Brazil: Rio de Janeiro Regulates Ridesharing Services in the City

(May 30, 2018) On April 11, 2018, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, issued Decree No. 44399, regulating the use of the municipality’s road system for the economic operation by private individuals of paid-passenger transportation services (like Uber and Lyft) intermediated by digital platforms managed by transport companies (known as Provedoras de Redes de Compartilhamento, PROVERs, Network-Sharing Providers). (Decreto No. 44.399, de 11 de Abril de 2018, art. 1, DIÁRIO OFICIAL DO MUNICÍPIO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr. 12, 2018, at 3–4).)

The operation of PROVERs for the services provided for in the Decree depends on previous accreditation with the Municipal Department of Transportation (Secretaria Municipal de Transportes, SMTR), a permit according to the terms of article 5, and the registration of vehicles and drivers. (Id. art. 3.)

According to article 4 of Decree No. 44,399, the accredited PROVERs are obligated to

I – ensure broad access to the service, without any discrimination against users without just cause, under penalty of disqualification and application of other sanctions;

II – make available to the Municipality periodic reports and statistics related to the trips started, whether completed or not, and routes and distances covered, with the purpose of subsidizing urban mobility planning and enabling the monitoring and inspection of the service provided, without prejudice to the right to privacy and confidentiality of personal data of users and drivers;

III – intermediate the connection between users and drivers through the adoption of a digital platform;

IV – register the vehicles and drivers, provided that the minimum requirements of safety, comfort, hygiene and quality in the provision of services are met;

V – intermediate the payment between the user and the driver, preferably by electronic means, allowing the collection of the agreed-upon intermediation fee;

VI – use digital maps to track the route and traffic in real time;

VII – allow the evaluation of the quality of the service and make available the result of this evaluation to the users and to the Municipality;

VIII – electronically make available to the user the identification of the driver with photo, make, color, and model of the vehicle and number on the identification plate, before the start of the run;

IX – issue an electronic receipt with the following information:

a) origin and destination;

b) total time and distance traveled;

c) map of the route according to a geo-referencing system;

d) specification of the items of the total price paid,

e) identification of the driver.

X – register, manage and ensure the veracity of the information provided by drivers providing service and compliance with the requirements established by the Municipality;

XI – not provide the driver with the destination of the user before the start of the run;

XII – maintain a physical structure for service and operation of the intermediation service, compatible with the size of its operation in the city, in an easily accessible location.

The permit for the right to use the city’s urban road system for engaging in the economic activity inherent in the services covered by Decree No. 44399 is conditional on the payment by the PROVERs of a tax in the form of a percentage of the total amount of travel charged by its drivers, as consideration for the right of intensive use of the urban road system, and will be fixed by a Resolution of the newly created Municipal Committee of Technology Applied to the Urban Road System (Comitê Municipal de Tecnologia Aplicada ao Sistema Viário Urbano, CMTSVU). (Id. art. 5.)