General Sports Law is approved in the Senate – 05/09/2023 – Sport

The Senate approved this Tuesday (9) the General Sports Law, which replaces and consolidates the Pelé Law and a series of other laws in the area in a single text. The text, approved in a symbolic vote, will be sanctioned by the Presidency.

By the agreement made between the senators, it was determined that athletes will be entitled to receive a maximum of half of their payment in image rights.

The rapporteur, senator Leila Barros (PDT-DF), a former volleyball player, amended the proposal so that, in the event of contractual termination, clubs pay the remainder of the salary in full to the athletes. Before, the proposal provided that this should only happen for short-term contracts, which generated controversy in the debate in the Chamber of Deputies.

The Senate still rejected amendments that reduced the transfer of lottery funds to the Ministry of Sport and that excluded specific punishments for cases of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism from the project.

Also, when it was discussed in the Chamber, the section that prohibited sponsorship of sports betting companies not headquartered in Brazil was removed from the proposal — in practice, of all those currently operating in the country. The project obliges companies to have representatives in the country to advertise.

Sports betting has not yet been regulated in the country, but it is one of the promises of the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, who plans to increase the State’s revenue from this activity.

Currently, all sites offering the service in Brazil actually have headquarters in other locations, especially tax havens. This not only impedes the collection of taxes by the federal government, but also makes inspection of the sector difficult.

Despite the regulation of the activity having already been approved by Congress in 2018, the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) did not implement it.

By 43 votes to 23, the expressions “racism”, “xenophobia”, “homophobia” and “sexism” were maintained in the text, overturning an amendment presented by the leader of the PL in the Senate, Carlos Portinho (RJ).

The bill provides for two to four years of imprisonment for cases of racism or crimes committed against women — the court can convert this penalty into removal from the stadium.

The well-known articles 18 and 18A of the Pelé Law, which prohibit sports entities from receiving public funds if they do not respect principles of alternation of power, transparency and participation of athletes in their assemblies, were converted into article 35 of the new text.

The novelty is that, now, the law provides that, in order to take advantage of the resources of the National Sports System (a body that will organize the distribution of federal resources), an entity has to offer equivalent awards for men and women, as well as for para-sports athletes. , in competitions “organized or [de que] to participate in”.

The project also classifies all sports as professional – before, only football used to have this type of designation.

As a result, other high-performance sports, such as basketball and volleyball, will need to follow the rules of the Fan Statute (which imposes, for example, the provision of ambulances in arenas) and are also prevented from using the Sports Incentive Law to payment of wages.

The text says that base category athletes should be provided with visits to family members and also a continuous guidance program against abuse and sexual exploitation.

Still on the sector, the text predicts that part of the collection of companies with this activity, once it is regulated, is reverted to sports confederations not just football.

Finally, the project says that in sport “any manifestations, by words, gestures or other form of expression will not be punishable”, unless they constitute an offense provided for by law or violate practices of the modality.