.

ARTICLE 169.- Expenditure with active and pensioned personnel of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities may not exceed the limits established in a supplementary law.

Sole paragraph - The granting of any advantage or increase of remuneration, the creation of posts or alteration of career structures, as well as admission of personnel, on any account, by bodies and entities of the direct or indirect administration, including foundations instituted and maintained by the Government, may only be effected:
I - if there is a prior budgetary allocation sufficient to cover the estimated expenditure with personnel and the increases resulting therefrom;
II - if there is specific authorization in the law of budgetary directives, excepting the public and the mixed-capital companies.


TITLE VII
THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ORDER

CHAPTER I
The General Principles of the Economic Activity

*ARTICLE 170.- The economic order, founded on the appreciation of the value of human work and on free enterprise, is intended to ensure everyone a life with dignity, in accordance with the dictates of social justice, with due regard for the following principles:

I - national sovereignty;

II - private property;

III - the social function of property;

IV - free competition;

V - consumer protection;

VI - environment protection;

VII - reduction of regional and social differences;

VIII - pursuit of full employment;

IX - preferential treatment for small enterprises organized under Brazilian laws and having their head-office and management in Brazil. Sole paragraph - Free exercise of any economic activity is ensured to everyone, regardless of authorization from government agencies, except in the cases set forth by law.

*ARTICLE 171.- (revoked).

* CA 6/95.

ARTICLE 172.- The law shall regulate, based on national interests, the foreign capital investments, shall encourage reinvestments and shall regulate the remittance of profits.

ARTICLE 173.- With the exception of the cases set forth in this Constitution, the direct exploitation of an economic activity by the State shall only be allowed whenever needed to the imperative necessities of the national security or to a relevant collective interest, as defined by law.

Paragraph 1 - The public company, the mixed-capital company and other entities engaged in economic activities are subject to the specific legal system governing private companies, including labour and tax liabilities.

Paragraph 2 - The public companies and the mixed-capital companies may not enjoy fiscal privileges which are not extended to companies of the private sector.

Paragraph 3 - The law shall regulate the relationships of public companies with the State and society.

Paragraph 4 - The law shall repress the abuse of economic power that aims at the domination of markets, the elimination of competition and the arbitrary increase of profits.

Paragraph 5 - The law shall, without prejudice to the individual liability of the managing officers of a legal entity, establish the liability of the latter, subjecting it to punishments compatible with its nature, for acts performed against the economic and financial order and against the citizens' monies.

ARTICLE 174.- As the normative and regulating agent of the economic activity, the State shall, in the manner set forth by law, perform the functions of control, incentive and planning, the latter being binding for the public sector and indicative for the private sector.

Paragraph 1 - The law shall establish the guidelines and bases for planning of the balanced national development, which shall embody and make compatible the national and regional development plans.

Paragraph 2 - The law shall support and encourage cooperative activity and other forms of association.

Paragraph 3 - The State shall favour the organization of the placer-mining activity in cooperatives, taking into account the protection of the environment and the social-economic furthering of the placer-miners.

Paragraph 4 - The cooperatives referred to in the preceding paragraph shall have priority in obtaining authorization or grant for prospecting and mining of placer resources and deposits in the areas where they are operating and in those established in accordance with article 21, XXV, as set forth by law.

ARTICLE 175.- It is incumbent upon the Government, as set forth by law, to provide public utility services, either directly or by concession or permission, which will always be through public bidding.

Sole paragraph - The law shall provide for:
I - the operating rules for the public service concession- or permission-holding companies, the special nature of their contract and of the extension thereof, as well as the conditions of forfeiture, control and termination of the concession or permission;
II - the rights of the users;
III - tariff policy;
IV - the obligation of maintaining adequate service.

*ARTICLE 176.- Mineral deposits, under exploitation or not, and other mineral resources and the hydraulic energy potentials form, for the purpose of exploitation or use, a property separate from that of the soil and belong to the Union, the concessionaire being guaranteed the ownership of the mined product.

Paragraph 1 - The prospecting and mining of mineral resources and the utilization of the potentials mentioned in the caption of this article may only take place with authorization or concession by the Union, in the national interest, by Brazilians or by a company organized under Brazilian laws and having its head-office and management in Brazil, in the manner set forth by law, which law shall establish specific conditions when such activities are to be conducted in the boundary zone or on Indian lands.

Paragraph 2 - The owner of the soil is ensured of participation in the results of the mining operation, in the manner and amount as the law shall establish.

Paragraph 3 - Authorization for prospecting shall always be for a set period of time and the authorization and concession set forth in this article may not be assigned or transferred, either in full or in part, without the prior consent of the conceding authority.

Paragraph 4 - Exploitation of a renewable energy potential of small capacity shall not require an authorization or concession.

* CA 6/95.

*ARTICLE 177.- The following are the monopoly of the Union:

I - prospecting and exploitation of deposits of petroleum and natural gas and of other fluid hydrocarbons;

II - refining of domestic or foreign petroleum;

III - import and export of the products and basic by-products resulting from the activities set forth in the preceding items;

IV - ocean transportation of crude petroleum of domestic origin or of basic petroleum by-products produced in the country, as well as pipeline transportation of crude petroleum, its by-products and natural gas of any origin;

V - prospecting, mining, enrichment, reprocessing, industrialization and trading of nuclear mineral ores and minerals and their by-products.

Paragraph 1 - The Union may contract with state-owned or with private enterprises for the execution of the activities provided for in items I through IV of this article, with due regard for the conditions set forth by law.

Paragraph 2 - The law referred to in paragraph 1 shall provide for:
I - a guarantee of supply of petroleum products in the whole national territory;
II - the conditions of contracting;
III - the structure and duties of the regulatory agency of the monopoly of the Union.

Paragraph 3 - The law shall provide with respect to the transportation and use of radioactive materials within the national territory.

* CA 9/95.

*ARTICLE 178.- The law shall provide for the regulation of air, water and ground transportation, and it shall, in respect to the regulation of international transportation, comply with the agreements entered into by the Union, with due regard to the principle of reciprocity.

Sole paragraph - In regulating water transportation, the law shall set forth the conditions in which the transportation of goods in coastal and internal navigation will be permitted to foreign vessels.

* CA 7/95.

ARTICLE 179.- The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall afford micro-enterprises and small enterprises, as defined by law, differentiated legal treatment, seeking to further them through simplification of their administration, tax, social security and credit obligations or through elimination or reduction thereof by means of law.

ARTICLE 180.- The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall promote and further tourism as a factor of social and economic development.

ARTICLE 181.- Compliance with request for a document or for information of commercial nature, made by a foreign administrative or judicial authority to an individual or legal entity residing or domiciled in the country shall depend upon authorization from the competent authority.


CHAPTER II
Urban Policy

ARTICLE 182.- The urban development policy carried out by the municipal government, according to general guidelines set forth in the law, is aimed at ordaining the full development of the social functions of the city and ensuring the well-being of its inhabitants.

Paragraph 1 - The master plan, approved by the City Council, which is compulsory for cities of over twenty thousand inhabitants, is the basic tool of the urban development and expansion policy.

Paragraph 2 - Urban property performs its social function when it meets the fundamental requirements for the ordainment of the city as set forth in the master plan.

Paragraph 3 - Expropriation of urban property shall be made against prior and fair compensation in cash.

Paragraph 4 - The municipal government may, by means of a specific law, for an area included in the master plan, demand, according to federal law, that the owner of unbuilt, underused or unused urban soil provide for adequate use thereof, subject, sucessively, to:
I - compulsory parceling or construction;
II - rates of urban property and land tax that are progressive in time;
III - expropriation with payment in public debt bonds issued with the prior approval of the Federal Senate, redeemable within up to ten years, in equal and successive annual installments, ensuring the real value of the compensation and the legal interest.

ARTICLE 183.- An individual who possesses an urban area of up to two hundred and fifty square meters, for five years, without interruption or opposition, using it as his or as his family's home, shall acquire domain of it, provided that he does not own any other urban or rural property.

Paragraph 1 - The deed of domain and concession of use shall be granted to the man or woman, or both, regardless of their marital status.

Paragraph 2 - This right shall not be recognized for the same holder more than once.

Paragraph 3 - Public real estate shall not be acquired by prescription.


CHAPTER III
Agricultural and Land Policy and Agrarian Reform

ARTICLE 184.- It is within the power of the Union to expropriate on account of social interest, for purposes of agrarian reform, the rural property which is not performing its social function, against prior and fair compensation in agrarian debt bonds with a clause providing for maintenance of the real value, redeemable within a period of up to twenty years computed as from the second year of issue, and the use of which shall be defined in the law.

Paragraph 1 - Useful and necessary improvements shall be compensated in cash.

Paragraph 2 - The decree declaring the property as being of social interest for agrarian reform purposes empowers the Union to start expropriation action.

Paragraph 3 - It is incumbent upon a supplementary law to establish special summary adversary proceeding for expropriation action.

Paragraph 4 - The budget shall determine each year the total volume of agrarian debt bonds, as well as the total amount of funds to meet the agrarian reform programme in the fiscal year.

