TITLE III. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE

CHAPTER I. THE POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION

*Article 18. The political and administrative organization of the Federative Republic of Brazil comprises the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, all of them autonomous, as this Constitution provides.

Paragraph 1 - Brasília is the federal capital.

Paragraph 2 - The federal territories are part of the Union and their establishment, transformation into states or reintegration into the state of origin shall be regulated by a supplementary law.

Paragraph 3 - The states may merge into each other, subdivide or dismember to be annexed to others or to form new states or federal territories, subject to the approval of the population directly concerned, by means of a plebiscite, and of the National Congress, by means of a supplementary law.

Paragraph 4 - The establishment, merger, fusion and dismemberment of municipalities shall be effected through state law, within the period set forth by supplementary federal law, and shall depend on prior consultation, by means of a plebiscite, of the population of the municipalities concerned, after the publication of Municipal Feasibility Studies, presented and published as set forth by law.

* CA 15/96

Article 19. The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities are forbidden to:

  1. establish religious sects or churches, subsidize them, hinder their activities, or maintain relationships of dependence or alliance with them or their representatives, without prejudice to collaboration in the public interest in the manner set forth by law;
  2. refuse to honour public documents;
  3. create distinctions between Brazilians or preferences favouring some.
CHAPTER II - THE UNION

Article 20. The following are property of the Union:

  1. the property which presently belongs to it as well as that which may be attributed to it;
  2. the unoccupied lands essential to the defense of the boundaries, the fortifications and military constructions, the federal routes of communication and the preservation of the environment, as defined by law;
  3. the lakes, rivers and any watercourses in lands within its domain or that wash more than one state, that serve as boundaries with other countries or that extend into foreign territory or proceed therefrom, as well as bank lands and river beaches;
  4. the river and lake islands in zones bordering with other countries, sea beaches, the ocean and off-shore islands, with the exception of those referred to in article 26, II;
  5. the natural resources of the continental shelf and of the exclusive economic zone;
  6. the territorial sea;
  7. tide lands and those added to them;
  8. the hydraulic energy potentials;
  9. the mineral resources, including those of the subsoil;
  10. the natural underground cavities and the archaeological and historic sites;
  11. those lands traditionally occupied by the Indians.
Paragraph 1 - In accordance with the law, the participation in the results of the exploitation of petroleum or natural gas, hydric resources for the purpose of generation of electric power and other mineral resources in the respective territory, continental shelf, territorial sea or exclusive economic zone, financial compensation for the exploitation thereof, is assured to the states Federal District and the municipalities, as well as to agencies of the administration of the Union.

Paragraph 2 - The strip of land up to a hundred and fifty kilometers in width alongside the terrestrial boundaries, designated as boundary zone, considered essential to the defense of the national territory and its occupation and utilization shall be regulated by law.

*Article 21. The Union shall have the power to:

  1. maintain relations with foreign states and participate in international organizations;
  2. declare war and make peace;
  3. ensure national defense;
  4. allow foreign forces, in the cases provided for in a supplementary law, to pass through the national territory or to remain therein temporarily;
  5. declare a state of siege, a state of defense and federal intervention;
  6. authorize and control the production and trade of military materiel;
  7. issue currency;
  8. manage the foreign exchange reserves of the country and control financial operations, especially those of credit, exchange and capitalization, as well as insurance and private security;
  9. prepare and carry out national and regional plans for the ordaining of the territory and for economic and social development;
  10. maintain the postal service and the national air mail;
  11. operate, directly or through authorization, concession or permission, the telecommunications services, as set forth by law, which law shall provide for the organization of the services, the establishment of a regulatory agency and other institutional issues;
  12. operate, directly or through authorization, concession or permission:
    1. the services of sound broadcasting and of sound and image broadcasting;
    2. the electric power services and facilities and the energetic exploitation of watercourses, jointly with the states wherein those hydro-energetic potentials are located;
    3. air and aerospace navigation and airport infrastructure;
    4. railway and waterway services between seaports and national borders or which cross the boundary of a state or territory:
    5. interstate and international highway passenger transportation services;
    6. sea, river and lake ports;
  13. organize and maintain the Judicial Power, the Public Prosecution and the Public Legal Defense of the Federal District and territories;
  14. organize and maintain the federal police, the federal highway and railway polices as well as the civil police, the military police, the military fire brigade of the Federal District and territories;
  15. organize and maintain the official services of statistics, geography, geology and cartography of national scope;
  16. classify, for indicative purposes, public entertainment and and television programs;
  17. grant amnesty;
  18. plan and promote permanent defense against public disasters especially droughts and floods;
  19. establish a national system for the management of hydric resources and define criteria for the concession of the right to their use;
  20. establish directives for urban development, including housing, basic sanitation and urban transportation;
  21. establish principles and directives for the national transportation system;
  22. perform the services of maritime, air, and border police;
  23. operate nuclear energy services and facilities of any nature, exercise state monopoly over research, mining, enrichment and reprocessing, industrialization and trade in nuclear ores and their by-products, taking into account the following principles and conditions:
    1. all nuclear activity within the national territory shall only be admitted for peaceful purposes and subject to approval by the National Congress;
    2. under a concession or permission, authorization is given for the of radioisotopes in research and for medical, agricultural and industrial use as well as for other analogous activities;
    3. civil liability for nuclear damages does not depend on the existence of fault;
  24. organize, maintain and carry out inspection of working conditions;
  25. establish the areas and conditions for the exercise of placer mining activities in associative form.

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* CA 8/95.

Article 22. The Union has the exclusive power to legislate on:

  1. civil, commercial, criminal, procedural, electoral, agrarian, maritime, aeronautical, space and labour law;
  2. expropriation;
  3. civil and military requisitioning, in case of imminent danger or in times of war;
  4. waters, energy, informatics, telecommunications and radio broadcasting;
  5. the postal service;
  6. the monetary and measures systems, metal certificates and guarantees;
  7. policies for credit, foreign exchange, insurance and transfer of values;
  8. foreign and interstate trade;
  9. guidelines for the national transportation policy;
  10. the regime of the ports and lake, river, ocean, air and aerospace navigation;
  11. traffic and transportation;
  12. beds of ore, mines, other mineral resources and metallurgy;
  13. nationality, citizenship and naturalization;
  14. Indian populations;
  15. emigration, immigration, entry, extradition and expulsion of foreigners;
  16. the organization of the national employment system and conditions for the practice of professions;
  17. the judicial organization of the Public Prosecution and of the Public Legal Defense of the Federal District and of the territories, as well as their administrative organization;
  18. the national statistical, cartographic and geological systems;
  19. systems of savings, as well as of obtaining and guaranteeing popular savings;
  20. consortium and lottery systems;
  21. general organization rules, troops, material guarantees, drafting and mobilization of the military police and military fire brigades;
  22. the jurisdiction of the federal police and of the federal highway- and military polices:
  23. social security;
  24. directives and bases of the national education;
  25. public registers;
  26. nuclear activities of any nature;
  27. general rules for all types of bidding and contracting, for the direct and indirect public administration, including foundations instituted and maintained by the Government, in its various spheres, and companies under government control;
  28.   territorial defense, aerospace defense, maritime defense, civil defense, and national mobilization;
  29. commercial advertising.
Sole paragraph - A supplementary law may authorize the states to legislate upon specific questions related to the matters listed in this article.

