MP that transfers insurance contracting to cargo carriers may increase costs

Road transport is largely responsible for transporting goods in Brazil, representing, on average, 70% of the matrix, according to the Executive Report of the 2035 National Logistics Plan. However, companies that depend on road transport of cargo may have the its impacted operations, if a provisional measure is approved that transfers to the transporters the competence to contract insurance for the loads they carry.

A MPV 1153/2022 deals in its main text with the extension of the requirement of periodic toxicological examination for transporters. But, at the end of 2022, article 3 was inserted in the matter, which establishes the transfer of responsibility for contracting insurance to carriers.

Before the measure, law 11442/2007 defined that insurance could be taken out by the owner of the cargo, the shipper, exempting the carrier from the responsibility of doing so, or by the carrier itself. With the provisional measure, the contracting of insurance, both mandatory and optional, becomes the sole responsibility of the carrier.

According to Kelly Carvalho, an economist and technical advisor at the Digital Economy and Innovation Council of the Federation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of São Paulo (Fecomercio-SP), the measure is an offense against the principles and practices that govern the state. democratic right.

“A measure like this can violate constitutional principles, such as free initiative, free competition, the very freedom of contracting between the parties, even provided for in the civil code itself. In addition to the legal security of these companies, because we now have a private relationship between companies, between shippers, which are the establishments, that is, the owners of the products, and the carriers”, he explains.

In addition, the measure imposes the contracting of insurance against theft of cargo as optional for carriers, with only the contracting of the modality aimed at breakdowns (damage to the goods) being mandatory.

According to the expert, the proposal poses a risk to companies. “In the case, for example, of cargo theft, which will be an optional option. The company may or may not contract this insurance. Not that carriers, in this case, will be negligent with regard to the transport of goods, but there is a greater risk to be leveraged, let’s say, that it may increase the cost of the policy that will be passed on to the owner of the cargo and, consequently, entire production chain”, he points out.

Carvalho also explains that in addition to reflecting negatively on the cashiers of companies, the measure can change the transfer of values ​​to consumers.

“Consequently, this will even impact the cost of freight. The change in consumer habits when buying via e-commerce has increased, and they consider the cost of shipping long before closing their purchase on e-commerce. We know that this can have a certain impact, because if the shipping is higher, even than the value of the product he is buying, he abandons the shopping cart”, he says.

According to the economist, companies that transact larger volumes of contracts have better negotiating conditions with insurance.

“We may have an eventual burden of costs, because usually the companies that operate are the owners of the loads, they know all the specifics of the merchandise, the type of insurance that must be contracted. International companies that operate in Brazil already have global insurance and have their own insurance, even as a result of the volume that is transacted. So, it’s that matter of market relationship, they manage to have a relatively lower cost in contracting this insurance”, he points out.

For the president of the Parliamentary Front for Competitive Brazil, Deputy Arnaldo Jardim (Cidadania-SP), the device is harmful to market freedom.

“Basically, it will be an additional cost for the carrier and the carrier will pass this on to the cost chain, so it will be left over to the consumer. This proposed insurance, in our view, is just another additional cost with no practical effect. In addition to making it difficult for the self-employed, it puts pressure on large companies that own a good part of transport and can, with that, become almost monopolists. These companies will focus even more and take away this competitive aspect as well, which is very important, ”he says.

The provisional measure that transfers to carriers the exclusive competence to contract insurance for the cargo they transport is being processed as a matter of urgency, in the Chamber of Deputies.