Paragraph 5 - The transactions of transfer of property expropriated for agrarian reform purposes are exempt from federal, state and municipal taxes.

ARTICLE 185.- Expropriation of the following for agrarian reform purposes is not permitted:

I - small and medium-size rural property, as defined by law, provided its owner does not own other property;

II - productive property.

Sole paragraph - The law shall guarantee special treatment for the productive property and shall establish rules for the fulfillment of the requirements regarding its social function.

ARTICLE 186.- The social function is met when the rural property complies simultaneously with, according to the criteria and standards prescribed by law, the following requirements:

I - rational and adequate use;

II - adequate use of available natural resources and preservation of the environment;

III - compliance with the provisions that regulate labour relations;

IV - exploitation that favours the well-being of the owners and labourers.

ARTICLE 187.- The agricultural policy shall be planned and carried out as established by law, with the effective participation of the production sector, comprising producers and rural workers, as well as the marketing, storage and transportation sectors, with especial consideration for:

I - the credit and fiscal mechanisms;

II - prices compatible with production costs and the guarantee of marketing;

III - research and technology incentives;

IV - technical assistance and rural extension;

V - agricultural insurance;

VI - cooperative activity;

VII - rural electricity and irrigation systems;

VIII - housing for the rural workers.

Paragraph 1 - Agricultural planning includes agroindustrial, stock raising, fishing and forestry activities.

Paragraph 2 - Agricultural policy and agrarian reform actions shall be made compatible.

ARTICLE 188.- The destination given to public and unoccupied lands shall be made compatible with the agricultural policy and the national agrarian reform plan.

Paragraph 1 - The alienation or concession in any way of public lands with an area of more than two thousand and five hundred hectares to an individual or legal entity, even if through an intermediary, shall depend on the prior approval of the National Congress.

Paragraph 2 - Alienations or concessions of public lands for agrarian reform purposes are excluded from the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

ARTICLE 189.- The beneficiaries of distribution of rural land through agrarian reform shall receive title-deeds or concession of use which may not be transacted for a period of ten years.

Sole paragraph - The title-deed and the concession of use shall be granted to the man or the woman, or to both, irrespective of their marital status, according to the terms and conditions set forth by law.

ARTICLE 190.- The law shall regulate and limit the acquisition or lease of rural property by a foreign individual or legal entity, and shall establish the cases that shall depend on authorization by the National Congress.

ARTICLE 191.- The individual who, not being the owner of rural or urban property, holds as his own, for five uninterrupted years, without opposition, an area of land in the rural zone, not exceeding fifty hectares, making it productive with his labour or that of his family, and having his dwelling thereon, shall acquire ownership of the land. Sole paragraph - The public real estate shall not be acquired by prescription.


CHAPTER IV
The National Financial System

*ARTICLE 192.- The national financial system, structured to promote the balanced development of the country and to serve the collective interests, shall be regulated by a supplementary law which shall also provide for:

I - authorization for the operation of financial institutions, it being ensured the access of the official and private banks to all the instruments of the banking financial market, such institutions being prohibited from taking part in activities not provided for in the authorization mentioned in this item;

II - authorization and operation of insurance, reinsurance, social security and capitalization companies, as well as of the supervising agency;

III - conditions for the participation of foreign capital in the institutions to which the preceding items refer to, considering especially:
a) the national interests;
b) the international agreements;

IV - organization, operation and duties of the central bank and other public and private financial institutions;

V - requirements for the appointment of members of the board of directors of the central bank and other financial institutions, as well as their impediments after leaving office;

VI - creation of a fund or insurance, for the purpose of protecting the citizens' monies, guaranteeing credits, investments and deposits up to a certain amount, it being forbidden the participation of funds of the Union;

VII - the restrictive criteria of the transfer of savings from regions with income below the national average to others of greater development;

VIII - the operation of credit cooperatives and the requirements for them to obtain operational and structural conditions characteristic of financial institutions.

Paragraph 1 - The authorization referred to in items I and II shall be non-negotiable and non-transferable, it being allowed the tranfer of control of the incumbent legal entity, and shall be granted, free of charge, according to the national financial system law, to a legal entity whose directors are technically capable and of spotless reputation and which proves that its economic capacity is compatible with the undertaking.

Paragraph 2 - The financial resources relating to regional programmes and projects under the responsibility of the Union shall be deposited at their regional credit institutions and invested by them.

Paragraph 3 - Real interest rates, including comissions and any other compensation directly or indirectly related to the concession of credit, shall not exceed twelve percent per annum; charges above this limit shall be considered crime of usury, which shall be punished in all of its forms, as the law shall determine.

