The DF Federal Court has ruled that the Federal Ministry of Public Works, the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and the CGU will investigate the possible liability of the National Transport Agency (ANTT) authorities for repeated failures over almost two years to comply with court rulings in the process of opening new interstate bus routes.
In a judgment last Monday, Acting Judge Pollyanna Alves of the First Civil Court of Brasilia noted that the municipality has resisted complying with the judgment and subsequent legal measures that determined the analysis of FlixBus’ request to operate on new routes in the country. The court order in question also removed the application of the resolution establishing a new regulatory framework for passenger transport services in 2023 in these cases. The standards have been questioned by the market and groups such as MPF, who say they favor companies that have dominated the sector for decades and make it difficult for competitors to enter.
The judge claims that technical documentation from ANTT itself certifying that FlixBus complied with all required procedures has been revoked and disappeared from the agency’s internal administrative processes. Furthermore, the agency continued to call for the application of the 2023 legal framework.
The judge wrote in his judgment:
“There is no room for divergence of interpretation. ANTT literally fails to comply with the judgment by requiring documentation based on rules whose application is judicially excluded. This is not a technical discussion of divergence of interpretation or legal requirements. This is a frontal and acknowledged violation of judicial power, which is being carried out without any suspended sentence effect on the mandated sentence.”
The decision determines an investigation into possible crimes of disobedience to court orders and loss of official documents.
“More than one year and eight months have passed since the judgment was handed down, but ANTT has yet to complete the administrative proceedings and continues to create new obstacles to compliance with the judicial decision, in flagrant disregard of the powers of judicial authorities, the effectiveness of judicial protection and the principles of reasonable duration of proceedings.”
He also ordered ANTT to complete its analysis of FlixBus’ request within five days of notification and publish the platform’s license to operate in the requested market.
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