Summary In an article for the Sonho Seguro blog, partner Rafael Ferreira highlights the importance of discussing access to guarantees by companies that carry out cargo maritime transport operations in Brazilian ports. 

Summary In a contribution to Portos e Navios Magazine, partner Fernando Moromizato comments on the case of the repatriation of the crew aboard the Srakane, a Panamanian-flagged ship moored in Guarujá.

Summary: In a contribution to Valor Econômico newspaper on April 17, 2021, partner Lucas Rênio commented the recent TRT position on the participation of the Labor Management Agency (Ogmo) in the recruitment and hiring of independent port workers.

"(...) According to lawyer Lucas Rênio, from the Ruy de Mello Miller Advocate, the TST has a precedent in favor of the priority contracting, not exclusive, via Ogmo. He affirms that the Court has followed this understanding since Law 8.630/1993 (former Law on Ports) was in force. At the time, the ministers interpreted the norm in light of Convention 137, of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which stipulates the priority. 'The OIT convention had a supra-legal status in view of the 1993 law, the same happens with the current Law on Ports,' he says."

Summary: “The law cannot be contradictory and autophagic, creating an institution and at the same time making room for its pretermission”. In a contribution to the Valor Econômico newspaper on April 4, 2021, partner Lucas Rínio comments on the recent decision of the TST, which sets a precedent for the hiring of independent port workers through unions, and not through the Labor Management Agency (Ogmo).

Summary: "The diplomatic notification, in a way, explains the passivity in the face of the presence of foreigners in Brazil-Argentina traffic: The lack of interest in maintaining the Agreement was formalized, to the regret of those who have so far acted within the rules.” In collaboration with the Argentine vehicle Mercojuris, partner Marcel Stivaletti analyzes the end of the Brazil-Argentina bilateral agreement from the perspective of regulatory omission, regarding the presence of foreign shipowners in the Agreement scope, and the impact that the decision will have on the cabotage navigation.

Summary: "Episodes of physical aggression, torture and death seem to repeat themselves without major consequences for those who hire the private security service, but this should not always be the case." In a column published by the Consultor Jurídico (ConJur) magazine, Ana Junot and José Carlos Higa address the need for companies to create internal policies for the identification, assessment and management of contracted third parties, regardless of regulatory gaps in Brazil, within the DOJ and SEC principles risk based approach. "The State silence is not a reason for the omission of private agents, who are part of a supposedly fair, democratic and egalitarian society."

Summary: This is an analysis of the view given by the National Agency for Waterway Transport about the over-stay of containers incident to export and the performance of maritime carriers, whether the actual carrier or the cargo agent, as a non-operating ship carrier. The study is based, in addition to the diction of Resolution no. 18/2017, the current understanding of Antaq on issues sensitive to the mandatory relationship established between the maritime carrier and the container taker.
*Síntese Magazine includes legislation, jurisprudence, doctrine and informative content aimed at lawyers, attorneys, magistrates, academics and other legal practitioners. This article is available in its latest edition: http://www.sintese.com/.

Summary: After analyzing the history of national legislation on the subject, the article describes the alternatives for the legal-institutional modeling of a private port administration, contemplating, on the one hand, the hypothesis of transfer of shareholding control of the company responsible for the function under discussion, and, on the other hand, the different ways to promote the concession of port services, whether in the common modality or in the form of a Public-Private partnership.

Síntese  magazine contemplates legislation, jurisprudence, doctrine and informative content aimed at lawyers, attorneys, magistrates, academics and other legal practitioners. The aforementioned article, as well as the text “Management of Organized Ports”, signed by the General Director of ANTAQ, Mario Povia, which the authors of RMM recommend as supplementary reading, are available on the publication 51st. edition.

Summary: Originally published by the Chilean vehicle Mundo Maritimo, article by partner Lucas Rênio is reproduced by the Chilean Customs Chamber. He writes about the technological revolutions that impact global port logistics, stressing the importance of including 'automation' on the legislative debate agenda change that emerged amid negotiations to end the strike by dockworkers at the port of Valparaíso. The strike began in November last year and lasted more than a month, reducing shipments by 95% in the middle of the country's fruit season. “The contingent of Ports that existed until the second half of the 20th century in Brazil and in other ports of the world no longer has a reason to exist today. It lost logic for a long time, generating anachronistic situations with excessive games, unfulfilled functions, etc. "

Summary: In collaboration with the Portuguese vehicle Revista Cargo, partner Thiago Miller summarizes the crisis that the Brazilian logistics market is experiencing, considering the impact of more recent events, such as the stoppage of truck drivers in May, and the Public Hearing that took place last week, in Brasília, to discuss the terms of Provisional Measure (MP) 832, converted into Law 13.703/2018, which instituted the policy of minimum prices for road freight transport.

Summary: Commemorative insert published in A Tribuna newspaper on July 6, 2011, the date on which RMM celebrated 50 years of foundation.

