Brazil has enacted a new General Environmental Licensing Law, establishing a nationwide framework for environmental licensing. The legislation seeks to standardize procedures, increase legal certainty, define deadlines, and introduce simplified licensing mechanisms—while preserving core environmental obligations and enforcement powers.
The new framework is particularly relevant for foreign investors, international law firms, and project sponsors involved in infrastructure, energy, industrial, mining, and agribusiness projects in Brazil.
Purpose and Scope of the New Law
Environmental licensing in Brazil has historically been governed by a combination of federal principles and extensive state and municipal (local) regulation, often resulting in procedural fragmentation. The new law introduces nationally applicable rules, expressly defining licensing modalities and procedural parameters at the federal level.
The objective is to increase predictability, not to promote deregulation. Environmental licensing remains mandatory for activities that use environmental resources or may cause pollution or degradation, except where applicable legislation expressly provides for exemption or nonapplicability.
Main Practical Changes
The most significant change is the nationwide standardization of licensing procedures, with clearer rules and defined deadlines.
Key points include:
- Licensing modalities are now expressly set out in federal law, including:
- Preliminary (LP), Installation (LI), and Operation (LO) Licenses;
- Combined or singlephase licenses;
- Single Environmental License (LAU);
- License by Adhesion and Commitment (LAC);
- Corrective Operation License (LOC);
- Special Environmental License (LAE).
- Maximum deadlines for agency review are established by law. These deadlines increase predictability but do not result in automatic or tacit approval. Projects may proceed only after an express decision by the competent authority.
- Failure to issue a decision within the statutory deadline allows the applicant to request that another federative entity assume responsibility for the licensing process, potentially reusing previously submitted studies.
- Additional information requests should generally occur only once, aiming to avoid successive technical requirements that historically delayed proceedings.
- Environmental permit conditions must be directly linked to the impacts identified during the licensing process.
- Intervening authorities are subject to defined deadlines, and lack of timely manifestation does not automatically suspend licensing.
What Remains Unchanged
Despite procedural reorganization, the new law does not remove essential environmental safeguards.
The following remain fully applicable:
- Environmental licensing continues to be mandatory for potentially polluting or environmentally impactful activities, except where legally exempted.
- Licensing remains an instrument for impact prevention, mitigation, and compensation.
- Environmental studies must be proportionate to the project’s scale, location, and impacts, including an Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Report (EIA/RIMA)when required.
- There is no automatic licensing approval.
- Environmental enforcement powers remain intact, including inspections and administrative sanctions, even in cases subject to simplified or exemptions.
- Civil, administrative, and criminal liability for environmental damage remains unchanged.
- Other specific environmental authorizations—such as water use permits or vegetation suppression approvals—continue to be required when applicable.
Simplified Licensing and the LAC
The License by Adhesion and Commitment (LAC) is a simplified licensing modality based on selfdeclaration by the entrepreneur. Its use is limited to projects that are small or mediumsized, with low or medium and wellknown impacts, and only when expressly authorized by regulation.
LAC does not apply, among other cases, to mining activities (with limited exceptions), projects in protected areas, Indigenous or quilombola lands, contaminated or highrisk areas, or activities requiring authorization for native vegetation suppression.
Despite simplification, environmental control is preserved through predefined conditions, postlicensing inspections, and sanctions for false or incomplete information.
Implementation Challenges and Ongoing Processes
States and municipalities must define activity typologies, adapt their systems, comply with statutory deadlines, and conduct postlicensing inspections. Institutional readiness varies, and implementation is expected to be gradual and uneven across regions.
Licensing processes initiated after the new law’s entry into force follow the new framework. Ongoing processes remain subject to previous rules until completion of the current phase, with subsequent stages governed by the new regime. The new law does not automatically legalize non-compliant activities or eliminate existing liabilities.
Pending Regulation and Judicial Review
Full implementation depends on complementary regulation, particularly regarding the following:
- Activity typologies subject to licensing;
- Eligibility for LAC use;
- Regulation of the Special Environmental License (LAE);
- Integration of environmental information systems.
In addition, the new law is currently under review by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, with challenges addressing licensing exemptions, strategic projects, the allocation of regulatory competences, and the protection of Indigenous and traditional communities.
Key Takeaways and Practical Outlook
The new General Environmental Licensing Law seeks to enhance procedural consistency and legal certainty while preserving Brazil’s core environmental protection framework. For foreign investors and international legal advisors, understanding the new rules is essential for structuring projects, assessing regulatory risks, and planning investments in Brazil.
