Chamber approves project that recreates mandatory DPVAT insurance charges

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (9) the project that recreates the mandatory insurance to protect victims of traffic accidents, the DPVAT. The proposal kept Caixa Econômica Federal managing the fund to pay compensation. The Complementary Law Project (PLP) 233/23, from the Executive Branch, will be sent for analysis by the Senate.

The DPVAT was extinguished in 2020 during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). At the time, the government argued that the measure had the objective of preventing fraud and reducing the costs of supervision and insurance regulation by the public sector, complying with a recommendation from the Federal Audit Court (TCU).

Since 2021, Caixa has operated mandatory insurance on an emergency basis after the dissolution of the consortium of private insurance companies that managed the DPVAT, but the resources collected until then were sufficient to pay the claims until November last year, informed the Chamber Agency.

The proposal determines that the premiums are managed by Caixa in a new fund now called Mandatory Insurance for the Protection of Victims of Traffic Accidents (SPVAT). The text approved by the Chamber was the substitute for the rapporteur, deputy Carlos Zarattini (PT-SP). The PLP directs between 35% and 40% of the amount collected from the insurance premium paid by vehicle owners to municipalities and states where there is a municipal or metropolitan public transport service.

The project includes in the Brazilian Traffic Code (CTB) a penalty equivalent to a fine for a serious infraction in the case of non-payment of mandatory insurance, the payment of which will again be required for annual licensing, transfer of the vehicle or its write-off before traffic authorities.

The transfer of resources from insurance collections to the Unified Health System (SUS) will no longer be mandatory, going from 50% to 40% to pay for medical and hospital assistance for policyholders victimized in traffic accidents. Another planned transfer is 5% of the total amounts allocated to Social Security for the Coordination of the National Traffic System, to be used in publicizing the SPVAT and in accident prevention programs.

The project provides for reimbursement of expenses for medical and supplementary assistance, including physiotherapy, medicines, orthopedic equipment, orthoses, prosthetics and other therapeutic measures, as long as they are not available in the SUS in the municipality where the accident victim resides.

Zarattini also included coverage for funeral services and professional rehabilitation for accident victims who were left partially disabled. It will be up to the National Private Insurance Council (CNSP) to establish the limits of amounts to be compensated and which expenses will be reimbursed.

Text was changed to allow the government to open credit worth R$15 billion

In the same project that recreates the DPVAT, the deputies accepted a change in the fiscal framework to bring forward from the second two months to the first two months of 2024 the possibility of the Executive opening additional credit allowed by law.

The value takes into account the reason for additional growth in revenue this year in relation to the same period in 2023. As a result, the new tax regime law (Complementary Law 200/23) allows for an increase in expenses in 2024 of around R$ 15.4 billion.

This value corresponds to the difference between the maximum growth in expenditure (equivalent to 2.5% of the real growth in revenue from the previous year) and the growth predicted in this year’s Budget (equivalent to 1.7% of the real growth of that same revenue).