Text on environmental licensing derives from a measure edited by Bolsonaro; passages provoked conflict between the House and Senate
The federal government sanctioned, with vetoes, the law No. 14.595/2023, which alters the deadlines and conditions for joining the PRA (Environmental Regularization Program), a provision of the Forestry Code that establishes a commitment with rural landowners to compensate for native vegetation and avoid fines. The penalty was published in GIVE (Official Diary of the Union) this Tuesday (June 6, 2023). Here’s the full (80 KB).
The law derives from the MP (Provisional Measure) 1,150/2022, edited by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in December last year. The text determined a period of 180 days for rural properties to adhere to the PRA. The period was extended to 1 year in an amendment approved by the House, when it passed through the House before being approved by the President.
The part of the text that spoke of approving deforestation in areas with vegetation in stages of regeneration with the aim of accelerating infrastructure projects had been rejected in the Senate vote, but the deputies decided to ignore the objection made by the senators. The changes in the MP were a reason for tension between the legislative houses.
Deputies, however, rejected the Senate’s decision to suppress the changes made by the House. They also rejected one of the amendments included by the senators, which determined the alteration of the project’s menu. Find out more in this report.
Lula vetoed sections that could facilitate licenses for investments and infrastructure works, such as the section that passed from states to municipalities the prerogative to approve deforestation in areas with vegetation in stages of regeneration.
In the sanctioned version, compensatory actions for the suppression of native vegetation in the construction of transmission lines, natural gas transport systems and public water supply become necessary again.
According to the decree, owners of up to 4 fiscal modules registered in the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) by December 31, 2023 will be entitled to join the program. 2025.
O fiscal module is a unit of measurement, in hectares, with a value fixed by the incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) for each municipality. It can vary from 5 to 110 hectares.
The law also prohibits, until the deadline for joining the PRA expires, that the owner be fined for infractions committed before July 22, 2008 related to illegal deforestation.
The environmental agencies they will have to allow financial institutions access to CAR and DAR data in order to verify the environmental compliance of the owners.
At the end of May, the Chamber of Deputies approved MP 1,154 of 2023, which restructures the government and removes responsibility for CAR and other environmental regulatory agencies from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, has already stated that she considers that the migration of the CAR from her portfolio to the Ministry of Agriculture is a “strategic error for Brazilian agriculture”.
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