Article 23. The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, in common, have the power:

  1. to ensure that the Constitution, the laws and the democratic institutions are respected and that public property is preserved;
  2. to provide for health and public assistance, for the protection and safeguard of handicapped persons;
  3. to protect the documents, works and other assets of historical, artistic or cultural value, the monuments, the remarkable landscapes and the archaeological sites;
  4. to prevent works of art and other assets of historical, artistic and cultural value from being taken out of the country, destroyed or from being deprived of their original characteristics;
  5. to provide the means of access to culture, education and science;
  6. to protect the environment and to fight pollution in any of its forms;
  7. to preserve the forests, fauna and flora;
  8. to promote agriculture and cattle breeding and organize the supply of foodstuff;
  9. to promote housing construction programs and the improvement of housing and basic sanitation conditions;
  10. to fight the causes of poverty and the factors leading to substandard living conditions, promoting the social integration of the unprivileged sectors of the population;
  11. to register, monitor and control the concessions of rights to research and exploit hydric and mineral resources within their territories;
  12. lo establish and to implement an educational policy for traffic safety.
Sole paragraph - A supplementary law shall establish rules for the cooperation between the Union and the states, the Federal District and the municipalities aiming at the attainment of balanced development and well- being on a nationwide scope.

Article 24. The Union, the states and the Federal District have the power to legislate concurrently on:

  1. tax, financial, penitentiary, economic and urbanistic law;
  2. budget;
  3. trade boards
  4. costs of forensic services;
  5. production and consumption;
  6. forests, hunting, fishing, fauna, preservation of nature, defense of the soil and natural resources, protection of the environment and control of pollution;
  7. protection of the historic, cultural and artistic heritage, as well as of assets of touristic interest and landscapes of outstanding beauty;
  8. liability for damages to the environment, to consumers, to assets and rights of artistic, aesthetic, historical, and touristic value, as well as to remarkable landscapes;
  9. education, culture, teaching and sports;
  10. establishment, operation and procedures of small claims courts;\
  11. judicial procedures;
  12. social security, protection and defense of health;
  13. legal assistance and public defense;
  14. protection and social integration of handicapped persons;
  15. protection of childhood and youth;
  16. organization, guarantees, rights and duties of the civil policies.
Paragraph 1 - Within the scope of concurrent legislation, the competence of the Union shall be limited to the establishment of general rules.

Paragraph 2 - The competence of the Union to legislate upon general rules does not exclude the supplementary competence of the states

Paragraph 3 - If there is no federal law or general rules, the states shall exercise full legislative competence to provide for their peculiarities.

Paragraph 4 - The supervenience of a federal law over general rules suspends the effectiveness of a state law to the extent that the two are contrary

CHAPTER IV - THE FEDERATED STATES

*Article 25. The states are organized and governed by the Constitutions and laws they may adopt, in accordance with the principles of this Constitution.

Paragraph 1 - All powers that this Constitution does not prohibit the states from exercising shall be conferred upon them.

Paragraph 2 - The states shall have the power to operate, directly or by means of concession, the local services of piped gas, as provided for by law, it being forbidden to issue any provisional measure for its regulation.

Paragraph 3 - The states may by means of a supplementary law, establish metropolitan regions, urban agglomerations and micro-regions, formed by the grouping of adjacent municipalities, in order to integrate the organization, the planning and the operation of public functions of common interest.
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* CA 5/95

Article 26. The property of the states includes:

  1. surface or subterranean waters, flowing, emerging or in deposit, with the exception, in this case, of those resulting from work carried out by the Union, as provided by law:
  2. the areas, on ocean and coastal islands, which are within their domain, excluding those under the domain of the Union, the municipalities or third parties;
  3. the river and lake islands which do not belong to the Union;
  4. the unoccupied lands not included among those belonging to the Union.
Article 27. The number of Deputies in the Legislative Assembly shall correspond to three times the representation of the state in the Chamber of Deputies and, when the number of thirty-six has been reached, it shall be increased by as many members as the number of Federal Deputies exceeding twelve.

Paragraph 1 - The term of office of the State Deputies shall be four years and the provisions of this Constitution shall be applied to them in what refers to the electoral system, inviolability, immunities, remuneration, loss of office. leave of absence, impediments and incorporation into the Armed Forces.

