Deputy Walter Pinheiro (PT, Bahia) plans to submit a bill to Congress amending the General Telecommunications Act so as to change the tariff review process. He will do so when normal sessions resume in August after the mid-year recess, he says.
The main aim of the bill will be to allow immediate implementation of the new tariff review criteria agreed by telcos under the terms of their new license. Dep. Pinheiro says he wants to make sure the legal wrangle that has blown up over this year?s review won?t be repeated in 2004 and 2005. The new review criteria have been written into the new license, which comes into force in 2006.
Last week?s court ruling was important, Dep. Pinheiro believes, because it ?maintained the increase but changed the index? to the IPCA and legitimated a new interpretation of clause 11.1 in the terms of the ILECs? license. This corroborates the Government?s argument that Anatel doesn?t necessarily have to use the IGP-DI. Clause 11.1 says Anatel ?may? grant a public-service tariff increase ?based on? the IGP-DI.
Policy
