Guidelines to guarantee Brazilian rural producers the means to prove the quality and sustainability of their exported goods were brought together in a document with guidelines for the European market.
The material is focused on the European Union (EU) anti-deforestation law, which had the .
The guidelines for environmental compliance of Brazilian products were launched last Thursday (28).
The document was prepared by the National Council of the Public Ministry (CNMP) and the Brazilian Association of Members of the Public Ministry of the Environment (Abrampa).
On the occasion, the material was delivered to the Climate advisor of the European Union Delegation in Brazil, Laurent Javaudin.
Read the full document:
The objective is to strengthen legal security in commercial relations between Brazil and the European bloc, with a focus on the timber and cattle production chains.
The document also targets international buyers of Brazilian agricultural products by detailing reliable mechanisms for verifying environmental regularity in Brazil.
The target of criticism from the Brazilian government, it will prohibit the import of products linked to areas that have been deforested since 2020. It will also require that agricultural production comply with the national legislation of the country of origin.
The rule would come into force in December, but its implementation was postponed until next year. Even so, the Brazilian government will maintain diplomatic pressure on the European Union so that it is not implemented.
The anti-deforestation rule is another focus of conflict between Brazilian agribusiness and the EU, in a relationship that was marked last week by the incident involving Carrefour.
The retailer’s CEO in France, Alexandre Bompard, stated that the chain would no longer sell meat from Mercosur. With wide economic and diplomatic repercussions, .
Guidelines
According to the CNMP and Abrampa, the guidelines for adapting to the European rule offer a “safe path” for the producer to demonstrate their regularity in the international market.
“The document acts as a bridge between Brazilian rural producers committed to legality and international markets that are increasingly demanding in terms of environmental compliance, especially Europe, consolidating an international trade path based on legal security and sustainability”, they say to the bodies.
The guidelines provide mechanisms that can be used to guarantee proof of environmental regularity and comply with the rules of European regulations.
HAS CNNthe president of Abrampa and prosecutor in Paraná (MP-PR), Alexandre Gaio, said that the postponement of the application of European law “harms agribusiness that follows sustainable practices”.
“Extending the rule could compromise global efforts to combat deforestation and the biodiversity and climate crises,” he stated.
The document reinforces that Brazil already has the necessary instruments to certify the legality of exported products, such as the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), environmental licensing and authorizations related to the suppression of vegetation.
Challenges
The CAR is a mandatory public registry for all rural properties in the country. According to experts, the registration is susceptible to data inconsistencies as it is self-declared information by the owner, which requires subsequent validation.
There are cases, for example, of CAR overlapping with indigenous lands and conservation units.
The CNMP and Abrampa guidelines highlight challenges in making environmental regularity controls effective.
According to the agencies, there are several cases “of great concern” in which land grabbers attempt to use the instrument for recognizing property, “illegally advancing into protected forest areas”.
Therefore, the guidelines warn, it is not enough to register the property in the CAR. The respective environmental agency must have validated the property’s information.
“Otherwise, it will be necessary to adopt additional due diligence measures, including confirming the non-existence of territorial overlap with Indigenous and Quilombola Lands, Conservation Units, Public Lands and Non-Destined Public Forests and the adequate preservation of Preservation Areas Permanent and Legal Reserve”.
According to Alexandre Gaio, measures need to be taken to make the CAR an effective instrument.
“One of the issues concerns, precisely, the need to suspend overlapping registrations with public and indigenous lands, in addition to the need to improve the system itself, so that this type of overlapping registration cannot even be finalized,” he stated.
“Another concern of ours is the need to publicize CAR data, which has been prevented based on a mistaken interpretation of current legislation.”
