{"id":98198,"date":"2026-04-10T13:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/murray.adv.br\/?p=98198"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:12:19","slug":"appeals-court-keeps-brazils-oil-export-tax-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/murray.adv.br\/en\/appeals-court-keeps-brazils-oil-export-tax-on-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals court keeps Brazil\u2019s oil export tax on hold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Judge rejects federal appeal, leaving injunction in place for five oil companies until a full appellate panel rules on the case<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A federal appellate judge in Brazil has rejected the federal government\u2019s request and upheld a preliminary injunction suspending collection of the oil export tax for five oil companies operating in the country. The decision, issued late Thursday (9), came after the Lula administration appealed the ruling earlier that morning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Carmen Silva Lima de Arruda, a judge at the 2nd Region Federal Regional Court (TRF-2), said the National Treasury Attorney-General\u2019s Office, which filed the appeal on behalf of the federal government, \u201cfailed to demonstrate the risk of concrete, serious and current harm arising from the maintenance of the challenged decision, and there is no evident prejudice in waiting for the final judgment of this interlocutory appeal, when the panel will examine the merits in detail.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That means the injunction will remain in effect for the oil companies until the merits of the case are reviewed by a TRF-2 panel. The injunction was granted on Tuesday by federal judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio of the 1st Federal Court in Rio de Janeiro in favor of Equinor, TotalEnergies, Petrogal, Shell and Repsol Sinopec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Arruda also said the government\u2019s argument that the injunction interferes with the economic policy adopted to soften the effects of the Middle East conflict \u201cdoes not prove the immediate and irreversible harm that would, by itself, justify suspending the effects of the challenged decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Appeal remains blocked<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The federal government temporarily reinstated the export tax at a 12% rate on crude oil in an effort to offset subsidies granted to diesel producers and importers in Brazil. The purpose of the subsidy is to prevent diesel prices from rising domestically, after the Middle East conflict sent Brent crude prices sharply higher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The government\u2019s appeal challenged the injunction on both procedural and substantive grounds. \u201cThe federal government has already appealed, filing an interlocutory appeal with TRF-2, since the reasoning is based on an article of the MP [provisional presidential decree] that does not exist, and that nonexistent article was decisive to the judge\u2019s conclusion,\u201d the National Treasury Attorney-General\u2019s Office said in a statement before Arruda\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The injunction cited Article 10 of the provisional decree that temporarily created the export tax, but included three paragraphs that do not exist. One of those inserted paragraphs says that the \u201crevenue arising from the collection of the tax referred to in this article will be allocated to meet the federal government\u2019s emergency fiscal needs, as provided for in regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That passage does not appear in the provisional decree issued by the government and published in the Official Gazette on March 12. Based on that wording, the federal judge granted the injunction, saying the export tax had a revenue-raising purpose, which would not be allowed because it is an extrafiscal tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The article cited contains no paragraphs and no reference to \u201cmeeting the federal government\u2019s emergency fiscal needs.\u201d It says only that \u201ca 12% tax rate is hereby established on exports of crude petroleum oils or oils from bituminous minerals, classified under Mercosur Common Nomenclature code 2709, levied on the total value of exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Government contests ruling\u2019s basis<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In its filing to the court, the National Treasury Attorney-General\u2019s Office argued that the text of the provisional decree \u201cdoes not provide, either expressly or implicitly, that revenue arising from the export tax will be allocated to meet the federal government\u2019s emergency fiscal needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cA reading of Article 10 of MP 1,340\/2026 (the actual one), as well as subsequent Article 11, which also deals with the export tax levied on exports of crude petroleum oils or oils from bituminous minerals, reveals no earmarking of the revenue obtained for any specific purpose,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the government\u2019s view, that alone should have been enough to overturn the injunction, but the appellate judge did not accept the argument.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Beyond what it sees as a procedural flaw, the government also argues that the temporary tax is in fact extrafiscal rather than revenue-driven, because it was adopted as part of a broader package to contain the effects of the Middle East conflict. It says the measure is therefore a matter of economic policy and market regulation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMP 1,340\/2026 did not create a tax with a purely revenue-raising purpose. On the contrary, it is part of a package of complementary and coordinated measures aimed at addressing a severe exogenous price shock in the international energy market, marked by high volatility and a sharp rise in oil prices,\u201d the government said in the appeal, seen by Valor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The government also argued that the oil companies that went to court are all, without exception, \u201clarge companies, and their ability to absorb the higher tax burden must therefore be presumed, especially in a scenario of well-known appreciation in the products they sell, reflected in a considerable increase in profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt is neither fair nor reasonable that the plaintiffs\u2019 interest in increasing their gains (yes, because that is what this is about) should prevail over society\u2019s interest in keeping inflation under control and maintaining the full functioning of different sectors of productive activity,\u201d the National Treasury Attorney-General\u2019s Office argued in the appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As Valor previously reported, Roberto Ardenghy, president of the Brazilian Petroleum Institute, or IBP, said the provisional decree is weak and that the group is considering legal action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Equinor, Shell and the IBP said they would not comment on the government\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n

*By\u00a0J\u00e9ssica Sant\u2019Ana\u00a0\u2014 Bras\u00edlia<\/p>\n

Source: Valor International<\/p>\n

https:\/\/valorinternational.globo.com\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge rejects federal appeal, leaving injunction in place for five oil companies until a full appellate panel rules on the case     04\/10\/2026 A federal appellate judge in Brazil has rejected the federal government\u2019s request and upheld a preliminary injunction suspending collection of the oil export tax for five oil companies operating in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8106],"tags":[26862,26863],"class_list":["post-98198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-murray-news","tag-appeals-court","tag-keeps-brazils-oil-export-tax-on-hold"],"yoast_head":"\nAppeals court keeps Brazil\u2019s oil export tax on hold - Murray Advogados<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/murray.adv.br\/en\/appeals-court-keeps-brazils-oil-export-tax-on-hold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appeals court keeps Brazil\u2019s oil export tax on hold - 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