The term will be counted from the end of the contracts in force, regardless of the date of their initial term. The rule is included in the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act (ADCT). Presented by deputy Fausto Pinato (PP-SP), the PEC will now be voted on in Plenary.
The measure indistinctly benefits lottery agents that operate under the permission regime or that were only accredited. In the first case are those who won bids organized by Caixa.
The second group comprises 6,310 lottery stores with contracts prior to the 1988 Constitution, which did not go through a bidding process. They are natural or legal persons who only received accreditation to act as resellers of lottery tickets – at the time this was allowed.
A 2015 law considered these contracts valid without prior bidding, and even extended them for a period of 20 years. However, this law has been questioned by the Attorney General's Office (PGR), which filed a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
The approval of the PEC regularizes these contracts (and their amendments) once and for all, and extends them for 50 years.
The rapporteur stated that the measure is necessary to give stability to the lottery retailers. “With the approval, we are going to give legal certainty to lottery retilers in Brazil, to all of them, especially those that started operating before the 1988 Constitution. They deserve support because they go where the banks don't,” said Matos.
On the indistinct extension of all contracts for 50 years (bid and not bid), the deputy stated that the objective is to provide “minimum conditions for the existence of 13,400 retilers, the continuity of service provision to the government, society, as well as for the existence and maintenance of the State’s lottery system.”
Matos also said that he and the Chairman of the special commission, deputy Arthur Oliveira Maia (União-BA), will now meet with the Chamber’s President, deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), to guide the PEC in the Plenary later this year. The work of the Legislature runs until December 22, according to the Constitution.
For the approval of a PEC, at least 308 votes are required in the Chamber, in two rounds of voting.
Source: News Chamber Agency
