CMN Resolution No. 5193 — Amending Rules on Social, Environmental and Climatic Impediments in the Rural Credit Manual

The current text of the MCR is available at the following electronic address: www3.bcb.gov.br/mcr.

CMN RESOLUTION NO. 5,193, OF DECEMBER 19, 2024

Amends rules of Section 9 (Social, Environmental and Climatic Impediments) of Chapter 2 (Basic Conditions) of the Rural Credit Manual – MCR.

The Central Bank of Brazil, in accordance with Article 9 of Law No. 4,595, of December 31, 1964, makes public that the National Monetary Council, in a session held on December 19, 2024, considering the provisions of Article 4, caput, item VI, of Law No. 4,595, of December 31, 1964, Articles 4 and 14 of Law No. 4,829, of November 5, 1965, Articles 48 and 49 of Law No. 8,171, of January 17, 1991, Decree No. 4,887, of November 20, 2003, Article 1-A of Law No. 12,651, of May 25, 2012, and Article 68 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act,

R E S O L V E S:

Art. 1 The Section 9 (Social, Environmental and Climatic Impediments) of Chapter 2 (Basic Conditions) of the Rural Credit Manual – MCR shall enter into force in the form of the annex to this Resolution.

Art. 2 The following are repealed:

I - CMN Resolution No. 5,081, of June 29, 2023, published in the Official Gazette of the Union on July 3, 2023;

II - Article 3 of CMN Resolution No. 5,149, of July 3, 2024, published in the Official Gazette of the Union on July 3, 2024, and rectified in the Official Gazette of the Union on July 4, 2024; and

III - Article 1 of CMN Resolution No. 5,158, of July 24, 2024, published in the Official Gazette of the Union on July 25, 2024.

Art. 3 This Resolution enters into force:

I - on the date of its publication, regarding the repeal of Article 3 of CMN Resolution No. 5,149, of July 3, 2024, insofar as it provides for item 8-A of Section 9 of Chapter 2 of the MCR; and

II - on January 2, 2025, regarding the remaining provisions.

Roberto de Oliveira Campos Neto
President of the Central Bank of Brazil

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TITLE : RURAL CREDIT
CHAPTER : Basic Conditions - 2
SECTION : Social, Environmental and Climatic Impediments – 9
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - This Section provides for the characterization of enterprises with restricted access to rural credit due to legal or infralegal provisions related to social, environmental, and climatic issues.

2 - For the purposes of this Section, the identification of the rural property where the enterprise subject to rural credit is located shall be carried out in accordance with the information registered in the National System of Environmental Rural Registration (Sicar).

3 - Rural credit shall not be granted for an enterprise located on a rural property that is not registered or whose registration has been cancelled or suspended in the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR), respecting the conditions and exceptions provided for in MCR 2-1-12 to 15.

4 - For the purpose of compliance with the provisions of MCR 1-2-10, rural credit shall not be granted to a natural or legal person registered in the registry of employers who maintained workers in conditions analogous to slavery, established by the ministry responsible for said registry, due to a final administrative decision regarding the infringement notice.

5 - Rural credit shall not be granted for an enterprise located on a rural property wholly or partially inserted in a Conservation Unit, provided that it is registered in the National Registry of Conservation Units (CNUC) of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA), unless the economic activity is in compliance with the Management Plan of the Conservation Unit, respecting the provisions of Article 28 of Law No. 9,985, of July 18, 2000, and the specific provisions applicable to the traditional population beneficiary or resident, in the form of Decree No. 4,340, of August 22, 2002.

6 - In the case of a Conservation Unit of exclusively public domain, the impediment referred to in item 5 applies only to an enterprise inserted wholly or partially in a property whose land regularization process has been concluded, in accordance with the applicable regulations.

7 - Rural credit shall not be granted for an enterprise located on a rural property wholly or partially inserted in lands occupied by indigenous peoples, observing that:

a) lands occupied by indigenous peoples must be recorded as homologated, regularized, or defined as Indigenous Reserve in the Indigenous Information System of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai); and

b) the provisions of the caput do not apply to cases where the applicant belongs to the indigenous peoples or communities occupying or inhabiting the indigenous land where the enterprise is located.

8 - For the purpose of compliance with the provisions of Article 68 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act and Decree No. 4,887, of November 20, 2003, rural credit shall not be granted to an enterprise whose area is wholly or partially inserted in lands occupied and titled by descendants of quilombola communities.

9 - Item 8 does not apply to cases where the applicant belongs to the descendant group of the quilombola community in which the enterprise area is located.

10 - Rural credit shall not be granted for an enterprise located on a rural property where there is an embargo by a competent federal or state environmental agency, according to the competencies referred to in Articles 7 and 8 of Complementary Law No. 140, of December 8, 2011, resulting from the economic use of areas illegally deforested on the rural property and provided that it is registered in the embargo list of the Registry of Environmental Infractions and Embargoes of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).

