CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL
See also:
TITLE Vlll - THE SOCIAL ORDER
CHAPTER I - GENERAL PROVISION
Article 193. The social order is based OIl 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 management, by means of a four-parties administration, with
the participation of workers, employers, retired persons and the Government in the collective bodies.
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, of companies and of entities equivalent to companies as determined by law, levied on:
a) the salaries payroll and other incomes derived of work paid or credited, on any account, to an individual who renders service, even if without a labour contract;
b) revenues or turnover;
c) profits.
II - of workers and of all other beneficiaries of the social security, the contribution not being levied on retirement payments and pensions granted by the general regime of social security established by article 201;
III - and the revenues of lotteries.
IV - of the importers of goods or services from abroad, or of those equivalent to them, as set forth by law.
Paragraph 1 - The revenues of the states, the Federal District and the
municipalities allotted 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.
Paragraph 10. The law shall establish the criteria of transference of funds for the unified health system and welfare activities from the Union to the States, the Federal District and municipalities, with observance of the respective counter parts of funds.
Paragraph 11. The granting of remission or amnesty of welfare contributions subject of clauses I, a, and II of this article, for debts of amounts superior to those set forth by supplementary law is prohibited.
Paragraph 12. The law shall define the sectors of economic activity for which the contributions levied in accordance with clauses I, b and IV of the caption shall be non-cumulative.
Paragraph 13. The provisions of paragraph 12 shall still apply even in case of gradual, total or parcial substitution of the contribution levied as provided by clause I, a, by the contribution levied on revenues or turn over.
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 serv ices 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.
Paragraph 1. - 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.
Paragraph 2. The Union, the States, the Federal District and the municipalities shall invest, annually, a minimum amount in public health activities and services, calculated as percentages of proceeds and revenues, as follows:
I - in the case of the Union, as per the provisions of the supplementary law subject of paragraph 3;
II - in the case of States and Federal District, the proceeds of taxes subject of the article 155 and the revenues subject of articles 157 and 159, I, a, and clause II, discounted the amounts which shall be remitted to the municipalities;
III - in the case of municipalities and Federal District, the proceeds of the taxes subject of article 156 and the revenues subject of articles 158 and 159, I, b and paragraph 3.
Paragraph 3. A supplementary law, which shall be reassessed at least every five years, shall establish:
I - the percentages mentioned by paragraph 2;
II - the criteria by which the following shall be shared: the fundings of the Union bound to health spendings to be remitted to the States, Federal District and municipalities, and the respective State funds to be remitted to the municipalities, with the aim of a progressive reduction of regional unequalities;
III - the norms for accounting, assessment and control of expenditures with health at federal, state, districtal and municipal levels;
IV - the norms for calculation of the amount to be invested by the Union.
Paragraph 4 - The local managers of the Unified Health System may admit communitary health agents and endemy combat agents, by means of a public admission process, in accordance with the nature and complexity of the assignments and with specific requirements of performance.
Paragraph 5 - Federal law shall provide for the juridical regime and the regulatory norms of the activities of the communitary health agents and the endemy combat agents.
Paragraph 6 - Besides the cases mentioned by paragraph 1 of article 41 and paragraph 4 of article 169 of the Federal Constitution, the civil servant exercizing functions equivalents to those of the communitary health agents and endemy combat agents may lose office in case of non meeting of specific requirements, established by law, to its exercize.
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 philanthropic 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 heath 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 shall be organized under a general regime, of contributive character and mandatory affiliation, with due regard to criteria which preserve the financial and long term balance, and shall provide for the following:
I - coverage for the events of illness, disability, death and old age;
II - protection to maternity, especially to women while pregnant;
III - protection to workers in situation of involuntary unemployment;
IV - family-salary and reclusion-aid for the dependents of the low-income insurance;
V - pension for death of the insured, man or woman, to the spouse or companion and dependents, complying with the provisions of paragraph 2.
Paragraph 1. The use of different requirements and criteria for the granting of retirement to the beneficiaries of the general regime of social security is prohibited, excepted the cases of activities exercized under special conditions which harm the health or the physical integrity and the cases of handicapped people, as defined in supplementary law.
Paragraph 2. No benefit which replaces the contribution salary or work
earnings of the insured shall have a monthly value lower than the minimum
wage.
Paragraph 3. All contribution salaries included in the calculation
of the benefit shall be adjusted by monetary correction.
Paragraph 4. Adjustment of the benefits is ensured, so that
its real value is permanently maintained, in accordance with criteria defined
by law.
Paragraph 5. People participating of other social security regimes are prohibited from affiliating, in an optional manner, the general regime of social security.
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. It is ensured retirement under the general regime of social security, in the manner prescribed by law, with observance of the following:
I - 35 (thirty-five) years of contribution, if man, and 30 (thirty) years of contribution, if women;
II - 65 (sixty-five) years of age, if man, and 60 (sixty) years of age, if woman, these figures being reduced in 5 (five) years for the rural workers of both genders and for those who perform their activities in a regime of familiary economy, including the rural producer, the placer miner and the handicrafted fisherman.
