B r a z i l

9 OTHER RESTRICTIONS ON THE CONTENT OF INFORMATION

Article 61 of the Press Law of 1967 states, Subject to seizure is printed matter that:

I.   contains propaganda for war or racial or class prejudice, as well as that which promotes or incites subversion of public and social order;

II.   offends public morality and good customs.

§1. The seizure provided for in this Article shall be carried out by judicial order at the request of the Public Ministry, which shall give its grounds and submit these with the representation of the authority, if any, and a copy of the printed matter in question.

§2. The judge shall hear, within a maximum 24 (twenty-four) hours, the person responsible for the publication or distribution of the printed matter, providing a copy of the request or representation.

§3. Once this period is up, with or without reply, the proceedings shall be concluded and within 24 (twenty-four) hours the judge shall pronounce sentence.

§4. In the case of acceptance of the request, an order shall be issued to be sent to the relevant police authority for it to be carried out.

§5. The sentence may be appealed.

§6. In the case of printed matter that offends morality and good custom, Juvenile Court judges, on their own account or as required by the Public Ministry, may order immediate seizure to prevent its circulation.

Article 62: In the case of a repeat offense as defined in Article 61, item II, by the same newspaper or periodical publication, by the same company or by different newspapers or companies having the same responsible editor, the judge may, in addition to the seizure provided for in Article 61, order suspension of the printing, circulation and distribution of the newspaper or periodical publication.

§1. The suspension order shall be submitted to the competent judge within 48 (forty-eight) hours, with justification for taking the step.

§2. If the responsible person fails to comply with the suspension ordered by the judge, the latter will take the necessary steps to see that the order is obeyed, including through further seizure of later editions, which shall be considered, for legal purposes, to be clandestine.

§3. If there is an appeal and it is upheld, the suspension order shall be lifted and measures taken to put it into effect halted.

§4. Once the sentence is final, the following rules shall be observed:

a) the final sentence recognizing that what led to the suspension actually occurred, the trademark and title registration of the publishing company and the newspaper or periodical in question shall be obliterated, as well as the registrations referred to in Article 9 of this law, by a cancellation order issued by the judge;

b) if the final sentence does not recognize the facts that justified the suspension, the measures shall be lifted, the union or state being obliged to make restitution for any los and damage incurred.

Article 63: In the cases of clauses I and II of Article 61, when the situation requires urgency the seizure may be ordered independently of judicial order, by the Minister of Justice and Domestic Affairs.

§2. The minister concerned shall hear the person responsible for the printed matter within five days and then will submit the process to proceedings in Federal Court.

?§3. If the Federal Court holds the seizure to be illegal and the need for it and urgency are not proven, it shall order the return of the printed matter and, if possible, determine the loss and damage that the union will have to pay in consequence.

§4. If in the time frame stipulated in § 1 the Minister of Justice does not take the matter to Federal Court, the interested party may ask the Federal Court for release of the printed matter and reparation for losses and damage. Once the Minister of Justice is heard within five days, the matter shall be tried in the first session of Federal Court.

Article 64: The competent judicial authority shall, depending on the nature of the matter seized, order its destruction.

The Children?s and Young People?s Act states in Article 74, The government, through the competent agency, shall regulate public entertainment and performances, reporting on their nature, the age groups for which they are not recommended, and the locations and times when the performances would not be appropriate.

Article 75: Any child or young person shall have access to any public entertainment and performance deemed appropriate to their age group.

Article 76: Radio and television stations shall present during the times recommended for young audiences only programs with educational, artistic, cultural and informative content.

Article 77: The owners, directors, managers and staff of companies handling the sale or rental of videotapes shall take care that none is sold or rented that does not comply with the classification made by the relevant official agency.

Article 78:  Magazines and publications containing material inappropriate or unsuitable for children and young people must be put up for sale in sealed packaging that carries a warning about its contents.

Article 79: Magazines and publications for the child and youth market may not contain illustrations, photographs, captions, features or advertisements of alcoholic beverages, tobacco, arms or ammunition and must respect the ethical and social values of the person and the family.

Article 240: It is prohibited to produce or direct any theatrical, television or cinematographic performance that uses a child or youth in an explicit or pornographic scene.

Penalty: imprisonment of one to four years and fine.

