Brazilian president enacts law allowing minimum freight rates

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-10 04:52:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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BRASILIA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Michel Temer enacted a law on Thursday that allows minimum freight rates for transporting cargo by land, fulfilling a demand by striking truckers in May.

However, Temer vetoed a paragraph that forgave fines imposed on the truckers' unions for calling and prolonging the strike, which brought Brazil to a standstill for more than a week as strikers cut off the country's main roadways.

The law allows for a minimum charge for freight transported via highways, despite enormous pressure from the industrial sector.

The new law, published in the Government Gazette, does not fix rates, but does provide the guidelines for the National Land Transportation Agency (ANTT) to set the base price in keeping with the cost of diesel and tolls, and the specifics of the cargo.

The law also specifies that the minimum freight rates should reflect total operating costs for truckers.

The ANTT is to publish the minimum freight rates twice a year, unless national diesel prices spike by more than 10 percent, in which case new base rates must be issued.

Under the law, any agreement that results in a price lower than the minimum base rate will be banned.

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