IBAMA’s Normative Ruling establishes a preventive embargo on indigenous lands and other public areas of the legal Amazon

IBAMA’s Normative Ruling No. 15/2023 was published on June 6th, 2023 regulating the general preventive and remote embargo of areas with irregular suppression of vegetation, forest exploitation and use of fire in Indigenous Lands and other public areas within the Legal Amazon.

Such Normative Ruling provides for the procedures and conditions for the embargo, and the request for cancelling the embargo, among other related issues.

Note that until the responsibility for the environmental infraction is individualized, the awareness of the preventive embargo will occur through an announcement published in the Union Official Gazette and by the disclosure on the Ibama’s page of the public consultation of embargo.

Published Law regulating new deadlines and conditions for adherence to the Environmental Regularization Program (“PRA”)

Federal Law No. 14.595/2023, published on June 6th, 2023, modify the Federal Forest Code (Law No. 12651/2012) and provides that the owners of rural properties with an area above 4 (four) tax modules that enroll them in the Rural Environmental Registry (“CAR”) until December 31, 2023, will be entitled to join the Environmental Regularization Program (“PRA”), as well as owners of rural properties with an area up to 4 (four) tax modules or deemed as family farmer or rural family entrepreneur (pursuant to the provisions of art. Law nº 11.326/2006) who enroll their rural properties before CAR by December 31st, 2025.

According to the Law, the deadline for joining the PRA is 1 (one) year from the notification by the competent agency, which will previously carry out the validation of the CAR data and the identification of environmental contingencies of the respective rural property.

Within the period between the publication of the Law and the expiration of the deadline for the interested party to join the PRA, as well as while the commitment term that provides for the environmental regularization measures related to the PRA is being fulfilled, the owner or possessor of the rural property cannot be charged for violations committed before July 22, 2008, relating to the irregular suppression of vegetation in Permanent Preservation Areas, Legal Reserve and restricted use.

Furthermore, the Law settle forth that the competent environmental agencies must ensure financial institutions access to the CAR and PRA data entailing the verification of the environmental regularity of the owner or possessor of a rural property.

The full text of Federal Law No. 14.595/2023 can be accessed here.

It should be noted that several states have specific legislation in force on the conditions and deadlines for joining the PRA.