Brazilian Law on Pesticides Passes House But Has 14 Vetoes
After being introduced in the House of Representatives 20 years ago, Federal Law No. 14,785/2023 was passed at the end of 2023, establishing and modifying rules for pesticides related to the research and experimentation on production, storage, commercialization, registration, control and inspection of pesticides, environmental control products and similar products.
The law aims to accelerate the pesticide registration process, including by establishing specific deadlines and procedures for the analysis of registration requests related to new products intended for research and experimentation. Federal Decree nº 4,074/2002, a regulation stemming from revoked Federal Law No. 7,802/1989, had set a deadline of 120 days for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA), the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) to complete their technical-scientific assessments for registration purposes. However, Federal Decree No. 10,833/2021 established longer deadlines—of 12 to 36 months—due to the technical complexity and the priority category of pesticides.
The sanctioned normative text was the object of certain presidential vetoes, mainly regarding provisions that would:
(i) Remove powers from IBAMA and ANVISA for the analysis of the impacts of pesticides on the environment and human health, under the justification of unconstitutionality and contradiction to the interest public;
(ii) Give MAPA the exclusive authority to coordinate toxicological and ecotoxicological analyses and re-analyses, maintaining the tripartite model (health, environment and agriculture) provided for in the repealed legislation (Law Federal nº 7802/1989);
(iii) Deal with consumers' right to information about the prohibition of reusing pesticide packaging, under the justification of misinformation and non-compliance with the precautionary principles and provisions against socio-environmental setbacks; and
(iv) Establish fees linked to the provision of pesticide evaluation and registration services, under the justification of the absence of a calculation basis, considered essential for the validity of tax rules.
The National Congress will not vote on the presidential vetoes until March 3, 2024, allowing time for further evaluation, and the vetoes may be overturned.
Our Environmental Practice is available for additional clarification on this topic.
