Anuário Brasileiro do Setor de Locação de Veículos | 2019

134 Anuário Brasileiro do Setor de Locação de Veículos Brazilian Vehicle Rental Sector Yearbook 2019 Legal highlights of 2018 L ast year saw a lot of new legislative and case law for car rental companies. In March, Law 13,640 / 2018 established the rules for private individual passenger transportation by applications. The new law makes specific changes in the National Urban Mobility Policy to authorize the new form of hiring private individual transportation services - and include it in the set of solutions available to society for urban mobility. Law13,640 / 2018 also standardized the requirements for municipalities in local regulation of the matter, preventing regulatory excesses that could inhibit or prevent the provision of such services to society. This is an important law which has updated regulation of the main growth areas of vehicle leasing in the last decade. In August, the main technical event of the year was held: the Fifth National Legal Forum for the Vehicle Rental Sector, held in Brasília in partnership with FENALOC. It is the platform for discussion of legal issues of interest to the rental industry and it was again attended by dozens of professionals from all over Brazil. The panels on Business Law (contracts and corporate civil liability), Tax Law, Administrative Law, Traffic Law, Labor and Union Law and other issues of the day were the subject of intense debate and a lot of updating. The Juridical Forum paid off: in September 2018 the Juridical Forum of the Northeast was held, coordinated by SINDLOC / BA, in which the theme of the National Forum was presented to facilitate access to the discussion. InOctober,theFederalSupremeCourtacknowledged the general repercussion of discussion related to the incidence of ICMS tax on the sale of automobiles that are part of the fixed assets of car rental companies, regardless of whether the purchase took place in less than one year. In addition, the court understood that the possibility of the Executive Branch considering tax incidence in transactions not achieved by ICMS regency legislation and, if it can, how to harmonize such understanding with the principle of tax legality should be analyzed. When it comes to being ruled on it will be the most important discussion in the last few decades for car rental companies (STF, Extraordinary Appeal 1,025,986, rapporteur Marco Aurélio) In May, the Superior Court of Justice accepted a request to standardize the interpretation of the law related to the discussion of whether or not to prove effective notification of traffic violations, including the lack of driver identification, for the imposition of traffic fines. This is a very controversial issue in the management of traffic tickets, especially when there is a delay in the delivery of notifications by the post office. It would be necessary not only to prove delivery, but also the date of delivery to assure the owner time to file a defense and name the driver responsible. There is no date set for the ruling. Another important case was ruled on in November by the Court of Justice in São Paulo. It ruled on the need for a new notification to levy a fine on a company for not indicating the offending driver. The court understood it was not exactly a new fine requiring the opening of a new administrative proceeding and new defense, but it occurs automatically because the driver has not been identified regardless of the reason. The case will be referred to the Superior Court of Justice, when ABLA and FENALOC can manifest on the issue. In 2018, several Resolutions of the National Traffic Council (CONTRAN) were also enacted or entered into effect, which impacted car rental companies. Resolution CONTRAN 729/2018 determined the implementation of the vehicle license plate system according to the MERCOSUL standard. It is a good idea but the validity of the standard was not accompanied by the support systems and many problems have arisen. The resolution was suspended until 06/30/2019.On the positive side, in 2018 the validity, the implementation and, after, the suspension of some systems of great interest to rental companies, such as the Electronic Certificate of Vehicle Registration - CRVe and the Electronic Authorization for Transfer of Vehicle Property - ATPVe (CONTRAN, Resolution 712/2017) and the Certificate of Registration and Licensing of Electronic Vehicle (CRLVe - CONTRAN, Resolution 720/2017). Lastly, in particular, Law 13,640 / 2018 (transport by applications) and Extraordinary Appeal 1,025,986 / PE (ICMS on the sale of new vehicles by rental companies) are likely to be considered historical milestones in the regulation of vehicle rental. LEGISLAÇÃO | LEGISLATION (*) Adriano Castro, lawyer and international consultant specializing in public-private partnerships Legal Advisor to ABLA and FENALOC. By Adriano Augusto Pereira de Castro*