Sole paragraph: Subject to similar penalty is anyone who, under the circumstances referred to in this Article, acts in a scene with a child or youth.

Article 241: It is prohibited to photograph or publish explicit or pornographic sex scenes that have to do with a child or youth.

Penalty: imprisonment from one to four years.

The Electoral Law of 1997 says in Article 36, Election propaganda is permitted only after July 5 of election year.

§1. Candidates for elective office are permitted within 15 days prior to selection by the party, to engage in propaganda within the party to make his name known, without use of radio, television or outdoor advertising;

§2. In the second quarter of an election year, use shall not be made of the free party propaganda provided for under the law, nor shall any kind of paid political propaganda on radio and television be permitted;

§3. Violation of the provisions of this Article shall make the person responsible for the dissemination of propaganda and the beneficiary, when his prior knowledge is proven, liable to a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 UFIRs or the equivalent of the cost of the propaganda, whichever is greater.

Article 43: Paid dissemination in the print media of election propaganda is permitted the day before elections to a maximum of one-eighth of a broadsheet-size page or one-quarter tabloid or magazine page.

Sole paragraph: Non-compliance with the limits stipulated in this Article shall render those responsible for the medium of dissemination and the parties, coalitions or candidates concerned liable to a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 UFIRs or the equivalent of the cost of the paid propaganda, whichever the greater.

Article 44: Election propaganda aired on radio and television shall be confined to the free timetable stipulated in this law, the broadcast of paid propaganda being prohibited.

Article 45: With effect from July 1 of election year, it is prohibited for radio and television stations in their normal programs and newscasts:

I.   to broadcast, even during press interviews, portrayal of the conduct of opinion polls or any other form of survey of how people vote that makes it possible to identify a candidate or interviewee or in which there could be a manipulation of the data;

II.   to use trickery, manipulation or any other audio or video device that in any way discredits or ridicules a candidate, party or coalition or to produce or broadcast a program with this effect;

III.  to disseminate political propaganda or opinion favoring or opposing a candidate, party or coalition and their agents or representatives;

IV. to give privileged treatment to a candidate, party or coalition;

V.  to broadcast films, soap operas, mini-series or any other program containing allusions to or criticism of a candidate or political party, even by insinuation, except news programs or political debates;

VI. to broadcast a program with the name of a candidate nominated at a convention is prohibited, under penalty of cancellation of registration.

§1. After August 1 of an election year it is prohibited to broadcast a program presented by or containing comment of a candidate nominated at a convention.

§2. Without prejudice to what is stated in the sole paragraph of Article 55, non-compliance with the terms of this Article shall render a broadcast station liable to a fine of 20,000 to 100,000 UFIRs, or double in the event of repeat offense.

§3. The terms of this Article apply to media Web sites and other additional electronic outlets.

Article 46: Notwithstanding the broadcast of free electoral propaganda in the timetable specified in the law, the radio or television broadcast is permitted of debates on elections by majority or proportional representation with the participation of candidates of parties represented in Congress and others, under the following terms:

I.   in elections by majority, the presentation of the debates shall be made:

a). as a whole, with the participation of all the candidates for the same office;

b). in groups, with the participation of at least three candidates;

II.   In elections by proportional representation, the debates shall be organized in such a way that they ensure the participation of the candidates of all the parties or coalitions for the same elective office and it may be extended beyond one day.

III.  The debates shall be part of scheduled programming, with the time-slot and day of appearance of each candidate decided by draw, unless otherwise agreed among the parties or coalitions concerned;

§1. Broadcast of a debate without the appearance of the candidate of any party shall be permitted provided that the communication medium responsible can show that it had extended the invitation at least 72 hours prior to the debate.

§2. The participation of the same candidate in an election by proportional representation in more than one debate aired by the same broadcast station is prohibited.

§3. Non-compliance with the terms of this Article shall make the offending broadcast station subject to the penalties set out in Article 56.

Article 47: Radio and television stations and the assigned television channels mentioned in

Article 57 shall set aside for 45 days leading up to two days before elections a time-slot for the networked broadcast of free electoral propaganda, as set out in this Article.

§1 of this Article sets out the time-slots for electoral propaganda and §2 states, the time-slots reserved for propaganda in each election, under terms of the preceding paragraph, shall be distributed among all the parties and coalitions with candidates and representatives in the Chamber of Deputies.

