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BRASÍLIA – President Jair Bolsonaro sanctioned, with five vetoes, the bill that updates the legislation of the Fund for the Universalization of Telecommunications Services (Fust). One of the vetoes was for what was considered the main proposal: the requirement of broadband internet in all Brazilian public schools by 2024.
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In justification, the president argued that, “although the legislator’s good intention is recognized, the proposal generates public spending without presenting the estimate of the respective budgetary and financial impact.”
The Fust consists of a monthly charge of 1% of the gross operating income of the telecommunications service providers, after deduction of taxes. Currently, the law allows the application of funds only for the expansion of fixed telephony. The fund collects R $ 1 billion annually and has already accumulated R $ 21.8 billion, but it was practically not used for investments in the telecommunications sector.
Bolsonaro also vetoed the use of funds in programs and projects of telecommunications services and technological innovation policies in areas with a low Human Development Index (HDI). The justification is that the “measure goes against the public interest” because there would be a “reduced number of municipalities that could be considered.”
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The section that provided that telecommunications service providers discounted up to 50% of the annual contribution to Fust, in the non-refundable mode, was also vetoed. “Although the merit of the proposal is recognized, the measure encounters a legal obstacle for not presenting the estimate of the respective budgetary and financial impact and the compensatory measures,” the government justified.
Vetoes can be overturned by Congress, but only in 2021. It takes 257 votes from the deputies and 41 votes from the Senate to overturn vetoes.