Summary In a contribution to Fausto Macedo's Blog, of the Estadão Newspaper, partner Aline Bayer writes about the correct management of water resources by regulatory bodies in order to inhibit the prioritization of one sector of the economy over another. The issue gains special relevance at a time when Brazil is going through another water crisis.

Summary: Docks Privatization, port biddings, hazard and risk premiums, contracting of TPAs and suspension of maritime agents by the Customhouse: in the Maritime Guide May edition, RMM partners comment on the five legal issues that will mark the maritime and port sectors in the second semester of 2021. Check on the Magazine's page 10

Summary “If there is a vessel from another EBN that is able to offer the intended transport, the so-called 'blocking' will be given, as provided for in article 12 of the aforementioned diploma. The regulation even allows this act to operate in a partial way, when the vessel is able to cover part of the period or circularized load. In collaboration with the Argentine vehicle Mercojuris, partner Marcel Stivaletti analyzes ANTAQ's Resolution 41/2021, which deals with chartering a vessel to operate in inland navigation. In force since April, the standard outlines the documental obligations concerning navigation safety, the hypothesis of chartering a foreign vessel for inland navigation, the conditions for sub-chartering, and addresses the need to translate the contract between the freighter and the charterer, as well as the related infraction types, which can generate fines between R$ 20 and R$ 200 thousand. Read more about it at the link (text also available in Spanish).

Summary “(...) At no time there is a concern to establish the cabotage improvement as a starting point to reduce regional inequality, increasing the trade between different regions of our country. The main point is evident: to facilitate the chartering of foreign vessels, reducing the costs of companies that develop coastal shipping in the country.” In an article published in the 60th. in the edition of Síntese Magazine on Port, Maritime and Port Law, José Carlos Higa and Ana Beatriz Junot highlight the positive and negative points of PL nº 4.199/2020, and outline a critical analysis of its ability to contribute to reducing social and regional inequalities in Brazil. Based on the Federal Constitution, on TCU decision, and on CADE considerations, Higa and Junot assess that the delimitation of public policies in BR do Mar is scarce for a normative-regulatory act committed to national sustainable development.

​

This article is available in the January and February 2021 edition of Revista Síntese.

Summary “(...) One should not make a blank slate of the debate and imagine that everything that goes back to regulation via decree would be unconstitutional.” Contributing to the Argentine portal Mercojuris, partner Marcel Stivaletti writes about BR do Mar and analyzes questions about the regulatory power granted by the rule to the Executive (Minfra), even in detriment of the technical entity itself (ANTAQ). The amendment by Federal Deputy Fausto Pinato is an example of these questions about the text constitutionality: it proposes the suppression of provisions that allow the Executive Branch to establish conditions for the use of foreign vessels in cabotage.

Summary: SPA must respect the ships arrival order at the dockside: preliminary decision issued on Monday (14), recognizes irregularities committed by the Santos Port Authority in the selection process of transitional tenants, and guarantees isonomy in the access and use of public use port facilities and general of the Port of Santos The request was made by companies that had been passed over in the use of berths 1 and 3 on the Saboó pier; pre-qualified as port operators and with a long history of activity in the Port of Santos, they use the public pier to meet demand that is not supplied by the port terminals lease holders.

"The State cannot surrender to casuistry, asserting its will against established norms. The decision made was surgical, brilliantly reflecting our warnings within a technical language in order to contain greater losses on a category so important for our region: the public pier port operators", commented José Carlos Higa, partner at RMM who worked in the case.

The decision gained repercussion in the newspaper A Tribuna de Santos, and partner Thiago Miller contributed to the agenda explaining that the notice for the transitional lease process was changed to give preference to the tenant.

Summary: Partner Thiago Miller talks to TV Record Litoral after participating in the panel "Port Authorities: Vision for the Future, Privatizations and Service Concessions", during the first Port Regulation Congress promoted by OAB Santos. The event took place on October 21 and 22 of 2019, and brought together authorities and legal experts from the sector in the Order's subsection auditorium. Thiago chairs the Maritime and Port Law Commission of the OAB São Paulo.

Abstract Published in Newspaper of the 58th. Brazilian Congress on Labor Law, an event promoted in June by LTr Editora Ltda, the article "The working hours and the protection of workers' health", written by lawyer Carolina Cammarosano Segnini, contextualizes the Brazilian history of one of the most relevant issues in employment relationship, and highlights the impact that the adoption of organizational policies adequate to the protection of the employee's physical integrity has on the companies productivity and country's economy. (...) according to data from the São Paulo State Department of Health, in 2006, 77% of accidents with motorcyclists, including couriers, occurred on their way to work or on their way home and are attributed to two factors: hurry and fatigue . Social security spending on accident benefits jumped from R$ 9.38 billion in 2006 to R$ 10.72 billion in 2007, which represents an increase of around 9.2%. Repetitive strain injuries are responsible for 37.77% of accidental leaves and 65% of the sick leaves requested by workers."

​

*Check the full article by clicking on the link (page 112 of the Journal).

​

Summary: The lawyer Ana Kiritschenko writes an article on the LEX MACHINÆ website about geodiscrimination, one of the most controversial issues about e-commerce practices. "Recently, a national website specializing in hotel and airline reservations was accused of practicing geodiscrimination, being fined by the Department of Consumer Protection and Defense (DPDC) in R$ 7.5 million - the judicial process runs in secrecy of justice . It was observed in this unprecedented case that residents of a certain region received booking offers from the same hotel at a higher price than in others. And more: whoever was in another country and accessed this domain would not have access to the offer."

​

Summary: In collaboration with the Portuguese magazine Revista Cargo, partner Lucas Rênio writes about the affinities between Brazil and Portugal in anti-port strikes, and the cost of these acts for everyone involved. 

Summary In a contribution to the Consultor Jurídico Magazine (CONJUR), partner Rafael Ferreira comments on the precedent conquered by RMM in which the Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals of the Brazilian Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (CARF) annulled fines for rectification of information by a cargo agent to the Special Department of Federal Revenue of Brazil (Receita Federal).

Summary: In a contribution to Veja Economic Radar, column by journalist Josette Goulart, partner Fernando Moromizato comments on the losses generated by the recent suspension of agents maritime activities in the Port of Santos by Customs.

Summary: “(...) it is worth highlighting the guideline presented in the previously published study of adopting a hybrid model that combines the sale of the state company assets with a concession contract for the exploitation of the port complex, with performance indicators and predetermined inversion and maintenance and even the expansion of accesses to the port complex.” In a contribution to the Megatrade Magazine, an Argentine publication, partner Matheus Miller highlights the federal government's project that encourages the participation of the productive sector in Brazilian port authorities, summarizes the three ongoing studies on privatization models applicable to the ports of Itajaí, Vitória, Santos and São Sebastião, and comments on the CODESA case, Read more on the PDF page 20.

Summary: On March 10, 2021, partner Thiago Miller and the President of SOPESP, Regis Prunzel, were interviewed for Porto 360°, a program presented by Maxwell Rodrigues on the channels of A Tribuna de Comunicação Group They talked about the Santos Port Authority privatization, technological innovations in the port sector and the port operators' vision for the port future.

Summary: Under the motto of bringing measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic impact, Law 14,047 of 2020 caused structural changes in the port sector regulation. There is a clear referral about the possibility of privatizing organized ports, which could lead to regulatory asymmetry within the lease contracts. In an article published on the 59th edition of the Síntese Magazine of Port, Maritime and Port Law, partner José Carlos Higa explores whether, and how, this asymmetry can be confirmed.

*Síntese Magazine includes legislation, jurisprudence, doctrine and informative content aimed at lawyers, attorneys, magistrates, academics and other legal practitioners. This article is available in the most recent edition of the publication: sintese.com. 

Summary: The partner Thiago Miller, Sérgio Aquino, President of FENOP, and the economist Rodolfo Amaral will deal with the PDZ of the Port of Santos during the 1st. webinar Porto&Mar Negócios, event mediated by Maxwell Rodrigues. From the VIP Room, the questions were asked by Rodrigo Julião, President of OAB/Santos, and Marlos Tavares, Logistics Director at Tegma Gestão Logística.

Summary: At the invitation of the Superior Labor Court, partner Lucas Rênio is part of the group formed by representatives of the Judiciary, Public Ministry, working class and academics who will produce literary legal material in order to help law operators in the analysis and interpretation of the Port Law. In the TV TST video, it is possible to better understand the project, which aims to create the National Academy of Port Labor Law.

Summary: Partner Lucas Rênio writes about the technological revolutions that impact global port logistics, stressing the importance of including 'automation' on the agenda of the debate on legislative change that emerged amid negotiations to end the strike by stevedores in the port of Valparaíso . The strike began in November last year and lasted more than a month, reducing shipments by 95% in the middle of the country's fruit season. “The contingent of Ports that existed until the second half of the 20th century in Brazil and in other ports of the world no longer has a reason to exist today. It lost logic for a long time, generating anachronistic situations with excessive games, unfulfilled functions, etc. "

Summary: In an interview to the Portogente website, partner Thiago Miller gives his opinion on issues such as port terminal auctions, maritime claims, Antaq's Resolution 18 and the competitiveness of maritime transport in Brazil.

​

Summary Art. 1003, §6 of the CPC: "The appellant will prove the occurrence of a local holiday in the act of filing the appeal". In a text published by Migalhas, lawyer Wagner Lucas Rodrigues de Macedo criticizes the interpretation that the STJ has given to the referred article, from the perspective of effective judicial provision.

"With the advent of CPC/2015, the Superior Court of Justice, starting from a merely textual analysis and against the whole philosophy that guided the new procedural-constitutional systematic, expanded the so-called 'defensive jurisprudence', no longer accepting the proof of the existence of a local holiday after the filing of the special appeal”, states the author.