Brazilian Legislature Research Articles

Bioinputs: a sustainable alternative to traditional pesticide cultivation

This research aims to identify the existence of legislative regulations for the production and use of bioinputs in the national territory, given the growing use of bioinputs as a sustainable alternative when compared to the use of pesticides. The objective is to analyze the conceptual and defining parameters of bioinputs, going into sustainable aspects and outlining an overview of the beneficial points when compared to pesticides. Based on the definitions presented, the study focuses on the following question: Are there laws in Brazil that regulate the use and manufacture of bioinputs in view of the exponential growth of the productive market? To answer the central question, the research makes use of the qualitative method that guided the search for bills in progress regarding the theme and enabled the analysis of the viability of the contents presented. As a result, the effectiveness of bioinputs as agents to combat pests is demonstrated, being an environmentally sustainable resource with demonstrated efficacy. Thus, with the demonstration of beneficial implications in management, a legislative gap is identified that permeates the production of bioinputs, including on-farm production, which reflects the lack of regulation regarding production, registration and especially supervision. Although the National Bioinputs Program is in force, laws need to be created from a regular legislative process aimed at regulating the sector that is in notorious growth, which demonstrates the need for the analysis of Bills 3668/21 and PL658/21, currently being processed in the Brazilian legislature.

TUMBALALÁ PEOPLE: HISTORY, TERRITORY, CULTURAL IDENTITIES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON INDIGENOUS SCHOOL EDUCATION

This paper aims to present a historical data about the Tumbalalá people, starting with the first records of their territorial occupation, as well as their historical roots and identification with their ancestors and the cultural focus of their ethnicity. From this point on, it is introduced a discussion about Indigenous School Education, under the focus of the prevailing Brazilian legislation, pursuing to differentiate Indigenous Education from Indigenous School Education, emphasizing the value that Indigenous knowledge has for School Education in contextualization and interculturality as ways to foster the rescue of Indigenous culture. It is moreover important to highlight the role of the Brazilian legislature, which has sought to guarantee the right of Indigenous people to a differentiated education as a guarantee of respect for their culture and, at the same time, the right to a formal education that allows them to continue to defend their rights and interests. Resulting from the long struggle of the Indigenous peoples to achieve this right to a differentiated education, although it has advanced significantly there is still a lot to be done. Keywords: Culture; Ethnicity, Ancestry, Interculturality, Traditional Knowledge DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/13-6-05 Publication date: March 31 st 2023

The quality of roasted and ground brazilian coffee: Chemical analysis of the effect of fixed mineral residue e different types of packaging on moisture content

The agricultural production of national coffee faces controversy regarding the quality of roasted and ground coffee, being susceptible to quality loss because of oxygen and humidity exposure and high storage temperatures. In light of the importance of coffee to the Brazilian economy and consumption, a survey was made of the main brands of coffee sold in establishments in the city of São Luís, observing the presence or absence of the ABIC quality seal, the category (traditional, extra-strong, superior, gourmet), and the most common packaging types (pillow and vacuum-sealed bags). Then, two purity parameters established by ABIC – humidity and fixed mineral residue – were determined quantitatively in the eight representative samples. The analyses were performed following the procedures described by the Adolf Lutz Institute (2008). The survey revealed that the superior and gourmet categories of coffee are not easily found, while traditional and extra-strong coffee is very accessible, both in pillow and vacuum-sealed bags. The moisture level results showed two brands (A2 and A3) within the standards established by INMETRO for coffee in both pillow and vacuum-sealed bags. Of the samples of fixed mineral residue that were collected, brand A1 was observed to be in conformity with legislation, for coffee packaged in both pillow and vacuum-sealed bags, and brand A4 showed results for pillow bags within the given parameters. Statistical design was applied to verify the effect of packaging (pillow and vacuum-sealed bag) on moisture levels between different brands using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that despite displaying the ABIC seal attesting to the quality of the product, without fraud and free of impurities, 50% of the samples analyzed showed alterations in moisture level and 62.5% showed fixed mineral residue levels above the standards established by Brazilian legislature.

