April 29, 2022

17:04

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – President Jair Bolsonaro edited, on the night of Thursday, 28, a decree that zeroes the rate of the Imported Products Tax (IPI) and changes the Tables of Incidence on Industrialized Products (TIPI) for processes of non-alcoholic beverages. The measure hits the Manaus Free Trade Zone Concentrates Pole (ZFM) in the face. The new decree, which is another attack of the federal government to the ZFM, caused the immediate reaction of parliamentarians of the Amazon and the governor of the state, Wilson Lima (União Brasil).

“We will file another action in the STF [Supreme Court] against the new decree of the federal government, which directly affects the concentrate hub in Amazonas. The insensitivity of the Ministry of Economy to the people of Amazonas is unacceptable. We will do everything to defend the jobs generated here,” said the governor in a post on Twitter.

In December 2021, a decree from the Ministry of Economy had already reduced the tax on concentrated products to 6%. Companies such as Ambev and Coca-Cola, which produce the concentrates, are installed in the region.

This will be the second action filed, at the STF, regarding a federal government decree that threatens 500 thousand direct and indirect jobs in the Industrial Pole of Manaus (PIM). In practice, reducing or zeroing the IPI rate for industries throughout Brazil makes it less attractive to invest or install industries in the MFTz, since logistics to the state is expensive. The industries installed in the pole have tax benefits such as exemption from IPI, which reflects in the final values of the products.

Last week, the Attorney General of the State of Amazonas (PGE-AM) filed the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI), at the STF, requiring the previous reduction of IPI rates to industries in the country, safeguarding the products manufactured in the ZFM. The rapporteur of the action at the Supreme Court, Minister André Mendonça, scheduled a conciliation hearing between the State of Amazonas and the Union for May 3, in order to try to find a solution to the negative effects of this decree.

Demonstrations in defense of the MFTz

To CENARIUM, the president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Amazonas (Fieam), Antonio Silva, said, in a few words, that he learned of the new decree with surprise. “We were surprised with this new decree and we are evaluating what measures to take,” he said.

The senator for Amazonas Omar Aziz (PSD) recalled that the attack not only affects workers in Manaus, but also in the interior of Amazonas. “This attack affects workers from Manaus and also from the countryside, effectively from Maués, which produces guaraná, and Presidente Figueiredo, which produces Coca-Cola’s sugar. Seven thousand direct jobs are at risk. An absurd, on the eve of Labor Day”, he pointed out.

The federal lawmaker for Amazonas Marcelo Ramos (PSD) recalled that the constant change of the norm related to the IPI causes legal uncertainty and regulatory instability to companies.

“Since the Temer government, the IPI rate of concentrates has changed 10 times, which is something absolutely harmful to any industrial project, since they need regulatory stability and legal certainty, and a rule that changes all the time, all that does not give is this. In light of this, we have at very serious risk the concentrate pole installed in Manaus. And, notably, the impact on two global brands installed here: Coca-Cola and Ambev, “he explained in a video posted on his social networks.

Ramos also recalled that on Wednesday, 27, Governor Wilson Lima met with Jair Bolsonaro at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, where he dealt with the reissue of the decree. On occasion, the President of the Republic pledged to find a way to maintain the competitiveness of the MFTZ. “The day before yesterday, met [the president] with the governor, signed a commitment with the governor with the people of the Amazon, and last night published the decree zeroing the products of the concentrates,” said Marcelo Ramos.

Check out the decree in full: