Temporary Constitutional Provisions Act

Article 20. Within 180 days, the rights of inactive public servants and pensioners shall be revised and the income and pensions owed to them shall be updated in order to adjust them to the provisions of the Constitution.

Article 21. Judges vested in office for a limited period of time, who have been admitted by means of a public entrance examination of tests and presentation of academic and professional credentials and who are in office on the date this Constitution is promulgated, shall achieve tenure with due regard for the probation period and they shall be included in a special job class to be terminated, maintaining the authority, prerogatives and restrictions of the laws to which they were subject, except for those inherent to the temporary nature of their investiture. The retirement of the judges referred to in this article shall be regulated by the rules established for other state judges.

Article 22. Public defenders vested in office before the date of installation of the National Constituent Assembly are ensured the right to opt for the career, complying with the guarantees and prohibitions set forth in article 134, sole paragraph 8 , of the Constitution.

Article 23. Until such time as the regulations of article 21, XVI, of the Constitution are issued, the present holders of the office of federal censor shall continue to exercise functions compatible with such office in the Federal Police Department, with due regard for the constitutional provisions. Such law shall provide for the reassignment of the Federal Censors as set forth in this article.

Article 24. The Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities shall issue laws establishing criteria to make their staffs compatible with the provisions of article 39 of the Constitution and with the administrative reorganization resulting therefrom, within eighteen months as from the promulgation of the Constitution.

Article 25. As of one hundred and eighty days after the promulgation of the Constitution, such period being subject to extension by law, all legal provisions which confer on or delegate to an agency of the Executive Power authority assigned to the National Congress by the Constitution shall be revoked, especially those referring to:

1. normative action;

2. allocation or transfer of funds of any kind.

Paragraph 1. The decree-laws pending before the National Congress and not examined by it before the Constitution is promulgated shall have their effects regulated as follows:

1. if issued up to September 2, 1988, they shall be examined by the National Congress within one hundred and eighty days as from the date of the promulgation of the Constitution, not counting the parliamentary recess;

2. if the time limit defined in the preceding item elapses without the decree- laws mentioned therein having been examined, they shall be considered rejected;

3. in the cases defined in items I and II, the acts performed during the effectiveness of the respective decree-laws shall be fully valid and the National Congress may, if necessary, legislate on their remaining effects.

Paragraph 2. The decree-laws issued between September 3, 1988 and the date of the promulgation of the Constitution shall be converted on such date into provisional measures, with the rules established in article 62, sole paragraph 9 , being applied thereto.

Article 26. Within one year of promulgation of the Constitution, the National Congress shall effect, through a joint committee, an analytical and expert examination of the acts and facts which generate the Brazilian foreign indebtedness. Paragraph 1. The Committee shall have the legal authority of a parliamentary investigation committee for purposes of requisition and summons, and shall act with the assistance of the Federal Audit Court.

Paragraph 2. If irregularities are found, the National Congress shall propose that the Executive Power declare the act null and void and shall forward the case to the Federal Public Prosecution, which shall take the appropriate action within sixty days.

Article 27. The Superior Court of Justice shall be installed under the Presidency of the Supreme Federal Court.

Paragraph 1. Until such time as the Superior Court of Justice is installed, the Supreme Federal Court shall perform the duties and responsibilities defined in the previous constitutional order.

Paragraph 2. The initial composition of the Superior Court of Justice shall be obtained:

1. by reassignment of Justices of the Federal Court of Appeals;
2. by appointment of the Justices required to complete the number established in the Constitution.

Paragraph 3. For the purposes of the Constitution, the present Justices of the Federal Court of Appeals shall be considered as belonging to the class they came from at the time of their appointment.

Paragraph 4. Once the Court has been installed, the retired Justices of the Federal Court of Appeals shall automatically become retired Justices of the Superior Court of Justice.

Paragraph 5. The Justices referred to in paragraph 2, II, shall be nominated in a triple list by the Federal Court of Appeals, with due regard for the provisions of article 104, sole paragraph, of the Constitution.

Paragraph 6. Five Federal Regional Courts of Justice are hereby created, to be installed within six months of the promulgation of the Constitution, with the jurisdiction and seat assigned to them by the Federal Court of Appeals, taking into account the number of lawsuits and their geographical location.

Paragraph 7. Until such time as the Federal Regional Courts of Justice are installed, the Federal Court of Appeals shall exercise the authority attributed to them throughout the national territory, it being incumbent upon it their installation and nomination of candidates for all initial offices by means of a triple list which may include federal judges of any region, with due regard for the provisions of paragraph 9.

Paragraph 8. As from promulgation of the Constitution, it is forbidden to fill vacant offices of Justices of the Federal Court of Appeals.

Paragraph 9. If there is no federal judge with the minimum period of service set forth in article 107, II, of the Constitution, the promotion may be granted to a judge with less than five years of office.

Paragraph 10. It is incumbent upon the Federal Courts to judge the lawsuits filed therein until such time as the Constitution is promulgated, and the Federal Regional Courts as well as the Superior Court of Justice shall judge the actions to overrule the final judgements rendered until then by the Federal Courts, including those which refer to matters for which competence has been transferred to another branch of the Judicial Power.

Article 28. The federal judges referred to in article 123, paragraph 2, of the Constitution of 1967, with the wording given by the Constitutional Amendment no. 7 of 1977, shall be vested in office in courts of the judiciary section for which they were appointed or designated; if there are no vacancies, the existing courts shall be divided. For purposes of promotion for seniority, the period of service of such judges shall be computed as from the day of their taking of office.

Article 29. Until such time as the supplementary laws relating to the Public Prosecution and to the Advocacy-General of the Union are approved, the Federal Public Prosecution, the Office of the Attorney-General of the National Treasury, the

Legal Consultancies of the Ministries, the Prosecution and Legal Departments of the federal autonomous government agencies having their own representation, and the members of the Prosecution Offices of public foundation universities shall continue to conduct their activities within their respective incumbencies.

Paragraph 1. The President of the Republic shall, within one hundred and twenty days, submit to the National Congress a bill of supplementary law dealing with the organization and operation of the Advocacy-General of the Union.

Paragraph 2. The present Prosecutors of the Republic may, in accordance with the supplementary law, opt irrevocably between the careers of the Federal Public Prosecution and of the Advocacy-General of the Union.

Paragraph 3. A member of the Public Prosecution admitted prior to the promulgation of the Constitution may opt for the previous regime insofar as guarantees and advantages are concerned, with due regard, as to prohibitions, for the legal status on the date of such promulgation.

Paragraph 4. The present members of the supplementary staff of the Labour and Military Public Prosecutions, who have acquired tenure in these functions, shall belong to the staff of the respective career.

Paragraph 5. It is incumbent upon the present Office of the Attorney-General of the National Treasury, directly or by delegation, which may be made to the State Public Prosecution, to represent the Union in court in lawsuits of a fiscal nature, in their respective spheres of authority, until such time as the supplementary laws set forth in this article are promulgated.