The Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), notified yesterday (3) and today (4) eight entities representing fuel stations in three states of the country to explain the increase in the price of gasoline. They have 48 hours from receiving notice to respond to the ministry.
There are five entities in Rio de Janeiro, two in São Paulo and one in Paraná. These are associations, federations and a union, all representatives of station owners or fuel distributors.
The notification was made through the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon). After receiving the answers, the secretariat will analyze them and, according to the ministry, “will adopt the necessary measures”. The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, commented on the measure today in conversation with journalists. For him, free market does not mean “general liberalization” in the definition of fuel prices.
“There was a notification made yesterday for the sector’s representative entities to provide information on why there were such readjustments, the reasons. There is no doubt that it is a free market regime, but freedom in the legal sense of the word is not a ‘general free’. It has rules. And these rules are in the Consumer Protection Code. Hence this preliminary notification”, argues the minister.
According to Dino, depending on the response of these entities, processes can be opened and result in punishments, sanctions, if the abuse of economic power is characterized.
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