Paragraph 2 - The remuneration of the State Deputies shall be established in each legislative term, for the subsequent one, by the Legislative Assembly. as provided by articles 150, II, 153, III, and 153, paragraph 2, I, in the proportion of seventy-five percent, at most, of the remuneration established, in legal tender. for the Federal Deputies.

Paragraph 3 - The Legislative Assemblies shall have the power to provide upon their internal regulations, police and the administrative services of their Secretariat and to fill in the respective offices.

*Article 28. The election of the Governor and the Vice-Governor of a state, for a term of office of four years, shall be held on the first Sunday of October, in the first round, and on the last Sunday of October, in the second round, as the case may be, of the year preceding the one in which the term of office of their predecessors ends, and they shall take office on January l of the following year, in accordance, otherwise, with the provisions of article 77.
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* CA 16/97

Sole paragraph - The Governor who takes another post or function in the direct or indirect public administration shall lose his office, with the exception of the taking of office by virtue of public entrance examination and taking into account the provisions in article 38, I, IV and V.

CHAPTER IV THE MUNICIPALITIES

*Article 29. Municipalities shall be governed by organic law, voted in two readings, with a minimum interval of ten days between the readings, and approved by two-thirds of the members of the Municipal Chamber, which shall promulgate it, observing the principles established in this Constitution, in the Constitution of the respective state and the following precepts:

  1. election of the Mayor, Vice-Mayor and Councilmen for a term of office of four years, by means of direct election held simultaneously throughout the country;
  2. election of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor on the first Sunday of October of the year preceding the end of the term of office of those they are to succeed, subject, in the case of municipalities with over two hundred thousand voters, to the provisions set forth in article 77;
  3. investiture of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor on January l of the year subsequent to the year of the election;
  4. number of councilmen in proportion to the population of the municipalities, in accordance with the following limits:
    1. a minimum of nine and a maximum of twenty-one in municipalities with up to one million inhabitants;
    2. a minimum of thirty-three and a maximum of forty-one in municipalities with over one million and under five million inhabitants;
    3. a minimum of forty-two and a maximum of fifty-five in municipalities with over five million inhabitants;
  5. the remuneration of the Mayor, the Vice-Mayor and the Councilmen stipulated by the Municipal Chamber in each legislature for the subsequent one, in accordance with the provisions set forth in articles 37, XI, 150, II, 153, III, and 153, paragraph 2, I;
  6. the remuneration of the City Councilmen shall correspond at the most, to seventy-five percent of the remuneration established, in legal tender, for the State Deputies, except for the provisions of article 37, XI;
  7. the total expenditure with the remuneration of the City Councilmen may not exceed the amount of five percent of the revenue of the Municipality;
  8. inviolability of the Councilmen on account of their opinions, words and votes while in office and within the jurisdiction of the municipality;
  9. prohibitions and incompatibilities, while in the exercise of the office of City Councilman, similar, where applicable, to the provisions of this Constitution for the members of the National Congress and of the Constitution of the respective state for the members of the Legislative Assembly;
  10. trial of the Mayor before the Court of Justice;
  11. organization of the legislative and supervisory functions of the Municipal Chamber;
  12. cooperation of the representative associations in municipal planning;
  13. public initiative in the presenting of bills of specific interest to the municipality, the city or the neighborhoods, by means of the manifestation of at least five percent of the electorate;
  14. loss of the office of mayor, as provided in article 28, sole paragraph.

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* CA 1/92 and 16/97

Article 30. The municipalities have the power to:

  1. legislate upon matters of local interest;
  2. supplement federal and state legislations where pertinent;
  3. institute and collect taxes within their jurisdiction, as well as to apply their revenues, without prejudice to the obligation of rendering accounts and publishing balance sheets within the Periods established bv law:
  4. create, organize and suppress districts, with due regard for the state legislation;
  5. organize and render, directly or by concession or permission, the public services of local interest, including mass-transportation, which is of essential nature;
  6. maintain, with the technical and financial cooperation of the Union and the state, programs of pre-school and elementary school education;
  7. provide, with the technical and financial cooperation of the Union and the state, health services to the population;
  8. promote, wherever pertinent, adequate territorial ordaining, by means of planning and control of use, apportionment and occupation of the urban soil;
  9. promote the protection of the local historic and cultural heritage, with due regard for federal and state legislation and supervision.
Article 31. Supervision of the municipality shall be exercised by the municipal legislature, through outside control, and by the internal control systems of the municipal executive branch, in the manner called for by law.

