Alerj questions federal laws on the payment of oil royalties

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The Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj) filed, in the Federal Supreme Court, a direct action of unconstitutionality with the objective of giving the provisions of laws 9,478/1997 and 12,351/2010 an interpretation in accordance with the Federal Constitution in the sense of that royalties are levied on the signing bonus for the oil mining concession contract.


Minister Marco Aurélio, rapporteur, applied to the case the abbreviated procedure provided for in article 12 of Law 9,868/1999, which allows the Plenary of the STF to judge the action directly on the merits, without prior analysis of the injunction request.

Both standards regulate the regime for granting or B2B Lead sharing the results of oil mining, imposing limitations on government participation. According to Alerj, by virtue of article 20, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, oil-producing states are owners of royalties , corresponding to a share in the revenues arising from the extraction of oil, among other minerals. In ADI, the assembly alleges that the changes imposed by the rules violate the federative pact written in the Magna Carta by taking property from the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Alerj argues that the questioned provisions, as written, allow for the unconstitutional interpretation that oil royalties would not apply to the signature bonus, which is the payment offered in the proposal to obtain the concession.

“Now, if states and municipalities are guaranteed participation in the results of oil exploration and the signature bonus results from the signing of a concession or sharing contract for oil mining, this participation, currently called royalties , must include what the The Union receives it as a bonus, under penalty of the significant value of oil exploration becoming, by unconstitutional interpretation, immune to the participation of states and municipalities”, states Alerj.



The assembly also highlights that the STF, in the judgment of MS 24,312, has already recognized the ownership of oil royalties by the producing states.

Thus, Alerj requests the declaration of unconstitutionality, without reducing the text, of article 46 of Law 9,478/1997, and of articles 2, item XII, and 42, paragraph 2, of Law 12,351/2010, in order to grant them interpretation in accordance with the Federal Constitution, stating that oil royalties are levied on the signing bonus. With information from the STF Press Office.