The Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (2) a provisional measure that allows oil and gas exploration and production companies to withdraw money from research and innovation to invest in the renewal of the fleet of trucks and buses.
The basic text was approved by 297 votes to 116. Now, it goes to the Senate, but it needs to be voted on by the senators by the 11th so as not to lose its validity.
The approved text creates the Renovar (Program to Increase the Productivity of the Highway Fleet in the Country), which seeks to progressively remove end-of-life vehicles from circulation and encourage actions to renew the fleet of old trucks, buses and vans.
The MP changes the law that deals with the national energy policy to allow oil and natural gas exploration and production companies to apply resources to promote the renewal of the circulating fleet under the Renovar Program.
The 1997 law indicates that oil companies must allocate up to 1% of gross revenue to finance research on oil and gas, according to the ABC (Brazilian Academy of Sciences).
The MP, however, establishes that the resources for fleet renewal will be considered for the calculation of compliance with contractual obligations in research and development for the period between 2022 and 2027. The text also allows the amount applied to compensate for obligations not fulfilled before 2022 .
According to the text, an act of the Executive will regulate the use of resources destined to research, development and innovation and will determine the maximum percentage of the total value of the contractual obligations of these items to be allocated to the program.
“The MP takes money from the area of ​​science and technology. The Bolsonaro government is destroying the area of ​​research, science and technology in our country”, criticized deputy Henrique Fontana (PT-RS). “And here he takes another step in that direction. He takes resources that would feed science and technology research funds to encourage a fleet renewal program.”
The project provoked concern from entities that defend the public funding of science. In a note released in April, ABC states that the MP “attacks in an unusual and drastic way the financing of scientific and technological research in the oil and gas sector.”
ABC stated that “resources that should finance research and development projects, providing advances in economic and business productivity, are being diverted to the demobilization of a fleet of heavy vehicles and the treatment of their scrap.”
Renovar, according to the MP, seeks to reduce logistics costs, increase productivity, competitiveness and efficiency of road transport and reduce pollutant emission levels by the road fleet.
Membership is voluntary. The resources destined by public, public and mixed economy companies will be destined exclusively to defray the value of the truck or bus and for its dismantling or destruction as scrap.
Renovar will be operated by ABDI (Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development), which may be remunerated by users of the Renovar platform for the use of services and which must keep a record of the operations carried out.
The Executive will define the criteria for the choice of partner blasting companies. These companies will allocate to the national initiative or to the accredited companies the value, defined in the act of adhesion, for dismantling or destroying the vehicle as scrap.
If the bus or truck is so deteriorated that the revenue from dismantling or destruction does not offset the costs of the operation, Renovar may compensate the company responsible for dismantling up to the maximum amount defined by the program board.
The MP allows disassembly companies that participate in Renovar to sell the materials obtained from dismantling or destroying the vehicle.
The Contran (National Traffic Council) may define simplified procedures for the definitive write-off of the vehicle registration as scrap, for purposes of dismantling or destruction, within the scope of Renovar.
According to the proposal, BNDES will be able to create BNDES Finem –Environment– Renovar, with lines of credit aimed at the direct beneficiaries of the program and the chain of dismantling or destruction of vehicles. The loans will be granted primarily to micro-enterprises, small businesses and individual micro-entrepreneurs.
The MP also changes the Brazilian Traffic Code to include the creation, implementation and maintenance of public traffic schools, intended for the education of children, adolescents, youth and adults, among the powers of executive bodies or entities of states, through theoretical and practical classes on legislation, signaling and behavior in traffic.
In addition, it provides that fire-fighting and rescue vehicles, police cars, ambulances and the like may only use audible alarm devices and intermittent lighting when they are effectively providing the emergency service.
The MP also creates an exception to the ban on professional drivers driving for more than five and a half hours uninterrupted. According to the text, there are exceptional situations, such as the unavailability of stops and rest points recognized by the competent body on the route scheduled for the trip, or the absence of available parking spaces. In this case, there is no application of penalties provided for in the code for non-observance of rest periods.