Article 48: In elections for mayors and council members in municipalities where there is no television station the local committees of the majority of the contesting parties may require the Electoral Tribunal to set aside 10% of the time for free electoral propaganda for network broadcast by candidates in those municipalities on stations serving their area.

§1. The Justice Tribunal shall regulate what is set out in this Article, dividing the time among the candidates of neighboring municipalities in such a manner that the maximum number of municipalities to be taken care of shall be equal to the number of available broadcast stations. The same applies to radio stations, as set out in §2.

Article 49: If there is a run-off, the radio and television stations shall, from 48 hours of announcement of the results of the first round to two days before the new vote, set aside time-slots devoted to free electoral propaganda comprising two 20-minute periods per day for each election, beginning at 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon on the case of radios and 1:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in the case of television.

§1. In the event of there being a run-off for president and governor, each time-slot reserved for propaganda shall begin immediately after the end of those reserved for the first round.

§2. The time-slots each day shall be divided equally among the candidates.

Article 50: The Electoral Tribunal shall conduct a draw to determine the order of broadcast the propaganda of each party or coalition on the first day of free electoral broadcasting; on each successive day, the propaganda broadcast last shall be the first the next day, the remainder following the order of draw.

Article 51: During those times set out in Articles 47 and 49, radio and television stations and the assigned television stations mentioned in Article 57 shall set aside 30 minutes per day for free electoral propaganda, to be used for spots of up to 60 seconds, as each respective party or coalition may decide, that shall be assigned by the party or coalition and broadcast during regular programming between 8:00 a.m. and midnight under terms of Article 47 §2, with the following conditions:

I.   the time shall be divided in equal parts for the utilization in the campaigns of candidates for election by majority or proportional representation either of their party slogans or those of the members of the coalition, whichever is the case;

II.   use of the time exclusively for the campaigns of candidates for mayor and deputy mayor in the case of municipal elections;

III.  the distribution shall take into account the listening audience in the 8:00 to 12:00 noon hours, 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. to midnight;

IV. in the broadcast of the spots, prohibited are outside recordings, montages, computer graphics, animated designs and special effects and the broadcast of messages that could denigrate or ridicule a candidate, party or coalition.

Article 52: From July 8 of an election year the Electoral Tribunal shall bring together the parties and representatives of the television stations to draw up a media plan under terms of the foregoing Article, for the allotment of the free spots for electoral propaganda to which they have a right, guaranteeing to all participation in time-slots with most and least audience.

Article 53: In-house cutting or any kind of prior censorship of free electoral programs shall not be permitted.

§1. Prohibited is the broadcast of propaganda that could discredit or ridicule candidates, an offending party or coalition being liable to loss of right to broadcast propaganda in the free period the next day.

§2. Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, at the request of the party, coalition or candidate the Electoral Tribunal shall prevent any propaganda offending the good name of a candidate, morality and good customs.

Article 54: Radio and television programs devoted to free electoral propaganda by each party or coalition may include the participation, in order to support one candidate or the other, of any person not belonging to any political group or member of a coalition party, but the paid participation of anyone is prohibited.

Sole paragraph: In any run-off, the participation of party members who have thrown their support to other candidates shall not be permitted in the programs covered under this Article.

Article 55: In electoral propaganda during free air time the prohibitions indicated in items I and II of Article 45 shall apply to the party, coalition or candidate.

Sole paragraph: Non-compliance with the terms of this Article shall make the party or coalition liable to loss of time in the subsequent time-slot equivalent to double that used in the unlawful broadcast, further doubling with each repeat offense and it shall be required in the same time-slot to explain that it had been penalized for violating electoral law.

Article 56: At the request of a party, coalition or candidate the Electoral Tribunal may order the suspension, for 24 hours, of a station?s normal broadcasts if it has failed to comply with the terms of this law on propaganda.

§1. During the period of suspension to which this Article refers the station shall every 15 minutes issue a report that it is off the air for not having complied with electoral law.

§2. Each time the offense is repeated, the period of suspension shall be doubled.

Article 57: The terms of this law are applicable to VHF and UHF television stations and assigned television channels under the responsibility of the Federal Senate, Chamber of Deputies, Legislative Assemblies, Federal District Legislative Assembly or Municipal Councils.

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