Source: O Globo, 20/08/2004

In April last year, the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition presented the shocking
estimate that piracy was responsible for a loss of tax collection of R $ 5 billion per year. Now,
the works of more than a year of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Piracy have been concluded, there is a more
need: R $ 30 billion. Or the equivalent of one and a half times the entire annual CPMF revenue.

It is obvious that
it was not the problem that had its dimensions multiplied by five in such a short period - although it certainly has
continued to grow (according to the National Union of Revenue Technicians, Brazil is already the fourth country that consumes the most
pirated products, after China, Russia and Paraguay). The fact is that only now, after the CPI survey, has there been
a real and well-founded notion of the extent of the damage that piracy does to public coffers.

And this is
just part of the story. For representing unfair competition to honest businessmen - who pay royalties and
rights, in addition to taxes and wage charges - the production and trade of counterfeit goods
corporate profitability and reduce the number of jobs they offer by two million; Besides
contribute to the maintenance of a suffocating tax burden. As if that were not enough, it is important to remember the association
between illegal trade and organized crime, a long-standing suspicion that the CPI found out.

The recommendations
Commission include the creation of new regulatory bodies, increased penalties and changes in legislation (which does not
crimes such as software counterfeiting).

It will be the beginning of the repressive action that needs to be taken quickly
to avoid the sanctions that the American government threatens to adopt against Brazil, under the General System of
Preferences, but mainly because defeating this enemy is in our own great interest.

The action
police will probably need to be complemented by measures such as lowering tax rates that allow
lower prices. In any case, a vigorous fight against piracy must begin now.