Senate approves new law on pesticides

In a vote this Tuesday, the Senate plenary approved Bill 1.459/2022, which modifies the rules for approval and commercialization of pesticides and concentrates release in the Ministry of Agriculture. The text goes to the President of the Republic for sanction. Your deadline to analyze the issue is 15 working days from the date you receive the official communication.

The President of the Republic has the power to totally or partially veto the project. But he must justify his reasons. He may do so on the basis of unconstitutionality or contrary to the public interest. In the case of partial vetoes, he may reject an article, paragraph, item or paragraph. Since Constitutional Amendment 17 of 1965, there is no room for a veto to speak (provision maintained in the 1988 Constitution).

PL 1.459/2022 is a replacement by the Chamber of Deputies for the Senate Bill (PLS) 526/1999, presented by former senator Blairo Maggi. The matter was approved by the Environment Commission (CMA) with the removal of parts or expressions from the text.

The Chamber's substitute deals with research, experimentation, production, marketing, import and export, packaging and final destination and inspection of these products. Among the main measures is the concentration of the release of pesticides by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The proposal was initially approved by the Agriculture Commission (CRA) and would go straight to the plenary, but there was an appeal for it to also go through the review of the environmental committee. With the new text, Law 7.802/1989 will be "almost completely repealed", according to information from the Senate's advisors.

See some points of the new law on pesticides

For research, production, export, import, commercialization and use, the maximum period for inclusion and change of registration will vary, depending on the case, from 30 days to 2 years.

24 months are required for new products, but those intended for research and experimentation may benefit from the issuance of a special temporary registration, with the analysis of the application being completed within 30 days by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Products not analyzed within the deadlines provided by law may also receive temporary registration. This will happen as long as they are registered for similar crops or similar environmental uses in at least three member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These countries must adopt the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides.

For inspection and analysis of products for agricultural use, the project centralizes decision-making power in the Ministry of Agriculture. It is this department that must also apply penalties and audit research institutes and companies.

The approved project defines as prohibited the registration of pesticides, environmental control products and similar products that present a risk to humans or the environment. Furthermore, it will be up to the Ministry of Agriculture to assess the risk level of the product intended to be registered in the country, without specific limitations such as the current ones.

Another point is that the approved project increases the amounts of fines that can be applied for violating the law. From the current maximum of R$20 thousand, they increase to R$2 thousand to R$2 million.

The registration and inspection bodies will define the values ​​proportionally to the severity of the infraction. Fines may be cumulative and double for repeat offenses. In the case of continued infraction, the fine will be daily until the cause ceases, without prejudice to the immediate stoppage of the activity or ban.

Agreements may be signed with state bodies for inspection, with the transfer of part of the money from the fines.

When the infraction constitutes a crime or injury to the public treasury or to the consumer, a copy of the infraction notice must be sent to the competent body to determine administrative and criminal responsibilities.

Currently, the law provides for two crimes punishable by imprisonment. The project maintained a sentence of 2 to 4 years for anyone who produces, imports, sells or disposes of waste and empty pesticide packaging in non-compliance with legal requirements. However, according to the text, there will be no prison sentence for cases of transport, application or provision of services related to packaging.

The project stipulates a prison sentence of 3 to 9 years for a crime that is not covered by current legislation: producing, storing, transporting, importing, using or selling unregistered or unauthorized pesticides, environmental control products or the like.

More information can be found at: "pesticide bill heads to the Senate plenary".