Brazilian President Relaxes Earlier Decree That Toughened Environmental Violations Law

摘要

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Dec. 10 signed a decree relaxing some measures set forth in a July presidential decree that toughened a 10-year-old environmental violations law, an attorney with the Environment Ministry's enforcement arm-known as IBAMA-told BNA Dec. 18. The original 1998 law (No. 9,605) increased maximum fines for serious environmental violations from 50,000 reais ($21,200) to 50 million reais ($21.2 million) and established jail sentences of up to five years for environmental violators While neither decree-from July or December-changed the foundations of the 1998 law, Lula's Dec. 10 decree (No. 6,686) relaxes some measures aimed at curbing illegal deforestation that were set forth in the July decree (No. 6,514) (31 INER 751, 8/6/08). The new decree also increases the number of appeals allowed for those charged with environmental violations, potentially making the collection of fines more cumbersome. Environmental groups and lawyers said the government bent under pressure from the farming/ranching lobby, a charge denied by IBAMA.