Sugary drinks taxation: industry's lobbying strategies, practices and arguments in the Brazilian Legislature.

To assess the strategies, practices and arguments used by the industry to lobby legislators against sugary drinks taxation in Brazil. We performed a content analysis of arguments put forward by sugary drink and sugar industries against sugary drinks taxation, using the framework developed by the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support to assess corporate political activity of the food industry. Two public hearings held in 2017 and 2018 in the Brazilian Legislature. Representatives from two prominent industry associations - one representing Big Soda and the other representing the main sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity producers. The 'Information and messaging' and 'Policy substitution' strategies were identified. Five practices were identified in the 'Information and messaging' strategy (four described in the original framework and an additional practice, 'Stress the environmental importance of the industry'). Mechanisms not included in the original framework identified were 'Stress the reduction of CO2 emissions promoted by the industry'; 'Question the effectiveness of regulation'; 'Suggest public-private partnerships'; 'Shift the blame away from the product' and 'Question sugary drinks taxation as a public health recommendation'. No new practices or mechanisms to the original framework emerged in the 'Policy substitution' strategy. The strategies and practices are used collectively and complement each other. Arguments herein identified are in line with those reported in other countries under different contexts and using different methodologies. Future research should address whether and under what conditions lobbying from this industry sector is effective in the Brazilian Legislature.

Government and Opposition in Legislative Speechmaking: Using Text-As-Data to Estimate Brazilian Political Parties’ Policy Positions

ABSTRACTThis research note explores whether the government-opposition dimension that emerges from voting records of Brazilian legislatures also arises in legislative speechmaking. Since the earlier stages of the legislative process are innocuous to policy outcomes, party leaders would have fewer incentives to coerce their copartisans’ behavior in speeches than in roll calls. To test this expectation, this study estimates Brazilian political parties’ policy positions, relying on a sentiment analysis approach to classify 64,000 senators’ speeches. The results suggest that the president and the party leadership exert significant influence not only over how legislators vote but also over how they speak. We speculate that these unforeseen findings are backed by the decisiveness of speeches in passing legislation, the importance leadership gives to party brand, and legislators’ need to signal their positions to leaders and the government.

W sprawie potrzeby uregulowania umowy franczyzy w Polsce

This work presents, in the first place, topics relating to the notion of franchise agreement as an empirical type of contract, as well as the theoretical issue of contracts not regulated in statutory law. As for the substance of the legal relationship of franchise, attention is drawn to two issues. Firstly, even though Polish civil law does not regulate franchise agreements, the substance of the legal relationship of franchise is influenced by provisions of public law from the field of competition protection (antitrust law). This influence should be seen as significant. If franchise agreements are ever regulated in civil law, this will not mean that it will be permissible to ignore provisions of competition protection law when drafting the agreement’s specific contents. Secondly, the substance of the legal relationship of franchise – in accordance with Article 56 of the Civil Code – is shaped by the principles of community life and established customs, therefore codified ethical principles can also have certain influence on this substance. Further in the paper, attention is drawn to views about franchise agreements expressed in literature: their legal character is presented along with the parties’ rights and obligations, as well as typical provisions of franchise agreements. Finally, the principles of regulating franchise in foreign law are reviewed briefly. In this part, the author points out the so-called Federal Franchise Rule, applicable in US federal law, which may be a good inspiration for protecting the interests of franchisees in Polish law. The aim is, first of all, to draw attention to what business aspects of franchise are regulated. The second legal system selected for a brief presentation is the Brazilian one, because: (a) the Brazilian legislature introduced provisions on franchise in 2020; (b) simultaneously, the previously applicable provisions were improved, therefore legislative experience was taken into account. The conclusions from this analysis show that global standards in the field of regulation of franchise are well ahead of the Polish level of legislation. As a result of the analyses, an outline of franchise regulation is offered as a suggestion of what the law should be. Firstly, the idea of regulating franchise agreements as belonging to private law is presented. However, this regulation is not sufficient due to: (a) the actual imbalance between the franchisor (scheme organizer) and the franchisee; (b) the fact that the franchisee is an entrepreneur and cannot be covered by consumer protection; (c) the need to ensure protection as early as before a contract is entered into; (d) the need to prevent eliminating protection by choice of a different law. Secondly, there are suggestions of amendments that should accompany the regulation of franchise in the field of: introducing an obligation to provide the future franchisee with an adequately detailed prospectus of the franchisor, failure to discharge which will be treated as an act (tort) of unfair competition, classification of organizing a toxic franchise network as an act of unfair competition. Ascribing to the prospectus (which follows the model from foreign law) the feature of being important from the point of view of acts of unfair competition has a twofold aim: (a) it enables using legal instruments provided for in the provisions on competition protection; (b) it enables legal protection following from the absolute prohibition of infringing collective consumer interests (which is addressed in the following suggestion). Thirdly, amendments to public law are suggested. The powers of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection should be extended to include protection of collective interests of franchisees against, for instance, acts of unfair competition (regulating in private law) against franchisees. Such provisions would have a preventive function and – when needed – a repressive one. Measures taken by the President of the Office in the interest of franchisees would significantly remedy the imbalance between parties to franchise.