*CA 13/96.


TITLE VIII
THE SOCIAL ORDER

CHAPTER I
General Provision

ARTICLE 193.- The social order is based on the primacy of work and aimed at social well-being and justice.


CHAPTER II
Social Welfare

Section I
General Provisions

ARTICLE 194.- Social welfare comprises an integrated whole of actions initiated by the Government and by society, with the purpose of ensuring the rights to health, social security and assistance.

Sole paragraph - It is incumbent upon the Government, as provided by law, to organize social welfare, based on the following objectives:
I - universality of coverage and service;
II - uniformity and equivalence of benefits and services for urban and rural populations;
III - selectivity and distributiveness in the provision of benefits and services;
IV - irreducibility of the value of the benefits;
V - equitable participation in funding;
VI - diversity of the financing basis;
VII - democratic and decentralized character of administrative management, with the participation of the community, particularly of workers, businessmen and retired persons.

ARTICLE 195.- Social welfare shall be financed by all of society, either directly or indirectly, as provided by law, with funds coming from the budgets of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities and from the following welfare contributions:

I - of employers, calculated on the payroll, revenues and profits;

II - of workers;

III - on the revenues of lotteries.

Paragraph 1 - The revenues of the states, the Federal District and the municipalities alloted to social welfare shall be included in the respective budgets, not being part of the budget of the Union.

Paragraph 2 - The proposal for the social welfare budget shall be drawn up jointly by the agencies responsible for health, social security and social assistance, in accordance with the goals and priorities established in the law of budgetary directives, ensuring each area of the management of its funds.

Paragraph 3 - A legal entity indebted to the social welfare system, as established in law, may not contract with the Government nor receive benefits or fiscal or credit incentives therefrom.

Paragraph 4 - The law may institute other sources intended to guarantee the maintenance or expansion of social welfare, with due regard to the provisions of article 154, I.

Paragraph 5 - No social welfare benefit or service may be created, increased or extended without a corresponding source of full funding.

Paragraph 6 - The social contributions referred to in this article may only be collected ninety days after the publication of the law which instituted or modified them, the provisions of article 150, III, b, not applying thereto.

Paragraph 7 - Benevolent entities of social assistance which meet the requirements established in law shall be exempt from contribution to social welfare.

Paragraph 8 - Rural producers, sharecroppers and tenant farmers, placer miners and self-employed fishermen, as well as their spouses, who exercise their activities within a household system and without permanent employees shall contribute to social welfare by applying a rate to the proceeds from the sale of their production and shall be entitled to the benefits provided by law.


Section II
Health

ARTICLE 196.- Health is a right of all and a duty of the State and shall be guaranteed by means of social and economic policies aimed at reducing the risk of illness and other hazards and at the universal and equal access to actions and services for its promotion, protection and recovery.

ARTICLE 197.- Health actions and services are of public importance, and it is incumbent upon the Government to provide, in accordance with the law, for their regulation, supervision and control, and they shall be carried out directly or by third parties and also by individuals or private legal entities.

ARTICLE 198.- Health actions and public services integrate a regionalized and hierarchical network and constitute a single system, organized according to the following directives:

I - decentralization, with a single management in each sphere of government;

II - full service, priority being given to preventive activities, without prejudice to assistance services;

III - participation of the community.

Sole paragraph - The unified health system shall be financed, as set forth in article 195, with funds from the social welfare budget of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, as well as from other sources.

ARTICLE 199.- Health assistance is open to private enterprise.

Paragraph 1 - Private institutions may participate in a supplementary manner in the unified health system, in accordance with the directives established by the latter, by means of public law contracts or agreements, preference being given to philantropic and non-profit entities.

Paragraph 2 - The allocation of public funds to aid or subsidize profit-oriented private institutions is forbidden.

Paragraph 3 - Direct or indirect participation of foreign companies or capital in health assistance in the country is forbidden, except in cases provided by law.

Paragraph 4 - The law shall provide for the conditions and requirements which facilitate the removal of organs, tissues and human substances for the purpose of transplants, research and treatment, as well as the collection, processing and transfusion of blood and its by-products, all kinds of sale being forbidden.

ARTICLE 200.- It is incumbent upon the unified health system, in addition to other duties, as set forth by the law:

I - to supervise and control proceedings, products and substances of interest to health and to participate in the production of drugs, equipments, immunobiological products, blood products and other inputs;

II - to carry out actions of sanitary and epidemiologic vigilance as well as those relating to the health of workers;

III - to organize the training of personnel in the area of health;

IV - to participate in the definition of the policy and in the implementation of basic sanitation actions;

V - to foster, within its scope of action, scientific and technological development;

VI - to supervise and control foodstuffs, including their nutritional contents, as well as drinks and water for human consumption;

VII - to participate in the supervision and control of the production, transportation, storage and use of pschycoactive, toxic and radioactive substances and products;

VIII - to cooperate in the preservation of the environment, including that of the workplace.


