Decision of the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region keeps the 12% charge on oil companies suspended; federal tax had been created to help contain the rise in fuel prices
O Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF2) denied the Union’s appeal and maintained the preliminary decision, that is, of a provisional nature, which prohibits the 12% tax rate on oil exports.
The decision is made by federal judge Carmen Silvia Lima de Arrudafrom the Fourth Specialized Panel, in an order signed shortly before 10pm on Thursday (9).
The Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury (PGFN), a legal body linked to the Ministry of Finance, had filed the appeal, called instrument appealagainst a first instance decision, taken on Tuesday (7).
The preliminary decision met the claim from five multinational companies of oil: Total Energies (France), Repsol Sinopec (Spain and China), Petrogal (Portugal), Shell (Anglo-Dutch) and Equinor (Norway).
When analyzing the interlocutory appeal, judge Carmen Lima de Arruda understood that the National Treasury “failed to demonstrate the risk of concrete, serious and current danger arising from the maintenance of the appealed decision, with no harm in awaiting the final judgment”.
The TRF2 has not yet set a date for the final judgment on the matter.
Understand the case
The 12% Export Tax charge is contained in Provisional Measure (MP) 1,340/2026, published on March 12th. The MP was published by the government as a attempt to contain price escalation of petroleum derivatives in the country, notably diesel oil, amid the war in the Middle East, which led to disturbances to the oil production chainreducing the supply of oil.
The export tax would compensate for the drop in revenue caused by zeroing of PIS rates e from Cofinsfederal taxes that apply to diesel oil. With a zero rate, prices could reach the end consumer cheaper. Another effect would be the disincentive for exporters to sell oil outside the country.
O (kind of reimbursement) for encourage importers e diesel producers that they would not sell diesel here in the country at prices higher than those set.
The oil exporting companies that felt harmed claim that the tax had a “merely collection” purpose, violating the principle of precedence, which prohibits the collection of taxes without a defined minimum period.
In the first instance, federal judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio, from the 1st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, granted the request of the five multinationals.
Feature
When appealing the decision, the National Treasury argued, among other points, that the questioned charge did not incur any deviation from purposebeing justified in the international scenario of the war that broke out in the Middle East, “in view of the drastic increase in the price of a barrel of oil and the scarcity of this product, with potential deleterious effects on the national economy”.
“Its primary function is to regulate foreign trade and protect the internal market”, maintains the National Treasury.
Fuel inflation
The rise in fuel prices, the backdrop to the discussion in the Federal Court, had its face revealed this Friday by the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) thermometer, the country’s so-called official inflation.
A, pulled mainly by the transport group. O item fuels rose 4,47%. A Gasolinewhich in February had 0.61%, rose 4,59% in March. THE diesel went from an increase of 0.23% in February to 13,90% in March.
Last Monday (6) the government launched a package of measures to contain the rise in fuel prices. The measures deal with diesel subsidies e cooking gasin addition to the tax reduction e support to the airline sector.
*With information from Agência Brasil
