Senate authorizes the establishment of the Olympic Public Authority

Yesterday (1 March), the Senate approved Provisional Measure No. 503, which creates the Olympic Public Authority (Autoridade Pública Olímpica - APO). The text had already been approved at the Brazilian House of Commons and now goes on for Presidential assent.

The APO will be responsible for actions regarding Olympic projects, including technical studies and program, monitoring of projects, and signing contracts and agreements, as well as hiring, maintaining and executing work, acquisition and administration of movable and immovable assets, action towards protection of the intellectual property and the brands related to the World Cup and even the transfer of the responsibility for the projects to another consortium should there be a high risk that the time frame will not be met.

The institution will consist of the Presidency and also the Tax, Governance and Public Olympic commissions, as well as an Executive Board. The Public Olympic Commission will be the main instance of the APO, comprising the Heads of the Executive in the states and municipalities involved with the games – apart from Rio de Janeiro, other cities will be receiving teams for training.

The President of the APO will be appointed by the President and will need approval from the Federal Senate. The Governance Commission will have bureaucratic functions, including those of analyzing the accounts of the Board and make decisions about the hiring of personnel.

The Tax Commission will check the accounts of the institution, while the Executive Board, with six participants, will be responsible for administrative tasks.

The APO will have its own workforce and, in up to 20% of cases, assigned civil servants.

The rapporteur of this Provisional Measure in the Senate, Lindberg Farias (from the Workers’ Party of Rio de Janeiro – PT/RJ), said that the project has been changed due to a reorganization of forces within the APO. In his opinion, more power has been given to States and Municipalities, also stating that the President will serve a term of four years and will be subjected to questioning by the Senate.

A controversy about Article 7 of the text should be solved through a veto by the President of the Republic. This article has resulted from an amendment made in the Brazilian House of Commons, authorizing the extension of the concession contracts for the use of airport areas for the development of commercial activities and service provision, until the Paralympic Games.

As this Law goes against the Tender Legislation, as the areas of the airports used for commerce are public, the Government Leader in the Brazilian Senate, Romero Jucá (from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party of the State of Roraima – PMDB/RR) has said that the economic team will advise the President to veto this section of the new Law.