Section III
Social Security

ARTICLE 201.- The social security plans, upon contribution, shall provide for, in accordance with the law:

I - coverage for the events of illness, disability, death, including those resulting from employment related accidents, old age and confinement;

II - aid for the support of the dependents of the low-income insured;

III - protection to maternity, especially to pregnant women;

IV - protection to workers in a situation of involuntary unemployment;

V - pension for death of the insured, man or woman, to the spouse or companion, and dependents, complying with the provisions of paragraph 5 and of article 202.-

Paragraph 1 - Any person may receive social security benefits, upon contributions, as established in the social security plans.

Paragraph 2 - Adjustment of the benefits is ensured, to the end that its real value is permanently maintained, in accordance with criteria defined by law.

Paragraph 3 - All contribution salaries included in the calculation of the benefit shall suffer monetary correction.

Paragraph 4 - The amounts habitually earned by an employee, on any account, shall be incorporated into the salary for purposes of security contribution and the resulting effects on benefits, in the cases and in the manner provided by law.

Paragraph 5 - No benefit which replaces the contribution salary or work earnings of the insured shall have a monthly value lower than the minimum wage.

Paragraph 6 - The Christmas bonus for the retired and pensioners shall be based on the value of the earnings in the month of December of each year.

Paragraph 7 - Social security shall maintain a collective insurance, of a complementary and optional nature, funded by additional contributions.

Paragraph 8 - Any subsidy or aid from the Government to profit-oriented private security entities is forbidden.

ARTICLE 202.- Retirement is ensured, in the manner prescribed by law, the benefit being calculated on the average of the last thirty-six contribution salaries, after month by month monetary correction, and upon verification of the regularity of the adjustments of the contribution salaries, so as to maintain the real values, and upon compliance with the following conditions:

I - at sixty-five years of age for men and sixty years for women, this age limit being reduced in five years for rural workers of both sexes and for those who exercise their activities within a family production system, therein included the rural producer, the placer miner and the self-employed fisherman;

II - after thirty-five years of work for men, and after thirty years for women, or after a shorter period, if subject to work under special conditions, which may be harmful to health or physical integrity, as defined by law;

III - after thirty years for male teachers and after twenty-five years for female teachers, for actual exercise of the teaching function.

Paragraph 1 - Proportional retirement shall be allowed, after thirty years of work for men and twenty-five years for women.

Paragraph 2 - For purposes of retirement, the reciprocal computation of the period of contribution in public administration and in private activity, either rural or urban, shall be ensured, in which case the various social security systems shall compensate each other financially, in accordance with criteria established by law.


Section IV
Social Assistance

ARTICLE 203.- Social assistance shall be rendered to whomever may need it, regardless of contribution to social welfare and shall have as objectives:

I - the protection of the family, maternity, childhood, adolescence and old age;

II - the assistance to needy children and adolescents;

III - the promotion of the integration into the labour market;

IV - the habilitation and rehabilitation of the handicapped and their integration into community life;

V - the guarantee of a monthly benefit of one minimum wage to the handicapped and to the elderly who prove their incapability of providing for their own support or having it provided for by their families, as set forth by law.

ARTICLE 204.- Government actions in the area of social assistance shall be implemented with funds from the social welfare budget, as provided for in article 195, in addition to other sources, and organized on the basis of the following directives:

I - political and administrative decentralization, the coordination and the general rules being incumbent upon the federal sphere, and the coordination and implementation of the respective programmes, upon the state and municipal spheres, as well as upon benevolent and social assistance entities;

II - participation of the population, by means of organizations representing them in the formulation of policies and in the control of actions taken at all levels.


CHAPTER III
Education, Culture and Sports

Section I
Education

ARTICLE 205.- Education, which is the right of all and duty of the State and of the family, shall be promoted and fostered with the cooperation of society, with a view to the full development of the person, his preparation for the exercise of citizenship and his qualification for work.

ARTICLE 206.- Education shall be provided on the basis of the following principles:

I - equal conditions of access and permanence in school;

II - freedom to learn, teach, research and express thought, art and knowledge;

III - pluralism of pedagogic ideas and conceptions and coexistence of public and private teaching institutions;

IV - free public education in official schools;

V - appreciation of the value of teaching professionals, guaranteeing, in accordance with the law, career plans for public school teachers, with a professional minimum salary and admittance exclusively by means of public entrance examinations consisting of tests and presentation of academic and professional credentials, a single legal regime being insured for all the institutions maintained by the Union;

VI - democratic administration of public education, in the manner prescribed by law;

VII - guarantee of standards of quality.

