# Article 4 of the Constitution of Brazil

- Jurisdiction: Brazil (BR)
- Article: 4
- Chapter (as indexed): Chapter II: – Social
- Source document: Brazil Constitution
- Canonical (HTML): https://www.portablelaw.com/provision/964f0f62-59ae-4b7b-bf0a-fd06ae1e2c0c
- This document: https://www.portablelaw.com/provision/964f0f62-59ae-4b7b-bf0a-fd06ae1e2c0c/md
- Constitution: https://www.portablelaw.com/countries/561c3433-2160-4ca0-8e5a-8f5e9dbd522c

## Verbatim text

````
within
the competence of the municipalities, deriving from the present c
onstitutional
a
mendment, shall only become effective as of January 1, 1996, the corresponding
rate being reduced to at least one and a half percent in the fiscal year of 1995.
ar
ticle 5.
un
til de
cember 31, 1999, the states, the fe
deral di
strict and the
municipalities may only issue public debt bonds up to the amount necessary to
refinance the principal, adequately updated, of its liabilities, represented by that type of bonds, with the exception of the provisions of article 33, sole paragraph, of the
temporary
c
onstitutional
p
rovisions a
ct.
a
rticle 6.
i
tem iv
and paragraph 4 of article 156 of the f
ederal c
onstitution are
hereby revoked.
Brasília, March 17, 1993.THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES: Deputy Inocêncio
Oliveira ,
pr
esident – de
puty Adylson Motta , fi
rst vi
ce-pr
esident – de
puty Fernando
Lyra, s
econd vice-
pres
ident – deputy W
ilson Campos , f
irst s
ecretary – deputy
Car
doso Alves,
s
econd
s
ecretary –
d
eputy B. Sá,
f
ourth
s
ecretary.
THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE FEDERAL SENATE: Senator Humberto
Lucena, p
resident – s
enator Chagas Rodrigues, f
irst vice-
p
resident – s
enator Levy
Dias, se
cond vi
ce-pr
esident – se
nator Júlio Campos , fi
rst se
cretary – se
nator Nabor
Júnior, s
econd s
ecretary – s
enator Júnia Marise, t
hird s
ecretary – s
enator Nelson
Wedekin,
f
ourth
s
ecretary.
p
ublished in the Official Journal , March 18, 1993.
miolo_constitution_versao_camara.indd   211 17/6/2010   15:01:09
Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil 212
Constitutional  amen D ment  n o. 4, 1993
Gives new wording to article 16 of the Federal
Constitution.
t
he d
irecting b
oards of the c
hamber of d
eputies and of the f
ederal s
enate, under
the terms of paragraph 3 of article 60 of the f
ederal c
onstitution, promulgate the
following Amendment to the constitutional text:
s
ole article.
a
rticle 16 of the f
ederal c
onstitution shall henceforth be in force with
the following wording:
“
a
rticle 16.
t
he law that alters the electoral procedure shall
come into force on the date of its publication, and shall not apply to the elections that take place within one year of it being in force.”
b
rasília,
s
eptember 14, 1993.
THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES: Deputy Inocêncio
Oliveira , pr
esident – de
puty Wilson Campos , fi
rst se
cretary – de
puty Cardoso Alves ,
s
econd
s
ecretary –
d
eputy B. Sá,
f
ourth
s
ecretary.
THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE FEDERAL SENATE: Senator Humberto
Lucena, p
resident – s
enator Chagas Rodrigues, f
irst vice-
p
resident – s
enator Levy
Dias, se
cond vi
ce-pr
esident – se
nator Júlio Campos , fi
rst se
cretary – se
nator Nabor
Júnior,
s
econd
s
ecretary.
p
ublished in the Official Journal ,
s
eptember 15, 1993.
miolo_constitution_versao_camara.indd   212 17/6/2010   15:01:09
Constitutional Amendments 213
Constitutional  amen D ment  n o. 5, 1995
Alters paragraph 2 of article 25 of the Federal
Constitution.
t
he d
irecting b
oards of the c
hamber of d
eputies and of the f
ederal s
enate, under
the terms of paragraph 3 of article 60 of the f
ederal c
onstitution, promulgate the
following Amendment to the constitutional text:
s
ole article.
p
aragraph 2 of article 25 of the f
ederal c
onstitution shall henceforth
be in force with the following wording:
“th
e states shall have the power to operate, directly or by means
of concession, the local services of piped gas, as provided for by law, it being forbidden to issue any provisional measure for its regulation.”
b
rasília, a
ugust 15, 1995.
THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES: Luís Eduardo,
pr
esident – Ronaldo Perim , fi
rst vi
ce-pr
esident – Beto Mansur , se
cond vi
ce-pr
esident
– Wilson Campos, f
irst s
ecretary – Leopoldo Bessone, s
econd s
ecretary – Benedito
Domingos, t
hird
s
ecretary – João Henrique,
f
ourth
s
ecretary.
THE DIRECTING BOARD OF THE FEDERAL SENATE: José Sarney, p
resident
– Teotonio Vilela Filho , f
irst vice-
p
resident – Júlio Campos, s
econd vice-
p
resident
– Odacir Soares, f
irst s
ecretary – Renan Calheiros, s
econd s
ecretary – Levy Dias,
t
hird
s
ecretary – Ernandes Amorim,
f
ourth
s
ecretary.
p
ublished in the Official Journal , a
ugust 16, 1995.
miolo_constitution_versao_camara.indd   213 17/6/2010   15:01:09
Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil 214
Constitutional  amen D ment  n o. 6, 1995
Alters item IX of article 170, article 171, and
paragraph 1 of article 176 of the Federal Constitution.
t
he d
irecting b
oards of the c
hamber of d
eputies and of the f
ederal s
enate, under
the terms of paragraph 3 of article 60 of the f
ederal c
onstitution, promulgate the
following Amendment to the constitutional text:
a
rticle 1.
Item
IX of article 170 and paragraph 1 of article 176 of the Federal
Constitution shall henceforth be in force with the following wording:
“Article 170.
.........................................................................
..................................................................................................
I
X – preferential treatment for small entreprises organized under
Brazilian laws and having their head-office and management
in Brazil.”
“Article 176.
.........................................................................
pa
ragraph 1.
th
e prospecting and mining of mineral resources and
the utilization of the potentials mentioned in the head paragraph of
this article may only take place with authorization or concession by the Union, in the national interest, by Brazilians or by a company organized under Brazilian laws and having its head-office and management in Brazil, in the manner set forth by law, which law shall establish specific conditions when such activities are to be conducted in the boundary zone or on Indian lands.”
ar
ticle 2.
th
e following article 246 shall be included in ti
tle iX
– “General
Constitutional Provisions”:
“
article
246.
t
he adoption of any provisional measure for
the regulation of any article of the co
nstitution the wording of
which has been altered by means of an amendment enacted as of 1995 is forbidden.”
23
````

