Free flow tolling in Brazil (2026): paying without a tag, the 30-day deadline, the R$195.23 fine, and the truce until 16 November

What it is and where it is defined

CONTRAN Resolution 1,013/2024 defines free flow as the set of procedures and systems that allows road use to be charged through electronic tolls without vehicles stopping or slowing down, dispensing with toll plazas or physical barriers. The vehicle is identified simultaneously by its plate, its classification, and its images, using optical character recognition; a radio-frequency tag is complementary. The owner must keep the plate legible, and images are kept for 90 days, or five years if an offence is recorded.

The 30-day deadline and who is liable

The resolution gives 30 days to pay the tariff, rolled over to the next business day when the deadline falls on a non-business day, and requires concessionaires to keep dispute channels. CONTRAN Deliberation 277/2026 changed the starting point: the 30 days now run from confirmation that the passage record has been processed by the federal traffic authority. The user liable for payment may be the vehicle's owner, which matters for rental cars. Foreign-plated vehicles may not leave the country before payment is made and are subject to retention, and concessionaires must offer those users payment means.

The offence and the 2026 truce

Law 14,157/2021 created article 209-A of the Traffic Code: evading the charge for the use of highways and urban roads in order not to pay it, or failing to pay it in the established manner, is a serious offence punished with a fine. A serious offence means R$195.23 and 5 points on the licence. Paying the fine does not release the driver from paying the tariff.

In 2026 CONTRAN opened a window: Deliberation 277 of 26 March, published on 29 April 2026, granted an exceptional 200-day period to settle tariffs, during which the article 209-A offence is not constituted. Paying the tariff, even for earlier passages, cancels the offence proceedings and removes the points, and fines already paid can be reviewed if the tariff is settled within the window. The São Paulo government's Siga Fácil site states that fines are suspended until 16 November; after that, proceedings resume. ANTT clarified on 28 May 2026 that the roughly 800,000 fine cancellations occurred exclusively in cases where the tariffs had been paid.

How to check and pay without a tag

Since 24 August 2026, passages at gantries on federal, state, and municipal roads can be looked up in the CNH do Brasil app and the Senatran portal, showing plate, date, gantry, amount, concessionaire, deadline, and status. Senatran's channels allow consultation but do not collect the tariff: payment is always to the concessionaire. On the Rio–Santos, for example, drivers without a tag pay within 30 calendar days at pedagiodigital.com, in the Motiva Rodovias app, via the concessionaire's WhatsApp, or at kiosks in Ubatuba, Paraty, Angra, and Mangaratiba, by Pix or card. In São Paulo payment is at sigafacil.artesp.sp.gov.br or on each concessionaire's site and app, by Pix, bank slip, card, WhatsApp, or app.

Where free flow already operates

On federal highways ANTT lists the gantries by concession: BR-101/RJ Rio–Santos with 3 (RioSP), BR-116/SP Dutra with 10 (RioSP), BR-381/MG with 5 (Nova 381), BR-262/MG with 2 (Way-262), BR-364/RO with 7 (Nova 364), Lote Iguaçu/PR with 4 (EPR Iguaçu), BR-369/376 PR with 8 (EPR Paraná), BR-376/PR-445 with 2 (Motiva Paraná), and BR-060/452 GO with 11 (Rota Verde Goiás). The Rio–Santos was the first free flow on a federal highway, on 31 March 2023, with gantries at km 414, 447, and 538 and a tariff of R$4.90 on weekdays and R$8.10 at weekends and holidays.

In São Paulo the Siga Fácil programme lists charging gantries on the Rodoanel Norte in Guarulhos, on the SP-333 at Jaboticabal and Itápolis, on the SP-326 at Dobrada and Taiúva, on the Tamoios southern bypass at Caraguatatuba, on the Raposo Tavares at São Roque, Sorocaba, and Araçoiaba da Serra, and on the Litoral Paulista at Arujá, Mogi das Cruzes, Bertioga, Santos, and Miracatu, plus monitoring-only gantries that do not charge. Where an old plaza was replaced by a gantry, the tariff is the same as before.

Tourists and rental cars

No ANTT, Senatran, or ARTESP page gives guidance specific to rental companies. What the rules say is that the party liable for payment may be the vehicle's owner, in other words the rental company, which typically passes the tariff on to the customer with its own fee, and that foreign-plated vehicles must settle before leaving the country. If you rent a car, ask whether it has a tag; if not, check the passages in the CNH do Brasil app or on the concessionaire's site before returning the vehicle.