*ARTICLE 207.- The universities shall have didactic, scientific, administrative, financial and property management autonomy and shall comply with the principle of non-dissociation of teaching, research and extension.

Paragraph 1 - The universities are permitted to hire foreign professors, technicians and scientists as provided by law.

Paragraph 2 - The provisions of this article apply to scientific and technological research institutions.

* CA 11/96.

*ARTICLE 208.- The duty of the State towards education shall be fulfilled by ensuring the following:

I - mandatory and free elementary education, including the assurance of its free offer to all those who did not have access to it at the proper age;

II - progressive universalization of the free high-school education;

III - specialized schooling for the handicapped, preferably in the regular school system;

IV - assistance to children of zero to six years of age, in day-care centers and pre-schools;

V - access to higher levels of education, research and artistic creation according to individual capacity;

VI - provision of regular night courses adequate to the conditions of the student;

VII - assistance to elementary school students by means of supplementary programmes providing school material, transportation, food and health assistance.

Paragraph 1 - The access to compulsory and free education is a subjective public right.

Paragraph 2 - The competent authority shall be liable for the failure of the Government in providing compulsory education, or providing it irregularly.

Paragraph 3 - The Government has the power to take a census of elementary school students, call them for enrollment and ensure that parents or guardians see to their children's attendance to school.

*CA 14/96.

ARTICLE 209.- Teaching is open to private enterprise, provided that the following conditions are met:

I - compliance with the general rules of national education;

II - authorization and evaluation of quality by the Government.

ARTICLE 210.- Minimum curricula shall be established for elementary schools in order to ensure a common basic education and respect for national and regional cultural and artistic values.

Paragraph 1 - The teaching of religion is optional and shall be offered during the regular school hours of public elementary schools.

Paragraph 2 - Regular elementary education shall be given in the Portuguese language and Indian communities shall also be ensured the use of their native tongues and their own learning methods.

*ARTICLE 211.- The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall cooperate in the organization of their educational systems.

Paragraph 1 - The Union shall organize the federal educational system and that of the Territories, shall finance the federal public educational institutions and shall have, in educational matters, a redistributive and supplementary function, so as to guarantee the equalization of the educational opportunities and a minimum standard of quality of education, through technical and financial assistance to the states, the Federal District and the municipalities.

Paragraph 2 - The municipalities shall act on a priority basis in elementary education and in the education of children.

Paragraph 3 - The states and the Federal District shall act on a priority basis in elementary and secondary education.

Paragraph 4 - In the organization of their educational systems, the states and municipalities shall establish forms of cooperation, so as to guarantee the universalization of the mandatory education.

*CA 14/96.

*ARTICLE 212.- The Union shall apply, annually, never less than eighteen percent, and the states, the Federal District, and the municipalities, at least twenty-five percent of the tax revenues, including those resulting from transfers, in the maintenance and development of education.

Paragraph 1 - The share of tax revenues, transferred by the Union to the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, or by the states to the respective municipalities, shall not be considered, for purposes of the calculation provided by this article, as revenues of the government which transfers it.

Paragraph 2 - For purposes of compliance with the caption of this article, the federal, state and municipal educational systems, as well as the funds applied in accordance with article 213 shall be taken into consideration.

Paragraph 3 - In the distribution of public funds, priority shall be given to the providing for the needs of compulsory education, as set forth in the national educational plan.

Paragraph 4 - The supplementary food and health assistance programmes provided by article 208, VII, shall be financed with funds derived from social contributions and other budgetary funds.

Paragraph 5 - The public elementary education shall have, as an additional source of financing, the social contribution for education, collected from companies, as provided by law.

*CA 14/96.

ARTICLE 213.- Public funds shall be allocated to public schools, and may be channelled to community, religious or philantropic schools, as defined by law, which:

I - prove that they do not seek profit and that they apply their surplus funds in education;

II - ensure that their assets shall be assigned to another community, religious or philantropic schools, or to the Government in case they cease their activities.

Paragraph 1 - The funds provided by this article may be allocated to elementary and secondary school scholarships, as provided by law, for those who prove insufficiency of means, when there are no vacancies or no regular courses are offered in the public school system of the place where the student lives, the Government being placed under the obligation to invest, on a priority basis, in the expansion of the public system of the locality.