## What this means (mechanical reading aid, not legal advice)

- The index files this text under article 4 of the Constitution of Brazil.
- The index files it under the chapter heading “Chapter II: – Social”.
- The passage runs to about 1,058 words.
- **Caveat:** The row’s stored title is a body fragment, not a heading (“the elimination of the tax on the retail sales of liquid and gaseous fuels,”), so it is not used as the provision’s title here.
- **Caveat:** The index gives this passage an article number but stores a body fragment where a heading would be, so the number could not be cross-checked against the text. Check it against the official Constitution before relying on it in a citation.
- **Caveat:** No rights vocabulary from our fixed word list appears in this passage, so no plain-language reading is offered for it.

> This is a mechanical reading aid generated from the text above by matching words in it. It is not legal advice, not a lawyer’s interpretation, and not a substitute for the provision itself.

## How to cite this

Constitution of Brazil, article 4, Portable Lawyer, https://www.portablelaw.com/provision/964f0f62-59ae-4b7b-bf0a-fd06ae1e2c0c (accessed 27 September 2026).

## Related

- [Constitution of Brazil](https://www.portablelaw.com/countries/561c3433-2160-4ca0-8e5a-8f5e9dbd522c)
- [Brazil on Portable Lawyer](https://www.portablelaw.com/countries/561c3433-2160-4ca0-8e5a-8f5e9dbd522c)
- [HTML version of this provision](https://www.portablelaw.com/provision/964f0f62-59ae-4b7b-bf0a-fd06ae1e2c0c)
- [Machine-readable corpus digest](https://www.portablelaw.com/llms-full.txt)

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Portable Lawyer · Article 4 of the Constitution of Brazil (chapter: “Chapter II: – Social”). within the competence of the municipalities, deriving from the present c onstitutional a mendment, shall only become effective as of January 1, 1996, the corresponding rate being…