Brazil’s Supreme Court Strikes Down São Paulo Law Letting Cities Bar Moto-App Rides

Overview

• Meeting in a virtual plenary, a majority of justices followed rapporteur Alexandre de Moraes to keep the state law suspended and deem it unconstitutional for invading federal competence.
• Ministers Dias Toffoli, Edson Fachin, Cármen Lúcia, André Mendonça, Flávio Dino and Cristiano Zanin backed Moraes, with some noting reservations in their votes.
• The practical effect is that mototaxi and moto-app services may operate in São Paulo subject to municipal regulation, with the timetable for local rules still unclear.
• Mayor Ricardo Nunes criticized the decision and said he will press Congress to advance a federal bill by Deputy Maurício Neves focused on safety requirements for the service.
• Industry groups CNS and Amobitec welcomed the outcome as legal certainty, while the court noted that the struck-down state law imposed conditions such as specific licensing, criminal record checks, ISS collection and insurance that conflicted with the federal framework.