Paragraph 2 - Research and extension activities at university level may receive financial support from the Government.

ARTICLE 214.- The law shall establish the pluriannual national educational plan, with a view to the coordination and development of teaching, at its various levels, and to the integration of the Government actions leading to:

I - eradication of illiteracy;

II - universalization of school assistance;

III - improvement of the quality of education;

IV - professional training;

V - humanistic, scientific and technological advancement of the country.


Section II
Culture

ARTICLE 215.- The state shall ensure to all the full exercise of the cultural rights and access to the sources of national culture and shall support and foster the appreciation and diffusion of cultural expressions.

Paragraph 1 - The State shall protect the expressions of popular, Indian and Afro-Brazilian cultures, as well as those of other groups participating in the national civilization process.

Paragraph 2 - The law shall provide for the establishment of commemorative dates of high significance for the various national ethnic segments.

ARTICLE 216.- The Brazilian cultural heritage consists of the assets of a material and immaterial nature, taken individually or as a whole, which bear reference to the identity, action and memory of the various groups that form the Brazilian society, therein included:

I - forms of expression;

II - ways of creating, making and living;

III - scientific, artistic and technological creations;

IV - works, objects, documents, buildings and other spaces intended for artistic and cultural expressions;

V - urban complexes and sites of historical, natural, artistic, archaeological, paleontological, ecological and scientific value.

Paragraph 1 - The Government shall, with the cooperation of the community, promote and protect the Brazilian cultural heritage, by means of inventories, registers, vigilance, monument protection decrees, expropriation and other forms of precaution and preservation.

Paragraph 2 - It is incumbent upon the Government, in accordance with the law, to manage the keeping of the governmental documents and to make them available for consultation to whomever may need to do so.

Paragraph 3 - The law shall establish incentives for the production and knowledge of cultural assets and values.

Paragraph 4 - Damages and threats to the cultural heritage shall be punished in accordance with the law.

Paragraph 5 - All documents and sites bearing historical reminiscence to the ancient communities of runaway slaves are protected as national heritage.


Section III
Sports

ARTICLE 217.- It is the duty of the State to foster the practice of formal and informal sports, as a right of each individual, with due regard for:

I - the autonomy of the directing sports entities and associations, as to their organization and operation;

II - the allocation of public funds with a view to promoting, on a priority basis, educational sports and, in specific cases, high performance sports;

III - differentiated treatment for professional and non-professional sports;

IV - the protection and fostering of sports created in the country.

Paragraph 1 - The Judicial Power shall only accept legal actions related to sports discipline and competitions after the instances of the sports courts, as regulated by law, have been exhausted.

Paragraph 2 - The sports courts shall render final judgement within sixty days, at the most, counted from the date of the filing of the action.

Paragraph 3 - The Government shall encourage leisure, as a form of social promotion.


CHAPTER IV
Science and Technology

ARTICLE 218.- The State shall promote and foster scientific development, research and technological expertise.

Paragraph 1 - Basic scientific research shall receive preferential treatment from the State, with a view to public well-being and the advancement of science.

Paragraph 2 - Technological research shall be directed mainly to the solution of Brazilian problems and to the development of the national and regional productive system.

Paragraph 3 - The State shall support the training of human resources in the areas of science, research and technology and shall offer special work means and conditions to those engaged in such activities.

Paragraph 4 - The law shall support and foster the companies which invest in research, creation of technology appropriate for the country, training and improvement of their human resources and those which adopt remuneration systems that ensure employees a share of the economic earnings resulting from the productivity of their work, apart from the salary.

Paragraph 5 - The states and the Federal District may allocate a share of their budgetary revenues to public entities which foster scientific and technological education and research.

ARTICLE 219.- The domestic market is part of the national patrimony and shall be supported with a view to permitting cultural and socio-economic development, the well-being of the population and the technological autonomy of the country, as set forth in a federal law.


CHAPTER V
Social Communication

ARTICLE 220.- The manifestation of thought, the creation, the expression and the information, in any form, process or medium shall not be subject to any restriction, with due regard to the provisions of this Constitution.

Paragraph 1 - No law shall contain any provision which may represent a hindrance to full freedom of press in any medium of social communication, with due regard to the provisions of article 5, IV, V, X, XIII and XIV.

Paragraph 2 - Any and all censorship of a political, ideological and artistic nature is forbidden.

Paragraph 3 - It is within the competence of federal laws to:

I - regulate public entertainment and shows, it being incumbent upon the Government to inform on their nature, the age brackets they are not recommended for and places and times unsuitable for their exhibition;

II - establish legal means which afford persons and families the possibility of defending themselves against radio and television programmes and schedules which go contrary to the provisions of article 221, as well as against publicity of products, practices and services which may be harmful to health or to the environment.