11 - The prohibition referred to in item 10 does not apply to investment financing with the exclusive purpose of recovering native vegetation in the embargoed area of the rural property, and the borrower must present the following documents in addition to those required for the granting of credit, which must integrate the operation's dossier:

a) a technical project prepared in accordance with applicable regulations and filed with the sanctioning environmental agency for the implementation of the recovery of the area embargoed due to illegal deforestation; and

b) proof of payment of fines for infractions related to the embargoes of the respective property in force at the time of contracting.

12 - Until June 30, 2027, the prohibition referred to in item 10 does not apply to the contracting of financing when the following requirements are cumulatively observed:

a) the borrower:

I - must present proof of payment of fines for infractions related to the embargoes of the respective property in force at the time of contracting, which must integrate the operation's dossier;

II - must have filed a technical project, prepared in accordance with applicable regulations, with the sanctioning environmental agency for the implementation of the recovery of the area embargoed due to illegal deforestation, which must integrate the operation's dossier, and the recovery of the embargoed area must begin within 6 (six) months after the contracting of rural credit under this item; and

III - must isolate the embargoed area with fencing or adopt another protection measure to enable vegetation recovery;

b) the borrower or the property has not been subject to sanction for non-compliance with environmental embargo, as recorded in the environmental infractions list of the Registry of Environmental Infractions and Embargoes of Ibama;

c) the resources of the rural credit cannot be used in activities developed in the embargoed area, except for the purpose referred to in item 11;

d) the embargoed area of the property must not be used for agricultural activities during the entire validity of the operation;

e) the CAR of the property must have an active status and the condition of "awaiting analysis", with no pending documents from the borrower for the CAR analysis;

f) there must be no agricultural activity on the rural property in the legal reserve and permanent preservation areas defined by law at the time of contracting and during the entire validity of the credit contract;

g) the embargoed area in the property cannot exceed 5% (five percent) of the total area of the property, observing the provision in item "h"; and

h) for embargoes due to illegal deforestation with notification issued from January 2, 2025, the embargoed area in the property cannot exceed 5% (five percent) of the total area of the property or twenty hectares, whichever is smaller.

13 - On rural properties occupied by agrarian reform settlements, by traditional peoples and communities, and in Public Irrigation Projects referred to in Law No. 12,787, of January 11, 2013, exclusively in cases where the CAR refers to the perimeter of the property for collective use, the impediment referred to in item 10 does not extend to the entire area of the rural property, being applied only to the embargoed area and for rural financing where the applicant is the responsible party for the embargo, as recorded in the Registry of Environmental Infractions and Embargoes of Ibama.

14 - Rural credit shall not be granted to an enterprise located on a rural property wholly or partially inserted in Public Forest Type B (Not Destined) registered in the National Registry of Public Forests (CNFP) of the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB).

15 - The prohibition referred to in item 14, provided that native vegetation is maintained in the Public Forest Type B area, does not cover:

a) rural properties with title of ownership; and

b) properties with up to fifteen fiscal modules, provided that the area occupied by the enterprise to be financed is not inserted, wholly or partially, in the respective Public Forest.

16 - The granting of rural credit with controlled resources, referred to in MCR 6-1-2, and with directed resources, referred to in MCR 6-7-7-"a", is prohibited for financing whose project or budget provides for the suppression of native vegetation.

17 - From January 2, 2026, the financial institution must verify whether there was suppression of native vegetation after July 31, 2019, on the rural property where the enterprise will be conducted, by consulting the information obtained and made available by the MMA from the database of the PRODES system of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).

18 - If suppression of native vegetation is found in the manner of item 17, the granting of rural credit with controlled resources, according to MCR 6-1-2, and with directed resources, according to MCR 6-7-7-"a", is conditioned on the presentation by the borrower of one of the following documents referring to the suppression found on the property, which will integrate the operation's dossier:

a) Authorization for Suppression of Vegetation (ASV) or Authorization for Alternative Use of Soil (UAS) related to the area deforested after July 31, 2019, according to Article 26 of Law No. 12,651, of May 25, 2012;

b) document proving that the Degraded or Altered Area Recovery Project (PRAD) or Environmental Regularization Program Commitment Term (PRA), approved by the competent environmental agency, has been executed or is being executed;

c) Term of Adjustment of Conduct (TAC) signed with the Public Ministry for environmental regularization; or

d) technical report of remote sensing, under the responsibility of the financial institution, proving the absence of deforestation on the rural property after July 31, 2019.

19 - The rural credit contract must provide that, if non-compliance with any environmental obligations on the rural property is verified during the validity of the financing, the operation may be downgraded in the form of MCR 2-8.