10-Year Moratorium Declared on Environmental Law Enforcement
8/13/98
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Title: 10-Year Moratorium Declared on Environmental Law Enforcement
Source: Environmental Defense Fund
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 8/13/98
Byline: Steve Schwartzman
steve_schwartzman@edf.org
Brazil Government Declares 10 Year Moratorium on Environmental Law Enforcement
With a stroke of the pen, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso reversed
Brazil's
greatest environmental advance in the 1990's, the Environmental Crimes Act (Lei
9.605 de 12 de fevereiro de 1998), declaring a 10 year moratorium on
environmental law
enforcement.
Executive Order (Medida Provisoria) 1.170, signed August 7, 1998, establishes
that
companies that violate environmental legislation can sign a letter of commitment
with an
environmental agency, promising to bring their operations into compliance and be
exempted
from fines or other penalties for up to 5 years, renewable for another 5 years.
Only six months after the Congress passed the Environmental Crimes Act, giving
Brazil's
environmental agency, IBAMA, statutory authority to enforce environmental law
for the
first time since 1989, the federal government has given environmental
lawbreakers a ten
year holiday. The legislation with which business has to comply has largely
been in force since the 1970s.
The opposition Worker's Party (PT) and the Green Party (PV), on August 12,
brought suit
in the Supreme Court, charging that the order is unconstitutional. They argue
that the
order in essence overturns the Environmental Crimes Act, arbitrarily violating
the
separation of powers established in the Constitution.
Executive order 1.710 retroactively allows lawbreakers in business by March 30th
to
escape punishment by signing an agreement with the environmental agency by
December 31st.
This means that any company penalized under the Environmental Crimes Act (which
came into
force 90 days after its publication) can now be exempted for another 10
years.
Long-term observers of Brazilian politics note that, with companies responsible
for some
20% of Brazil's GDP operating without environmental licenses, and 4,000 fines
levied in
Sao Paulo state alone since the passage of the Environmental Crimes Act, the
order could
represent a campaign fund raising bonanza for President Cardoso. Cardoso is
running
for re-election in the October 3rd election.
Please fax or email President Ferando Henrique Cardoso urgently, requesting that
he
revoke Executive Order 1.710 immediately.
Fax: 011-55-61-226-7566
Email - pr@planalto.gov.br