Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), granted an injunction that suspends the reduction of the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) of products manufactured in the country that are also produced in the Manaus Free Trade Zone. The decision was given in an action proposed by the Solidariedade Party, with a request for an injunction.
The action challenged Decrees No. 11,047, No. 11,052 and No. 11,055, of 2022, of the Presidency of the Republic. The rules bring IPI cuts to companies that are outside the Manaus Free Trade Zone in sectors that could compete with products from the region.
According to Solidariedade, the immediate effect of the decrees would be to completely change the balance of competitiveness in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, by removing the tax incentive by reducing the IPI for similar products produced in the rest of the country.
In this case, Moraes believes there is a risk in the delay and an indication that there is some basis for the request. Therefore, he granted the injunction, which is valid until the merits of the lawsuits are judged. According to the minister, the Amazon region has socioeconomic peculiarities that require the legislator to give special treatment to inputs from there.
“The contested rules are effectively capable of impacting the regional development model that the Federal Constitution decided to maintain,” stated the minister.