Estudo do engajamento do cidadão na participação de ações de mandatos eletivos no Legislativo brasileiro: análise do uso de political techs

Resumo O processo de inovação das tecnologias de informação e comunicação promoveram o desenvolvimento de iniciativas que corroboram maior adesão popular às ações políticas. Diante disso, as political techs surgem como uma forma de inovação do uso da tecnologia para facilitar o acesso às informações e à análise dos candidatos para escolha durante a eleição e como meio de acompanhamento e monitoramento das ações e pautas de governo, auxiliando o processo de participação e engajamento cívico. Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar o engajamento do cidadão, por meio do uso de aplicativos classificados como political techs, na participação em ações de mandatos eletivos no Poder Legislativo brasileiro após as eleições gerais de 2018. A abordagem quantitativa adotou método multivariado de equações de modelagem estrutural, com aplicação de um survey presencial com uma amostra de 467 universitários. Como resultado, a partir das political techs, é proposto um modelo que possibilita a análise por parte dos cidadãos para fiscalizar e participar das decisões sobre os recursos investidos nas políticas e ações públicas, sendo possível, assim, fomentar o engajamento do cidadão.

Ultra-processed food industry regulation for tackling obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases in the Brazilian legislature: many proposals, no enactments.

To assess efforts of the Brazilian legislature to regulate ultra-processed food industry practices related to obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases during the first 4 years of the United Nations' Decade of Action on Nutrition. We searched the Chamber of Deputies and Federal Senate internal databases to identify bills under consideration between 2016 and December 2019. Keywords related to the main recommendations of international organisations regarding the regulation of food industry practices were used. Descriptive and content analysis of the bills were carried out. Brazilian legislature (Chamber of Deputies and Federal Senate). None. Eighty-four bills were identified. The most frequently addressed topics were: nutrition labelling (38·1 %), marketing of unhealthy products (30·9 %), availability of unhealthy products (26·2 %) and critical nutrients content (14·3 %). Only 9·5 % of bills have proposed taxation on unhealthy products. No bill was passed during that period; 2·4 % were rejected and 10·7 % archived. Among the bills still under consideration, 52·4 % have not been passed in any Committee. Although many bills have been introduced, no regulation of ultra-processed food industry practices has been enacted by the Brazilian legislature by 2020. It is likely that no positive impact on population nutrition in Brazil will be achieved by the end of the United Nation's Decade of Action on Nutrition, in 2025 - especially regarding those goals set by the Brazilian government which were supposed to have been achieved by 2019.