Paragraph l - Outside control of the Municipal Chamber shall be exercised with the assistance of the state or municipal Court of Accounts, or of the Municipal Councils or Courts of Accounts, where they exist.

Paragraph 2 - The prior report, issued by the competent agency, on the accounts to be rendered annually by the Mayor, shall not prevail only by a decision of two-thirds of the members of the City Council.

Paragraph 3 - The accounts of the municipalities shall remain, for sixty days annually, at the disposal, for examination and consideration, of anT taxpayer, who may question their legitimacy, as the law provides.

Paragraph 4 - The creation of municipal courts, councils or agencies of accounts is forbidden.

CHAPTER V - THE FEDERAL DISTRICT AND THE TERRITORIES

SECTION I - THE FEDERAL DISTRICT

Article 32. The Federal District, which may not be divided into municipalities shall be governed by an organic law, voted in two readings, with a minimum interval of ten days, and approved by two-thirds of the Legislative Chamber, which shall enact it, in accordance with the principles set forth in this Constitution.

Paragraph l - The legislative powers reserved to the states and municipalities are attributed to the Federal District.

Paragraph 2 - The election of the Governor and the Vice-Governor, complying with the rules of article 77, and of the District Deputies shall coincide with that of the state Governors and Deputies, for a term of office of the same { rs n

Paragraph 3 - The provisions of article 27 apply to the District Deputies and the Legislative Chamber.

Paragraph 4 - A federal law shall provide for the use, by the Government of the Federal District, of the civil and military polices and the military fire brigade.

SECTION lI - THE TERRITORIES

Article 33. The law shall provide for the administrative and judicial organization of the territories.

Paragraph 1 - The territories may be divided into municipalities, to which the provisions of Chapter IV of this Title shall be applied, insofar as pertinent.

Paragraph 2 - The accounts of the Government of the territory shall be submitted to the National Congress, with the prior opinion of the Court of An counts af the Union.

Paragraph 3 - In the federal territories with over a hundred thousand inhabitants, in addition to the Governor, appointed as set forth in this Constitution, there shall be judicial agencies of first and second instances, members of the Public Prosecution and Federal Public Legal Defenders; the law shall provide for the elections to the Territory Chamber and its decision- making powers.

CHAPTER VI - INTERVENTION

*Article 34. The Union shall not intervene in the states or in the Federal District, except:

  1. to maintain national integrity;
  2. to repel foreign invasion or that of one unit of the Federation into another;
  3. to put an end to serious jeopardy to public order;
  4. to guarantee the free exercise of any of the powers of the units of the Federation;
  5. to reorganize the finances of a unit of the Federation that:
    1. stops the payment of Its funded debt for more than two consecutive years, except for reasons of force majeure;
    2. fails to deliver to the municipalities the tax revenues established in this Constitution, within the periods of time set forth by law;
  6. to provide for the enforcement of federal law, judicial order or decision;
  7. to ensure compliance with the following constitutional principles:
    1. republican form, representative system and democratic regime;
    2. rights of the human person;
    3. municipal autonomy;
    4. rendering of accounts of the direct and indirect public administration
    5. the application of the mandatory minimum of the income resulting from state taxes, including those originating from transfers, to the maintenance and development of education.