Paragraph 4 - Commercial advertising of tobacco, alcoholic beverages, pesticides, medicines and therapies shall be subject to legal restrictions, in accordance with item II of the preceding paragraph and shall contain, whenever necessary, a warning concerning the damages which may be caused by their use.

Paragraph 5 - Social communication media may not, directly or indirectly, be subject to monopoly or oligopoly.

Paragraph 6 - The publication of a printed social communication medium shall not depend on license from authorities.

ARTICLE 221.- The production and programming of radio and television stations shall comply with the following principles:

I - preference to educational, artistic, cultural and informative purposes;

II - promotion of national and regional culture and fostering of independent productions aimed at their diffusion;

III - regional differentiation of cultural, artistic and press production, according to percentages established in law;

IV - respect for the ethical and social values of the person and the family.

ARTICLE 222.- Newspapers and sound broadcasting companies, or sound and image broadcasting companies shall be owned exclusively by native Brazilians or those naturalized for more than ten years, who shall be responsible for their management and intellectual orientation.

Paragraph 1 - Legal entities shall not participate in the capital stock of journalistic and radio broadcasting companies, except for political parties and for corporations whose capital is exclusively and nominally owned by Brazilians.

Paragraph 2 - The participation referred to in the preceding paragraph may only take place through non-voting capital and shall not exceed thirty percent of the capital stock.

ARTICLE 223.- The Executive Power has the authority to grant and renew concession, permission and authorization for radio broadcasting and sound and image broadcasting services with due regard to the principle of the complementary roles of private, public and state systems.

Paragraph 1 - The National Congress shall consider such proposition in the period of time set forth in article 64, paragraphs 2 and 4, counted from the date of receipt of the message.

Paragraph 2 - The non-renewal of the concession or permission shall depend on approval by at least two-fifths of the National Congress, in nominal voting.

Paragraph 3 - The granting or renewal shall only produce legal effects after approval by the National Congress, as set forth in the preceding paragraphs.

Paragraph 4 - Cancellation of a concession or permission prior to its expiring date shall depend on a court decision.

Paragraph 5 - The term for a concession or permission shall be ten years for radio stations and fifteen years for television channels.

ARTICLE 224.- For the purposes of the provisions of this chapter, the National Congress shall institute, as an auxiliary agency, the Social Communication Council, in the manner prescribed by law.


CHAPTER VI
Environment

ARTICLE 225.- All have the right to an ecologically balanced environment, which is an asset of common use and essential to a healthy quality of life, and both the Government and the community shall have the duty to defend and preserve it for present and future generations.

Paragraph 1 - In order to ensure the effectiveness of this right, it is incumbent upon the Government to:
I - preserve and restore the essential ecological processes and provide for the ecological treatment of species and ecosystems;
II - preserve the diversity and integrity of the genetic patrimony of the country and to control entities engaged in research and manipulation of genetic material;
III - define, in all units of the Federation, territorial spaces and their components which are to receive special protection, any alterations and suppressions being allowed only by means of law, and any use which may harm the integrity of the attributes which justify their protection being forbidden;
IV - demand, in the manner prescribed by law, for the installation of works and activities which may potentially cause significant degradation of the environment, a prior environmental impact study, which shall be made public;
V - control the production, sale and use of techniques, methods or substances which represent a risk to life, the quality of life and the environment;
VI - promote environment education in all school levels and public awareness of the need to preserve the environment;
VII - protect the fauna and the flora, with prohibition, in the manner prescribed by law, of all practices which represent a risk to their ecological function, cause the extinction of species or subject animals to cruelty.

Paragraph 2 - Those who exploit mineral resources shall be required to restore the degraded environment, in accordance with the technical solutions demanded by the competent public agency, as provided by law.

Paragraph 3 - Procedures and activities considered as harmful to the environment shall subject the infractors, be they individuals or legal entities, to penal and administrative sanctions, without prejudice to the obligation to repair the damages caused.

Paragraph 4 - The Brazilian Amazonian Forest, the Atlantic Forest, the Serra do Mar, the Pantanal Mato-Grossense and the coastal zone are part of the national patrimony, and they shall be used, as provided by law, under conditions which ensure the preservation of the environment, therein included the use of mineral resources.

Paragraph 5 - The unoccupied lands or lands seized by the states through discriminatory actions which are necessary to protect the natural ecosystems are inalienable.

Paragraph 6 - Power plants operated by nuclear reactor shall have their location defined in federal law and may not otherwise be installed.