The National Civil Aviation Fund (“FNAC”) was established by Law 12,462, of August 4, 2011, recently amended by Law 14,034, of August 5, 2020, which converted Provisional Measure (“MP”) No. 925, of 2020.
Article 63 of Law 12,462 establishes the FNAC as accounting and financial in nature, linked to the Civil Aviation Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, created to allocate resources to the civil aviation system. FNAC’s resources come from the concession revenue collected by airport concessionaires, a percentage of the International Embarkation Tariff (“ATEI”) and Financial Own Resources (“Financial Investment Income”). The collection as of June 30, 2020 was R$ 1,386,342,652.74 (one billion, three hundred and eighty-six million, three hundred and forty-two thousand, six hundred and fifty-two reais and seventy-four cents).
Prior to the mentioned legislative change, FNAC’s resources could be destined to the development and promotion of the civil aviation sector and of the airport and civil aeronautical infrastructure, aiming at the development, expansion and restructuring of granted airports, as long as these actions did not constitute obligations of the concessionaire, as foreseen in the concession contract.
With the advent of Law 14.034, of August 05, 2020, added to the already existing measures, it became possible for FNAC’s resources to be used by concessionaires providing scheduled air transport services, as well as by providers of services ancillary to air transport, as a guarantee for loan operations to be entered into until December 31, 2020, on the condition that they prove they have suffered loss as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The objective of the changes implemented by Law 14,034 of August 5, 2020 is to facilitate access to FNAC resources and thus bring greater financial support to the airline industry to ensure the continuity of service provision. However, because it is a federal accounting and financial fund, FNAC’s expenses will be covered by specific budget appropriations allocated in the Union’s general budget, observing the annual limits for movement and commitment and payment.
Another important measure presented by Law 14.042 was the institution of the Emergency Program of Access to Credit (“PEAC”), whose objective is to facilitate and expand the access to credit to the airline industry and preserve economic agents. Small and medium-sized companies, associations, private law foundations, and cooperatives, except credit unions, with headquarters or establishment in Brazil and with gross revenue in 2019 between R$360,000.00 (three hundred and sixty thousand reais) and R$300,000,000.00 (three million reais) can join the program.
One can see, therefore, that the perspective is one of support and promotion of the Brazilian airline industry! The measures implemented by Law 14.034, of August 5, 2020, together with the other measures that have been made available, aim to give the sector a “breath of fresh air” so that it will be possible to maintain airline activity in Brazil.
The Aeronautical Law team at DDSA – De Luca, Derenusson, Schuttoff & Advogados will continue to monitor the developments of Law 14.030/2020 and update our clients and partners on this matter.