Decree regulating the environmental compensation in the State of São Paulo was published

In Brief

On January 22th, 2021, State Decree No. 65,486/2021 was published regulating, within the environmental licensing in the State of São Paulo, the procedures related to the environmental compensation established by Article 36 of Federal Law No. 9,985/2000 (National System of Conservation Units – SNUC).

Comments

The abovementioned Decree establishes procedures related to environmental compensation that must be observed within the environmental licensing procedures of enterprises and construction works that cause significant impact to the environment (as established by Federal Law No. 9,985/2000), as well as regulates the Environmental Compensation Chamber’s activities.

As established by the new Decree, the Preliminary Environmental License (LP) of these enterprises and construction works will define as a requirement the obligation to execute an Environmental Compensation Commitment Term (TCCA) with the Infrastructure and Environment Secretariat and the State of São Paulo Protection Agency (CETESB).

In this sense, CETESB will be responsible to:

i) define the amount to be paid as environmental compensation for the issuance of the Installation License (LI) of such enterprises and construction works, according to the degree of environmental impact assessed from the analysis of the Environmental Impact Study and Report (EIA / RIMA)

ii) indicate the conservation units that are directly affected by the environmental impacts caused by the licensed activity, construction works or enterprise, considering the proposals presented in the EIA / RIMA and after the entrepreneur’s manifestation

The compliance with the environmental compensation established in the TCCA will be demonstrated by the evidence of the deposit of the compensation amount. The payment of the environmental compensation will also be considered as a condition to obtain the Installation License (LI). The Environmental Compensation Chamber will be responsible to certify the compliance with the TCCA and to inform it to CETESB, within 5 (five) business days, for the purposes of the environmental licensing.

More detail

The Decree also defines several obligations to the Environmental Compensation Chamber, such as: indicating which conservation units must benefit from the environmental compensation resources; analyzing the proposals sent by the conservation units’ managements regarding the applicability of the financial resources, publishing the extract of the TCCA in the Official Gazette, etc.

Our Environment and Sustainability team is available for further clarifications on the subject