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*CA 14/96

Article 35. The state shall not intervene in its municipalities, neither the Union in the municipalities located in a federal territory, except when:

  1. the funded debt is not paid for two consecutive years, without reasons of force majeure;
  2. the due accounts are not rendered, in the manner prescribed by las
  3. the minimum required amount of the municipal revenues has not been applied in the maintenance and development of education;
  4. the Court of Justice grants a petition to ensure observance of the principles indicated in the state Constitution or to provide for the enforcement of the law, judicial order or decision.
Article 36. The issuance of a decree of intervention shall depend:
  1. on a request from the coerced or impeded Legislative or Executive Power, or on a requisition from the Supreme Federal Court, if the coercion is exercised against the Judicial Power, in the case of article 34, IV;
  2. in case of disobedience to a judicial order or decision, on a requisition from the Supreme Federal Court, the Superior Court of Justice or the Superior Electoral Court;
  3. on the granting of a petition from the Attorney-General of the Republic by the Supreme Federal Court, in the case of article 34, VII;
  4. on the granting of a petition from the Attorney-General of the Republic by the Superior Court of Justice, in the case of refusal to enforce a federal law.
Paragraph 1 - The decree of intervention, which shall specify the extent, the period and the conditions of enforcement and which, if pertinent, shall appoint the intervenor, shall be submitted to the National Congress or the State Legislative Assembly for consideration, within twenty-four hours.

Paragraph 2 - If the National Congress or the Legislative Assembly are not in session, a special session shall be called within the same twenty- four hours.

Paragraph 3 - In the case of article 34, VI and VII, or article 35, IV, when the consideration by the National Congress or the Legislative Assembly may be waived, the decree shall be limited to suspending the enforcement of the impugned act, if such measure suffices to restore normality.

Paragraph 4 - Upon cessation of the reasons that caused the intervention, the authorities removed from their offices shall return to them, unless there is some legal impediment.

CHAPTER VII PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

SECTION I - GENERAL PROVISIONS

*Article 37. The direct or indirect public administration of any of the powers of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities, as well as their foundations, shall obey the principles of lawfulness, impersonality. morality, publicity and also the following:

  1. public offices, positions and functions are accessible to all Brazilians who meet the requirements established by law;
  2. investiture in a public office or position depends on previously passing an entrance examination consisting of tests or tests and presentation of academic and professional credentials, except for appointment to a commission office declared by law as being of free appointment and discharge;
  3. the period of validity of a public entrance examination shall be up to two years, extendable once for a like period of time;
  4. during the unextendable period established in the public call notice, a person who has passed a public entrance examination of tests, or of tests and presentation of academic and professional credentials, shall be called with priority over newly approved applicants, to take an office or position in the career:
  5. commission offices or positions of trust shall be exercised, preferentially, by civil servants holding a post in a technical or professional career, in the cases and under the conditions established in law;
  6. the right to free union association is guaranteed to civil servants:
  7. the right to strike shall be exercised in the manner and within the limits defined by a supplementary law;
  8. the law shall reserve a percentage of public offices and positions for handicapped persons and shall define the criteria for their admittance
  9. the law shall establish the cases of hiring for a limited period of time to meet a temporary need of exceptional public interest;
  10. the general review of the remuneration of Government employees without distinction between the indices applied to civil and military servants, shall always occur on the same date;
  11. the law shall establish the maximum limit and the proportion between the highest and the lowest remuneration of public servants, taking into account, as maximum limits and within the sphere of the respective powers, the amounts received as remuneration, in legal tender of any sort, by members of the National Congress, Ministers of State and Justices of the Supreme Federal Court and the corresponding offices in the states, the Federal District and the territories and, in the municipalities, the amount received as remuneration, in legal tender, by the Mayor;
  12. the salaries for positions of the Legislative and Judicial Powers may not be higher than those paid by the Executive Power;
  13. the linkage or equalization of salaries, for purposes of the remuneration of the personnel in the public services, is forbidden, except for the provisions of the preceding item and of article 39, paragraph 1;
  14. the pecuniary raises received by a government employee shall not be computed or accumulated for purposes of granting subsequent raises, for the same reason or on an identical basis;
  15. the salaries of government employees may not be reduced, and the remuneration shall comply with the provisions of article 37, XI and XII, 150, II, 153, III, and paragraph 2, I;
  16. remunerated accumulation of public offices is forbidden, except when there is compatibility of working hours:
    1. of two teaching positions;
    2. of one teaching position with another technical or scientific position;
    3. of two exclusively medical positions;
  17. the prohibition to accumulate extends to positions and functions and includes autonomous government agencies, public companies, mixed- capital companies and foundations maintained by the Government;
  18. the financial administration and its revenue officers shall, within their spheres of authority and jurisdiction, have the right to precedence over the other administrative sectors, as the law provides;
  19. a public company, a mixed-capital company, an autonomous Government agency or a public foundation may only be created by means of a specific law;
  20. the creation of subsidiaries of the agencies mentioned in the preceding item depends on legislative authorization, in each case, as well as the participation by any of them in a private company;
  21. with the exception of the cases specified in law, public works, services, purchases and disposals shall be contracted by public bidding proceedings that ensure equal conditions to all bidders, with clauses that establish payment obligations, maintaining the effective conditions of the bid. as the law provides, which shall only allow the requirements of technical and economic qualifications indispensable to guarantee the fulfilling of the obligations.