Paragraph 8. The requirements referred to by clause I of the previous paragraph shall be reduced in 5 (five) years, in the case of teachers who worked exclusively in educational functions in infant education and elementary and intermediary teaching.
Paragraph 9. For retirement effects, it is assured the reciprocal accounting of contribution time in the public administration and in the private sector, rural and urban, in which case the several social security regimes shall financially compensate each other, observing criteria set forth by law.
Paragraph 10. The law shall regulate the coverage of risks of labour accidents, which shall be attended concurrently by the general regime of social security and the private sector.
Paragraph 11. 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 12. The law shall provide for a special system of inclusion into the social security of the low income workers and of the housekeepers of low income families, ensuring them access to benefits of amount equal to one minimum salary.
Paragraph 13. The special social security inclusion system subject of paragraph 12 of this article shall have friendlier rates and deadlines than those applied to the other beneficiaries of the general regime of social security.
Article 202. The regime of private social security, of supplementary nature and organized in an autonomous manner with regards to the general regime of social security, shall be optional, based on the constitution of reserves which guarantee the contracted benefit, and regulated by supplementary 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.
Sole paragraph. The States and the Federal District may allocate up to five tenths percent of their net tax proceedings to programmes of social inclusion and promotion, it being prohibited the use of these funds to pay for:
I - expenses with salaries and social duties;
II - interests of debts;
III - any other current expense not directly linked to the investments or activities supported.
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 or professional credentials;
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.
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.
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 operation of their educational systems, the states
and municipalities shall establish forms of cooperation, so as to guarantee
the universalization of the mandatory education.
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.
Article 213. Public funds shall be allocated to public schools,
and may be channelled to community, religious or philanthropic 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 philanthropic 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.
Paragraph 3 - The shall shall establish the National Plan of Culture, with a plurianual duration, aiming at the cultural development of the Country and at the integration of the actions by the Public Power which lead to:
I - defense and valorization of the Brazilian Cultural Heritage;
II - production, promotion and difusion of culture;
III - formation of qualified personnel for the management of Culture in their multiple dimensions;
IV - democratization of access to culture;
V - valorization of ethnical and regional diversity.
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.
Paragraph 6. The States and the Federal District may allocate up to five tenths percent of their net tax proceedings to a State fund for fomenting culture, it being prohibited the use of these funds to pay for:
I - expenses with salaries and social duties;
II - interests of debts;
III - any other current expense not directly linked to the investments or activities supported.
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 rc sulting
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 pan 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 possibilities
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 by the law;
IV - respect for the ethical and social values of the person and the family.
Article 222. The ownership of newspapers companies, sound broadcasting companies and sounds and images broadcasting companies is right exclusive of native Brazilians or those naturalized for more than 10 (ten) years, or of corporations constituted in accordance to Brazilian laws and with head office in the country.
Paragraph 1. In any case, at least 70% (seventy percent) of the total capital and of the voting capital of newspapers companies, sound broadcasting companies and sounds and images broadcasting companies shall be owned, directly or indirectly, by native Brazilians or those naturalized for more than 10 (ten) years, who shall exercize the administration of the activies and establish the contents of the programmation.
Paragraph 2. The editorial responsibility and the activities of selection and direction of the broadcasted programmation are exclusive of native Brazilians or those naturalized for more than 10 (ten) years, in any medium of social communication.
Paragraph 3. The electronic media of social communication, regardless of the technology employed for rendering the service, shall observe the principles established by article 221, as determined by specific law, which shall also guarantee the priority of Brazilian professionals in the execution of national productions.
Paragraph 4. The law shall regulate the participation of foreigner capitals in the companies referred to by paragraph 1.
Paragraph 5. Alterations in the control of companies referred to by paragraph 1 shall be communicated to the National Congress.
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 - require, 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.
CHAPTER VII - FAMILY, CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND THE ELDERLY
Article 226. The family, which is the foundation of society,
shall enjoy special protection from the State.
Paragraph 1 - Marriage is civil and the marriage ceremony is free of
charge.
Paragraph 2 - Religious marriage has civil effects, in accordance with
the law.
Paragraph 3 - For purposes of protection by the State, the stable union
between a man and a woman is recognized as a family entity, and the law
shall facilitate the conversion of such entity into marriage.
Paragraph 4 - The community formed by either parent and their descendants
is also considered as a family entity.
Paragraph 5 - The rights and the duties of marital society shall be
exerci sed equally by the man and the woman.
Paragraph 6 - Civil marriage may be dissolved by divorce, after prior
legal separation for more than one year in the cases set forth by law,
or after two years of proven de facto separation.
Paragraph 7 - Based on the principles of human dignity and responsible
parenthood, family planning is a free choice of the couple, it being within
the competence of the State to provide educational and scientific resources
for the exercise of this right, any coercion by official or private agencies
being forbidden.
Paragraph 8 - The State shall ensure assistance to the family in the
person of each of its members, creating mechanisms to suppress violence
within the family.
