After a series of meetings at Nusol (Nucleus for Consensual Conflict Resolution) of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in search of an agreement on the processes relating to the Soy Moratorium, the processes returned to the offices of the reporting ministers.
According to the STF, the meetings were marked by a “broad dialogue between the parties” and the construction of an “environment conducive to the construction of a consensual solution”. Despite progress in negotiations, a decline in authorities involved throughout the negotiations made it impossible to reach an agreement, according to Nusol.
Thus, the Center’s supervisor, the auxiliary magistrate of the President’s Office Álvaro Ricardo, forwarded the cases back to the rapporteurs’ office.
In total, the soy moratorium impasse is based on two main ADIs (Direct Unconstitutionality Actions):
- ADI 7774: Reported by Minister Flávio Dino, regarding the law of the State of Mato Grosso, which prohibits the granting of tax benefits and public land to companies that have entered into commercial agreements to limit agricultural expansion in areas not protected by specific environmental legislation.
- ADI 7775: Reported by Minister Dias Toffoli, the process refers to a similar law, but from Rondônia.
The STF still has more secondary processes on the agenda regarding these impasses: ADI 7863 (authored by Minister Luiz Fux, referring to the legislation of Tocantins) and ADI 7823 (unauthored, and referring to the legislation of Maranhão).
Representatives from Abiove (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries), Aprosoja (Brazilian Association of Soy Producers), CNA (Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation), and the parties PCdoB, Psol, PV and Rede were present at the meetings in May.
Prosecutors from Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Tocantins also participated.
With Nusol’s decision, Ministers must forward the processes to . As the June agenda has already been closed, the expectation is that the ADIs will be judged from July onwards.
What is the moratorium?
The Soy Moratorium is an agreement signed in 2006 between trading companies, industry and civil society organizations to prevent the purchase of soy produced in deforested areas of the Amazon after July 2008.
The actions under analysis at the Supreme Court discuss the legality of state laws that attempt to limit the effects of the moratorium.
On the one hand, representatives of the productive sector claim that the agreement creates restrictions beyond those provided for in the Forest Code. On the other, environmental organizations argue that the initiative helped reduce deforestation in the Amazon.