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* CA 18/98

Paragraph 1 - The publicity of the acts, programmes, public works, services and campaigns of Government agencies shall be of educational, informative or social orientation character, and shall not contain names, symbols or images that characterize personal propaganda of Government authorities or employees.

Paragraph 2 - Non-compliance with the provisions of items II and III shall result in the nullity of the act and punishment of the responsible authority, as the law provides.

Paragraph 3 - Complaints relating to the rendering of public services shall be regulated by law.

Paragraph 4 - Acts of administrative dishonesty shall result in the suspension of political rights, loss of public function, prohibition to transfer personal property and reimbursement to the Public Treasury, in the manner and grading established by law, without prejudice to the applicable criminal action.

Paragraph 5 - The law shall establish the limitations for illicit acts, performed by any agent, whether or not a Government employee, which cause losses to the Public Treasury, without prejudice to the respective claims for reimbursement.

Paragraph 6 - Public legal entities and private legal entities rendering public services shall be liable for damages that any of their agents, acting as such, cause to third parties, ensuring the right of recourse against the liable agent in cases of malice or fault.

Article 38. The following provisions are applicable to civil servants holding an elective office:

  1. in the case of a federal, state or district elective office, ne shall leave his office, position or function;
  2. if vested with the office of Mayor, he shall take leave from his post, position or function and he may opt for the corresponding remuneration;
  3. if vested with the office of City Councilman, if there is compatibility of working hours, he shall receive the benefits of his post, position or function, without prejudice to the remuneration of his elective office and in the case there is no such compatibility, the provisions of the preceding item shall be applied;
  4. in any case requiring leave of absence for the exercise of an elective office, his time of service shall be counted in full, for all legal effects, except for promotion by merit;
  5. for purposes of social security benefits, in the case of leave of absence, the amounts shall be established as if he were in activity.
SECTION II - CIVIL SERVANTS

Article 39. The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall institute, within their jurisdiction, a sole juridical regime and career plans for the employees of the direct public administration, the autonomous Government agencies and the public foundations.

Paragraph 1 - The law shall guarantee, to the direct administration employees, equal salaries for offices in the same Power with equal or similar duties or between employees of the Executive, Legislative or Judicial Powers, except for advantages of a personal nature and those corresponding to the type of work or the workplace.

Paragraph 2 - The provisions of article 7, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII, XIII, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXII, XXIII and XXX shall apply to these employees.

