Post by account_disabled on Mar 12, 2024 4:31:44 GMT -5
The fixing of the price of the pilotage service is subject to the constitutional principle of free enterprise and competition, with State intervention in the relationship between the merchant and the pilot only exceptionally permitted. Without urgency and risk of service interruption, the judge is not obliged to follow the price list set by the maritime authority.
reproduction
Pilotage is essential for navigation on stretches of Amazon rivers
Reproduction
With this understanding, the 3rd Panel of the Superior Court of Justice did not hear of a special appeal filed by a pilotage company that requested, in the face of divergence in the definition of the price, that it be fixed in accordance with the criteria used by the Directorate of Ports and Coasts.
The decision, by majority, maintains the ruling of the Court of Justice of Amazonas that determined the return of the case to the lower court, for the production of evidence.
The case deals with a pilotage Portugal Mobile Number List contract established for cargo traffic on the Rio Negro/Itacoatiara stretch. The pilotage company is the only one operating in the region, and its services are necessary to guide river navigation in the Amazon basin.
Until then, they signed a price agreement for the service, which was set by the National Union of Maritime Navigation Companies. When this agreement expired, the pilotage company changed the calculation basis and imposed an adjustment, which generated the legal dispute.
The understanding of the rapporteur, minister Nancy Andrighi, prevailed, according to which the technical evidence produced by the maritime authority is not, in itself, decisive for resolving the dispute. And Law 9,537/1997 does not give the maritime authority the competence to set the price of the service in any and all situations.
"As consolidated by the jurisprudence of the Public Law Panels of the STJ — which, respectfully, should be responsible for judging this appeal —, the fixing of the price of the pilotage service is subject to the constitutional principle of free initiative and competition, with the possibility of State intervention in the relationship between the merchant and the pilot only exceptionally, when it is essential to avoid interruption of the service", he highlighted.
Wikimedia Commons
Companies discuss pilotage prices for operations in the Amazon basin
Wikimedia Commons
As there is no information on the record regarding the risk of interruption, the price list presented is not decisive in resolving the dispute. The judge may arbitrate the price of the service based on all the evidence he considers relevant — including the table, according to the valuation that the judge defines.
Vote defeated
Minister Moura Ribeiro was defeated, for whom, if there is no agreement between the parties, it will be up to the maritime authority to set the price, in accordance with article 6, item III of Law 9,537/1997 and Decree 2,596/1998, which regulates it .
This is because pilotage is an activity of public interest, coated with essentiality, even because, among its purposes, there is the guarantee, safeguard and safety in navigation: lives and the environment.