Decree regarding the National Contingency Plan for Incidents of Oil Pollution in Waters Under National Jurisdiction is published

In brief

The federal government published on 27 January 2022 Decree No. 10,950 of 2022, which provides for the National Contingency Plan for Incidents of Oil Pollution in Waters under National Jurisdiction (PNC). The plan aims to: (i) reduce environmental damage; (ii) prevent damage to the public health; and (iii) enable a more capable action in response to oil pollution incidents by public administration entities as well as public and private organizations.

More details

The PNC establishes responsibilities and an organizational structure, and defines guidelines, procedures and actions aiming to allow the coordinated action of the public administration and public and private entities to expand response capacity in oil pollution incidents that may affect waters under national jurisdiction, as well as reduce the environmental damage and avoid any harm to the public health.

According to the decree, the PNC must be activated during major accidents in which the individual action of the agents directly involved (the polluter) is not enough to solve the problem. The establishment of the PNC will start with the legal representative in charge of the operation immediately communicating about the pollution incident with the following entities: IBAMA, the State Environmental Agency in the jurisdiction of the incident, the Port Authority and ANP.

From the initial communication, the polluter will provide the authorities status reports containing the following information: (i) description of the incident and information whether it is controlled or not; (ii) confirmation of the volume of oil spilled in the water; (iii) the volume that may still be spilled; (iv) product features; (v) affected areas; (vi) measures adopted and planned for the incident; (vii) date and time of the observation; (viii) current location, extent and predicted trajectory of the oil spill; (ix) human and material resources mobilized for the incident; and (x) if additional resources are needed.

In addition, the Information System on Oil Pollution Incidents in Waters Under National Jurisdiction  (Sisnóleo) was created to consolidate and disseminate, in real time, geographic information regarding prevention, preparation and response to oil pollution incidents. The system allows for analysis, management and decision-making by the PNC management bodies.

Criteria were also established for immediate mobilization, depending on the relevance of the incident, to facilitate, adapt or expand the capacity of the response for the incident.

Lastly, complementary rules on the procedures regarding the responsibilities provided for in the decree, as well as the responsibility of IBAMA to develop and implement the Sisnóleo within 24 months, will be updated by the authorities and the entities that are part of the Monitoring and Evaluation Group and the Integrated Action Network. In addition, the Environment Ministry may issue instructions to provide for the development, implementation, operation and maintenance of the Sisnóleo.

Our Environment and Sustainability team is available to provide further clarification on this subject.