Article 40. A civil servant shall go into retirement:

  1. for permanent disability, receiving full pension if such disability results from a work accident, professional disease or a serious, contagious or incurable illness, as specified by law, and proportional pension in all other cases:
  2. compulsorily, at seventy years of age, with a pension proportional to the period of service;
  3. voluntarily:
    1. upon thirty-five years of service, if a man, and upon thirty years, if a woman, with full pay;
    2. upon thirty years of effective exercise in teaching positions, if a man, and upon twenty-five years, if a woman, with full pay;
    3. upon thirty years of service, if a man, and upon twenty-five years, if a woman, with pay in proportion to this period;
    4. at sixty-five years of age, if a man, and at sixty, if a woman, with pay in proportion to the period of service.
Paragraph 1 - A supplementary law may establish exceptions to the provisions of item III, a and c, in the case of the exercise of activities considered strenuous, unhealthy or dangerous.

Paragraph 2 - The law shall provide for retirement in temporary offices or positions.

Paragraph 3 - The period of federal, state or municipal public service shall be calculated in full for purposes of retirement and placement on paid avai lability

Paragraph 4 - The retirement pension shall be revised, in the same proportion and on the same date, whenever the remuneration of the servants in activity is changed, and any benefits or advantages subsequently granted to the servants in activity shall also be extended to the retired servants, including those resulting from the transformation or reclassification of the office or function from which they retired, as the law provides.

Paragraph 5 - The benefit of pension for death shall correspond to the full salary or earnings of the deceased employee, up to the limit established in law, complying with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Paragraph 6 - The retirement and pension benefits of the federal civil servants shall be financed by resources originating from the Union and from the contributions of the civil servants. under the terms of the law.

Article 41. Servants employed by virtue of public entrance examinations acquire tenure after two years of actual service.

Paragraph l - A tenured civil servant shall only lose his office by virtue of a final and unappealable judicial decision or by means of an administrative process, in which he is assured ample defense.

Paragraph 2 - If the dismissal of a tenured civil servant is voided by a judicial decision, he shall be reinstated and the occupant of the vacancy shall be led back to his original office, with no right to indemnity, taken to another office or placed on paid availability.

Paragraph 3 - If the office is declared extinct or unnecessary. a tenured civil servant shall remain on paid availability until he is adequately placed in another office.

*SECTION III - THE MILITARY OF THE STATES, OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT AND OF THE TERRITORIES

**Article 42. The members of the Military Police and of the Military Fire Brigades, institutions whose organization is based on hierarchy and discipline, are military of the States, of the Federal District, and of the Territories.

Paragraph 1. The provisions of article 14, paragraph 8; article 40, paragraph 3; and of article 142, paragraphs 2 and 3 apply to the military of the States, of the Federal District and of the Territories, in addition to other provisions that the law may establish, it being incumbent upon specific state legislation to provide for the matters of article 142, paragraph 3, item X, the ranks of the officers being awarded by the respective State Governors.

Paragraph 2. The provisions of article 40, paragraphs 4 and 5 apply to military of the States, of the Federal District and of the Territories, and to their pensioners, and the provision of article 40, paragraph 6 applies to the military of the Federal District and the Territories.

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* CA 18/98
** CA 3/93 and 18/98

SECTION IV - THE REGIONS

Article 43. For administrative purposes, the Union may co-ordinate its action in one same social and geo-economic complex, seeking to attain its development and to reduce regional inequalities.

Paragraph 1 - A supplementary law shall provide for:

  1. the conditions for the integration of developing regions;
  2. the composition of the regional agencies which shall carry out, as provided by law, the regional plans included in the national social and economic development plans approved concurrently.
Paragraph 2 - The regional incentives shall include, besides others, as prescribed by law:
  1. equality of tariffs, freight rates, insurance and other cost and price items which are within the responsibility of the Government;
  2. favoured interest rates for the financing of priority activities;
  3. exemptions, reductions or temporary deferment of federal taxes owed by individuals or by legal entities;
  4. priority in the economic and social use of rivers and dammed or dammable water masses in low-income regions subject to periodical droughts.
Paragraph 3 - In the areas referred to in paragraph 2, IV, the Union shall grant incentives to the recovery of arid lands and shall cooperate with small and medium-size rural landowners in the implementing of water sources and small-scale irrigation in their tracts of land.
Table of Contents Title IV
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