The purpose of this note is to inform you about today’s publication of Decrees (at the Official Gazette of the Federation) that added section III Bis to Article 1 and sections XXII Quater and XXII Quintus to Article 9 of the Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination. The purpose of such additions is to broaden the assumptions of discrimination currently faced by individuals, as well as to continue with the implementation of measures that allow full accessibility and mobility to people with disabilities who require the support of service animals in their daily lives.
Publication and Current Content
The additions contemplated in Article 1 include new types of discrimination: i) direct discrimination (less favorable treatment in similar situations due to statutorily prohibited motives); ii) indirect discrimination (a criterion or practice which although apparently neutral, can give raise to a particular disadvantage to persons of a specific group); iii) structural or systemic discrimination(a set of norms, attitudes and behavioral patterns that allow situations of inferiority and exclusion against a group of people; and iv) discrimination by association (for being related or associated with motives for the discrimination itself, like ethnicity, skin color, age, sexual orientation or other).
Likewise, two scenarios of discrimination are added in Article 9 of the federal anti-discrimination statute. These represent an important improvement in terms of accessibility, mobility and freedom of transit, since it forbids to limit the access of persons with disabilities to public establishments with support individuals or animals; as well as the obstruction of any accessibility measure in the physical environment and other elements intended for the accessibility and mobility of persons with disabilities.
These amendments shall become effective on December 5th, 2023.