Assessing the Strength of Pentecostal Churches’ Electoral Support: Evidence from Brazil

Since the 1980s, the number of Pentecostal candidates elected to the Brazilian legislatures has grown remarkably. Literature has argued that the phenomenon is related to Pentecostal churches’ support for particular candidates. To date, however, this claim has been based only on ethnographies or studies relying on a few cases of elected candidates. Drawing from a new data set of Evangelical (Protestant) candidates for the Federal Chamber of Deputies and state legislative assemblies, I try to answer the following questions: Do Pentecostal candidates raise fewer campaign resources than other candidates? What is the effect of being a Pentecostal candidate on the vote in Brazilian legislative elections? Is the structure of the church relevant to this effect? Using OLS regression models, I show that being a Pentecostal has a negative, though not significant effect on campaign spending. Additionally, there is a positive statistical relationship between being a Pentecostal and receiving votes, and between having the support of more centralized churches and receiving votes. Qualitative evidence of six Pentecostal politicians who lost their churches’ support at some point between elections, attempted reelection, and performed considerably worse than before reinforces the importance of having the support of a Pentecostal church.

IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS ON THE BRAZILIAN ARBITRATION LAW

The arbitration as an alternative dispute settlement established itself nationally and internationally as a legitimate instrument to promote and expand access to justice. In this sense, the aim of this work is to analyze how the international treaties and conventions influenced the creation and development of the national arbitration law and its application in Brazil. Thus, we will seek to delimit what were the conventions, treaties, protocols and other international acts that had implications, positive or negative, when the adoption of Law n. 9307/96 by the Brazilian legislature, thereby seeking to analyze whether this law could actually absorb the parameters, criteria, nature and effects allowed by the international legal order. The correlation is also relevant to explain how Brazil has followed the international dynamics on bound rules to legal relations. Later, there will be an approximation, succinctly, on the main aspects of the law in relation to the object, subject, form of expression and effects of the use of arbitration and its respective application in Brazil.

IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS ON THE BRAZILIAN ARBITRATION LAW

The arbitration as an alternative dispute settlement established itself nationally and internationally as a legitimate instrument to promote and expand access to justice. In this sense, the aim of this work is to analyze how the international treaties and conventions influenced the creation and development of the national arbitration law and its application in Brazil. Thus, we will seek to delimit what were the conventions, treaties, protocols and other international acts that had implications, positive or negative, when the adoption of Law n. 9307/96 by the Brazilian legislature, thereby seeking to analyze whether this law could actually absorb the parameters, criteria, nature and effects allowed by the international legal order. The correlation is also relevant to explain how Brazil has followed the international dynamics on bound rules to legal relations. Later, there will be an approximation, succinctly, on the main aspects of the law in relation to the object, subject, form of expression and effects of the use of arbitration and its respective application in Brazil.

IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS ON THE BRAZILIAN ARBITRATION LAW

The arbitration as an alternative dispute settlement established itself nationally and internationally as a legitimate instrument to promote and expand access to justice. In this sense, the aim of this work is to analyze how the international treaties and conventions influenced the creation and development of the national arbitration law and its application in Brazil. Thus, we will seek to delimit what were the conventions, treaties, protocols and other international acts that had implications, positive or negative, when the adoption of Law n. 9307/96 by the Brazilian legislature, thereby seeking to analyze whether this law could actually absorb the parameters, criteria, nature and effects allowed by the international legal order. The correlation is also relevant to explain how Brazil has followed the international dynamics on bound rules to legal relations. Later, there will be an approximation, succinctly, on the main aspects of the law in relation to the object, subject, form of expression and effects of the use of arbitration and its respective application in Brazil.

Managing Federal Transfers in Brazil: Do Coalition Members Reap Benefits?

Coalitions led by the president play an important role in the Brazilian legislature, but what do members of the president’s coalition gain from joining? We conduct a regression discontinuity analysis of discretionary, politically motivated federal transfers to Brazilian municipalities. Our innovation is to distinguish between the president’s co-partisan mayors and mayors aligned with other coalition members. We find that the president channels pre-election discretionary transfers to co-partisan mayors but does not target coalition members in municipalities. However, the president does not use these transfers to support co-partisan mayors against mayors aligned with coalition members. In other words, the president favors co-partisan mayors over opposition mayors in the two years preceding municipal elections, but not over mayors aligned with other coalition members. Consistent with a model in which coalition members have little agenda-setting power but can veto the president’s proposals, coalition members receive defensive benefits from joining the president’s coalition.