Article 227. It is the duty of the family, the society and the
State to ensure children and adolescents, with absolute priority, the right
to life, health, nourishment, education, leisure, professional training,
culture, dignity, respect, freedom and family and community life, as well
as to guard them from all forms of negligence, discrimination, exploitation,
violence, cruelty and oppression.
Paragraph 1 - The State shall promote full health assistance programmes
for children and adolescents, the participation of non-governmental entities
being allowed, and with due regard to the following precepts:
I - allocation of a percentage of public health care funds to mother and child
assistance;
II - creation of preventive and specialized care programmes for the physically,
sensorially or mentally handicapped, as well as programmes for the social
integration of handicapped adolescents, by means of training for a profession
and for community life, and by means of facilitating the access to communal
facilities and services, by eliminating prejudices and architectonic obstacles.
Paragraph 2 - The law shall regulate construction standards for public
sites and buildings and for the manufacturing of public transportation
vehicles, in order to ensure adequate access to the handicapped.
Paragraph 3 - The right to special protection shall include the following
aspects:
I - minimum age of fourteen years for admission to work, with due regard to
the provisions of article 7, XXXIII;
II - guarantee of social security and labour rights;
III - guarantee of access to school for the adolescent worker;
IV - guarantee of full and formal knowledge of the determination of an offense,
equal rights in the procedural relationships and technical defense by a
qualified professional, in accordance with the provisions of the specific
protection legislation;
V - compliance with the principles of brevity, exceptionality and respect to
the peculiar conditions of the developing person, when applying any measures
that restrain freedom;
VI - Government fostering, by means of legal assistance, tax incentives and
subsidies, as provided by law, of the protection, through guardianship,
of orphaned or abandoned children or adolescents;
VII - prevention and specialized assistance programmes for children and adolescents
addicted to narcotics or related drugs.
Paragraph 4 - The law shall severely punish abuse, violence and sexual
exploitation of children and adolescents.
Paragraph 5 - Adoption shall be assisted by the Government, as provided
by law, which shall establish cases and conditions for adoption by foreigners.
Paragraph 6 - Children born inside or outside wedlock or adopted shall
have the same rights and qualifications, any discriminatory designation
of their filiation being forbidden.
Paragraph 7 - In attending to the rights of children and adolescents,
the provisions of article 204 shall be taken into consideration.
Article 228. Minors under eighteen years of age may not be held
criminally liable and shall be subject to the rules of the special legislation.
Article 229. It is the duty of parents to assist, raise and educate
their under- age children and it is the duty of children of age to help
and assist their parents in old-age, need or sickness.
Article 230. It is the duty of the family, society and the State,
to assist the elderly, ensuring their participation in the community, defending
their dignity and well-being and guaranteeing their right to life.
Paragraph 1 - Assistance programmes for the elderly shall be carried
out preferably within their homes.
Paragraph 2 - Those over sixty-five years of age are guaranteed free
urban public transportation.
CHAPTER VIII - INDIANS
Article 231. Indians shall have their social organization, customs,
languages. creeds and traditions recognized, as well as their original
rights to the lands they traditionally occupy, it being incumbent upon
the Union to demarcate them, protect and ensure respect for all of their
property.
Paragraph 1 -Lands traditionally occupied by Indians are those on which
they live on a permanent basis, those used for their productive activities,
those indispensable to the preservation of the environmental resources
necessary for their well-being and for their physical and cultural reproduction,
according to their uses, customs and traditions.
Paragraph 2 - The lands traditionally occupied by Indians are intended
for their permanent possession and they shall have the exclusive usufruct
of the riches of the soil, the rivers and the lakes existing therein.
Paragraph 3 - Hydric resources, including energetic potentials, may
only be exploited, and mineral riches in Indian land may only be prospected
and mined with the authorization of the National Congress, after hearing
the communities involved, and the participation in the results of such
mining shall be ensured to them, as set forth by law.
Paragraph 4 - The lands referred to in this article are inalienable
and indisposable and the rights thereto are not subject to limitation.
Paragraph 5 - The removal of Indian groups from their lands is forbidden.
except ad referendum of the National Congress, in case of a catastrophe
or an epidemic which represents a risk to their population, or in the interest
of the sovereignty of the country, after decision by the National Congress,
it being guaranteed that, under any circumstances, the return shall be
immediate as soon as the risk ceases.
Paragraph 6 - Acts with a view to occupation, domain and possession
of the lands referred to in this article or to the exploitation of the
natural riches of the soil, rivers and lakes existing therein, are null
and void, producing no legal effects, except in case of relevant public
interest of the Union, as provided by a supplementary law and such nullity
and voidness shall not create a right to indemnity or to sue the Union,
except in what concerns improvements derived from occupation in good faith,
in the manner prescribed by law.
Paragraph 7 - The provisions of article 174, paragraphs 3 and 4, shall
not apply to Indian lands.
Article 232. The Indians, their communities and organizations
have standing under the law to sue to defend their rights and interests,
the Public Prosecution intervening in all the procedural acts.
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