Brazil’s Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (Comissao de Constituicao e Justica e de Cidadania, CCJC) issued Draft Legislative Decree No. 159/2022 on 19 April, approving the text of the ‘Agreement for the Elimination of International Roaming Charges for Mercosur End Users’, as signed by the member states of the bloc back on 17 July 2019. The agreement now needs to receive approval from the Chamber of Deputies, the Federal Senate and the President.
Back in 2019 the member states of the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) economic bloc – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay – approved the end of international roaming rates for voice and data communications. The agreement was expected to come into force 30 days after being ratified by the relevant authorities in the four countries, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted at the time.
The Mercosur trade bloc was established by the Treaty of Asuncion in 1991 and the Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. (Note: Venezuela was suspended from Mercosur on 1 December 2016.)