Formal Comparisons of Legislative Institutions: Ideal Points from Brazilian Legislatures

As the popularity of formal analyses of legislative activity in Latin America grows, so does the importance of understanding the limits of the estimates produced by such analyses and the methodological adaptations necessary when using these measures to make formal comparisons. This research note details the considerations involved and demonstrates their significance with an empirical example using the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. This empirical analysis leads to conclusions that are the opposite of those in the literature, suggesting that such formal comparisons across institutions need to be made with care.

EVANGÉLICOS, PENTECOSTAIS E REPRESENTAÇÃO POLÍTICA NAS ELEIÇÕES LEGISLATIVAS NO BRASIL (1998-2010)

Qual é o desempenho dos candidatos evangélicos nas eleições para o legislativo no Brasil? Seriam as candidaturas pentecostais responsáveis pela representação política dos evangélicos? Teriam as igrejas pentecostais um alto grau de sucesso eleitoral? A influência de evangélicos na política brasileira vem ganhando crescente destaque na mídia e na academia. Ela é consequência da rápida expansão do pentecostalismo no Brasil. A literatura prévia assumiu que candidatos pentecostais controlariam seus fiéis como um “rebanho eleitoral”. A partir de uma discussão conceitual sobre o candidato evangélico e sua relação com a igreja e de um novo banco de dados de candidaturas evangélicas, apresento evidências de que a proporção de candidaturas evangélicas se manteve estável na última década; os políticos pentecostais representam a grande maioria dos políticos evangélicos nos legislativos brasileiros; mas, a despeito disso, o sucesso eleitoral das igrejas pentecostais não é forte como se assevera.

The role of the Brazilian Congress in defining public social policies

ABSTRACTThe analysis of the role of Congress in defining public policy matters to the debate on the characterisation of legislatures in a spectrum that ranges from the ‘transformative’ to the ‘arena’ type (according to the typology of Polsby). This paper, related to the Brazilian case, considers definitions relevant to the areas of education and health. On education, this study presents an analysis of the content of the legislative proposals of parliamentarians and two case studies, which discuss policy definitions of funding and quality assessment. On health, this article presents an analysis of related legislative proposals and especially those that resulted in funding rules. These studies suggest that Congress in Brazil has an important part to play in defining public policies, acting either as a transforming agent or as an arena for debates. The Brazilian Congress seems to have been, at the same time, active, reactive, collaborative and innovative. This finding leads to the conclusion that the Brazilian Legislature must be placed at an intermediate level between the extreme types of Polsby’s categories; this position is compatible with the ‘coalitional presidentialism’.

A Law on Paper Only: Electoral Rules, Parties, and the Persistent Underrepresentation of Women in Brazilian Legislatures

This article advances a party-centric analysis of gender quotas in Brazil. We examine how parties mediate electoral rules, finding that neither the implementation of the Lei de Cotas (Quota Law) in 1995 nor its 2009 mini-reform was sufficient to induce significant change in party strategies for the nomination and election of women. Moreover, we find that while the open-list proportional representation electoral system is an important part of the explanation for the quota's failure to enhance women's representation, an analysis of how those electoral rules interact with decentralized party politics and women's absence from subnational party leadership structures yields superior explanatory power for understanding quota (non)compliance. We marshal extensive evidence on interparty variation in candidacies to Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and state legislative assemblies and interviews with candidates, party leaders, bureaucrats, and activists throughout Brazil to show how electoral rules and party dynamics interact to undermine the gender quota, resulting in a limited increase in the number of female candidates and stagnation in the number of women elected. We conclude that reform efforts must target not only electoral rules but also the subnational party structures that mediate these rules if they are to enhance women's political representation.

