House Floor ratifies agreements with Peru and Zambia

On Tuesday (5), the House Floor approved the Legislative-Decree Bill 2528/06, which contains the agreement between Brazil and Peru to avoid bi-taxation and prevent tax evasion in the collection of Income Tax. That convention, signed in 2006, benefits, for instance, self-employed professionals, employees, students, and sportspeople.

The House Floor then approved the Legislative-Decree Bill 23/07, which contains the basic agreement on the technical cooperation between Brazil and Zambia. The two countries will create work groups to jointly develop cooperation projects.

Those matters will still be reviewed by the Senate.

CCJ approves agreement with Denmark to promote biofuels

On Tuesday (28), the Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship (CCJ) approved a memorandum of agreement between Brazil and Denmark to encourage the cooperation in the renewable energy and energetic efficiency areas.

The matter is part of the Legislative-Decree Bill (PDC) 854/08, which authorizes the president of the Republic to ratify the agreement. PDC has received the support of the Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defense.

The objective of the two countries is to seek a greater energetic efficiency in domestic and industrial usages, and in the transportation sector, also by integrating different sources of energy. That memorandum provides for the emphasis in renewable energetic sources, including ethanol and biodiesel.

Strategy
The minister on Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, affirms that that agreement is part of the “Brazilian strategy to encourage the inclusion of biofuels in the international plan”.

The rapporteur on the bill at CCJ, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), stressed that that bill does not violate prevailing constitutional rules or consecrated principles in the juridical ordainment prevailing in Brazil”.

Procedure
The bill, which is being processed in emergency regime, and has already been approved at the Committee on Mines and Energy, will still be analyzed by the House Floor.

Report - Eduardo Piovesan
Editing - João Pitella Junior
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda