Brazil 1988 Constitution (reviewed 2017)

TITLE IX. GENERAL CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

Article 233

Revoked.

Article 234

The Union is prohibited from assuming, directly or indirectly, as a result of creation of a State, charges related to expenses with inactive personnel and charges and amortization of domestic and foreign debts of the public administration, including the indirect administration.

Article 235

During the first ten years after creation of a State, the following basic rules shall be observed:

1. the Legislative Assembly shall be made up of seventeen Deputies if the population of the State is less than six hundred thousand inhabitants, and of twenty-four Representatives, if the population is equal to or greater than this number, up to one million and five hundred thousand inhabitants;
2. the Government shall have no more than ten Departments;
3. the Tribunal of Accounts shall have three members, appointed by the elected Governor, from among Brazilians of proven good reputation and notable knowledge;
4. the Tribunal of Justice shall have seven Justices;
5. the first Justices shall be appointed by the elected Governor, chosen in the following manner:
   1. five from among judges more than thirty-five years old, presiding within the area of the new State or of the State which gave rise to the new State;
   2. two from among public prosecutors, under the same conditions, and attorneys of proven good reputation and legal knowledge, with at least ten years of professional practice, obeying the procedures set out in the Constitution;
6. in the case of a State created from a Federal Territory, the first five Justices may be chosen from among professional judges from any part of the Country;
7. the initial state court judges, public prosecutors, and public defenders in each Judicial District shall be appointed by the elected Governor after public competitive examinations and comparison of professional credentials;
8. until promulgation of the State Constitution, positions in the State’s Procuracy-General, Advocacy-General, and Defender-General’s Office, shall be held by lawyers of notable knowledge, at least thirty-five years of age, appointed by the elected Governor and removable at will;
9. if the new State results from transformation of a Federal Territory, transfer of financial charges from the Union for payment of opting civil servants who belonged to the Federal Administration shall take the following form:
   1. in the sixth year after its creation, the State shall assume twenty percent of the financial charges of paying the civil servants, with the balance remaining the responsibility of the Union;
   2. in the seventh year, the State shall assume another thirty percent, and, in the eighth year, the remaining fifty percent;
10. the appointments subsequent to the first appointments for the offices referred to in this article shall be regulated by the State Constitution;
11. budgetary expenses for personnel may not exceed fifty percent of the State’s revenues.

Article 236

Notarial and registry services shall be exercised by privately upon delegation from the Government.

1. The law shall regulate the activities, discipline the civil and criminal liability of notaries, registrars and their agents and define supervision of their acts by the Judiciary.
2. Federal law shall establish general rules for fixing fees for notarial and registration services.
3. Becoming a notary public or registrar depends on public competitive examinations and comparison of professional credentials. No office may remain vacant for more than six months without opening a public competition to fill it, either by approval of a new entrant or a transferee.

Article 237

The Finance Ministry shall exercise the supervision and control over foreign trade, which is essential to the defense of national fiscal interests.

Article 238

The law shall organize the sale and resale of petroleum fuels, fuel alcohol and other fuels derived from renewable raw materials, respecting the principles of this Constitution.

Article 239

The revenues from contributions to the Program of Social Integration created by Complementary Law N°. 7 of September 7, 1970, and to the Program for the Formation of the Patrimony of Civil Servants created by Complementary Law N°. 8 of December 3, 1970, shall finance the unemployment insurance program and the bonus referred to in § 3° of this article, starting from the date of the promulgation of this Constitution.

1. At least forty percent of the funds referred to in the heading of this article shall be allocated to finance economic development programs through the National Bank of Economic and Social Development (BNDES), with criteria for remuneration that preserve their value.
2. The assets accumulated in the Program of Social Integration and the Program for the Formation of Patrimony of Civil Servants shall be preserved, maintaining the criteria for withdrawal in the situations provided for in specific laws, with the exception of withdrawal because of marriage, prohibiting distribution of the revenues referred to in the heading of this article for deposit in the individual accounts of participants.
3. Employees who receive monthly compensation of up to two minimum wages from employers contributing to the Program of Social Integration or to the Program for the Formation of Patrimony of Civil Servants are assured payment of one annual minimum wage, which shall include the income from the individual accounts, in the case of those who have already participated in such programs before the date of promulgation of this Constitution.
4. Funding for the unemployment insurance program shall receive an additional contribution from any company whose labor force turnover exceeds the average turnover rate of the sector, as provided by law.

Article 240

The present compulsory contributions by employers on their payrolls, destined for private entities of social service and professional training linked to the syndicalist system, are excluded from the provisions of art. 195.

Article 241

The Union, States, Federal District and Counties shall regulate by law public consortiums and cooperation agreements among the federative entities, authorizing the associated management of public services, as well as the total or partial transference of duties, services, personnel and goods essential to the continuity of the transferred services.

Article 242

The principle of art. 206, IV, does not apply to official educational institutions created by state or county law, in existence on the date of promulgation of this Constitution, and that are not totally or preponderantly maintained with public funds.

1. Teaching of Brazilian history shall take into account the contribution of different cultures and ethnic groups in the formation of the Brazilian people.
2. The School of Pedro II, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, shall be maintained in the federal sphere.

Article 243

Rural and urban properties in any region of Brazil on which illegal cultivation of psychotropic plants or the exploitation of slave labor, as provided by law, are found shall be expropriated and destined for agrarian reform and programs of popular housing, without any compensation to the owner and without prejudice to other sanctions provided by law, observing, to the extent applicable, the provisions of art. 5.

Sole Paragraph

Any and all goods of economic value seized as a result of traffic in narcotics and similar drugs and the exploitation of slave labor shall be confiscated and shall revert to a special fund with a specific destination, as provided by law.

Article 244

The law shall provide for adaptation of public sites and buildings and of existing public transportation vehicles, so as to ensure adequate access to the handicapped, pursuant to the provisions of art. 227, § 2°.

Article 245

The law shall provide for circumstances and conditions under which the Government shall assist needy heirs and dependents of victims of intentional crimes, without prejudice to the civil liability of the perpetrator of the unlawful act.

Article 246

No provisional measure may be adopted to regulate an article of the Constitution whose wording has been altered by means of a constitutional amendment promulgated between January 1, 1995, and the promulgation of this amendment [September 11, 2001].

Article 247

The laws provided for in subparagraph III of § 1° of art. 41 and in § 7° of art. 169 shall establish special criteria and guarantees for loss of positions of tenured civil servants, who, as a result of the powers of their actual offices, perform exclusive activities of the State.

Sole Paragraph

In cases of inadequate performance, loss of the office shall only occur through an administrative proceeding in which the civil servant is assured the adversary system and a full defense.

Article 248

Benefits paid, for whatever reason, by the agency responsible for the general social security regime, even at the expense of the National Treasury, and not subject to the maximum limit of the value fixed for benefits conceded by this regime, shall observe the limits fixed in art. 37, XI.

Article 249

To assure funds for payment of retirement and pension benefits conceded to respective civil servants and their dependents, in addition to the resources of their respective treasuries, the Union, States, Federal District and Counties may constitute funds, made up of resources from contributions and by property, rights, and assets of any nature, through a law that provides for the nature and administration of these funds.

Article 250

To assure funds for payment of benefits conceded by the general social security regime, in addition to funds from collections, the Union may constitute a fund, made up of property, rights and assets of any nature, through a law that provides for the nature and administration of this fund.