NATIONAL GUIDELINES FOR HIGH-COST DRUGS IN BRAZIL: ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS OF AN INNOVATIVE NATIONAL EVIDENCE-BASED PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY

The translation of best evidence into practice has become an important purpose of policy making in health care. In Brazil, a country of continental dimensions with widespread regional and social inequalities, the dissemination and use of the best-evidence in policy making is a critical issue for the healthcare system. The main purpose of this study is to describe an evidence-based public health policy with special emphasis on guidelines creation for high-cost medicines. We also describe how that strategy was diffused to the judiciary system and to other parts of the healthcare system. We present an 11-year follow-up of a national project for creating and updating guidelines for high-cost medicines in Brazil. A total of 109 national guidelines were published (new or updated versions) for 66 selected diseases, the first such effort in Brazilian history. The project influenced the Brazilian legislature, which has recently established a Federal Law requiring national guidelines for any new technology listed for payment by the Brazilian public healthcare system. We were able to involve many different stakeholders in a partnership between academia and policy makers, which made possible the widespread dissemination of the clinical practice guidelines. Problems and constraints were also encountered. This evolving public health strategy might be useful for other developing countries.

Serious New Threat to Brazilian Forests

[Extract] Brazil's Forest Code was enacted in 1965 and protects forests in certain locations, such as along rivers and on steep slopes and hilltops. It is the only legislation in the world that requires private rural landowners to retain reserves of natural vegetation. In the Atlantic Rainforest, the Forest Code states that 20% of a property has to remain in reserve whereas in the Amazon forest this amount is 80%. However, an amended Forest Code was overwhelmingly approved in the lower House of the Brazilian legislature, and it seems likely that a version will be passed by the Senate and could be signed into law by the president. If passed, the new legislation may not only provide amnesty to those who illegally cleared forests in the past, but also greatly intensify the risk of future deforestation. The new law includes changes in forest protection that will allow for harvesting of legal reserves on private lands as well as reducing the proportion of a property that must be preserved (Metzger et al. 2010).

Inoculation with selected strains of Azospirillum brasilense and A. lipoferum improves yields of maize and wheat in Brazil

Interest in the use of inoculants containing bacteria that promote plant growth is likely to increase in the coming years, due to higher costs of fertilizers, concerns over pollution and emphasis on sustainable agriculture. Although Brazil has a long tradition in research on nitrogen fixation in Azospirillum-grass associations, it has not led to recommendations of strains for use in commercial inoculants. In this study, we report the selection and evaluation of Azospirillum strains for the maize (Zea mays L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crops, following protocols established by the Brazilian legislature, i.e. field experiments have to be performed in at least two different localities representing the crop growing regions, and for at least two seasons. In a first set of nine trials performed at Londrina and Ponta Grossa, southern Brazil, nine Azospirillum strains were evaluated after application to seeds as peat-based inoculants. A. brasilense strains Ab-V4, Ab-V5, Ab-V6 and Ab-V7 increased grain yields of maize by 662–823 kg ha−1, or 24–30%, in relation to non-inoculated controls. Two A. lipoferum strains were tested in two of these experiments and promising results were also obtained. With wheat, A. brasilense strains Ab-V1, Ab-V5, Ab-V6 and Ab-V8 were the most effective, increasing yields by 312–423 kg ha−1, or 13–18%. In a second trial set with eight field experiments at Londrina an Ponta Grossa, liquid and peat-based inoculants carrying a combination of A. brasilense strains Ab-V5 and Ab-V6 increased maize and wheat yields by 27% and 31%, respectively. Effects of inoculation were attributed to general increases in uptake of several macro and micronutrients and not specifically to biological nitrogen fixation. All experiments received only a low N-fertilizer starter at sowing (24 kg and 20 kg of N ha−1 for the maize and wheat, respectively) and although yields can be globally considered low, they were compatible with Brazilian mean yields. This study resulted in the identification of the first Azospirillum strains authorized for the production of commercial inoculants in Brazil.