In a ceremony at Planalto Palace this Sunday (1), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed first acts of the new government. They included provisional measures, decrees and dispatches that will be published in Brazil’s Federal Register. During that same ceremony, 37 ministries were sworn into office.
The main topics were the measures to guarantee the monthly payment of 600 reais to those who receive Bolsa Família (Family Grant), restructuring the gun control policy, environmental crimes control and the reactivation of the Amazon Fund.
Lula also signed a dispatch that provides for the Comptroller General of Brazil to reassess, within 30 days, the decisions of former President Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) that imposed undue secrecy on documents and information from the public administration.
Read below for more about the acts Lula signed:
Gun control
Lula signed a decree that begins the country’s gun control restructuring process. The document reduces gun and ammunition access and the registration of new guns for the restricted use of Hunters, Marksmen and Collectors (CACs, in Portuguese). It also suspends authorizations for new shooting clubs until new regulations are issued.
The decree conditions gun possession to prove it is needed (currently, a simple statement was enough) and determines the re-registration, in 60 days, of all guns acquired after the enactment of Decree No. 9785/2019. The re-registration has to be done in the National Weapons System (Sinarm, in Portuguese) from the Federal Police.
The restrictions established by the decree President Lula signed include the prohibition of carrying loaded guns, the practice of sport shooting by people under 18 and the reduction from six to three in the number of guns an ordinary citizen can have, among others. With the decree, the president determined the creation of a working group that has to present, within 60 days, a proposal for a new regulation of the Disarmament Statute.
Tackling environmental crimes and deforestation
The decree reestablishes the fight against the deforestation of the Amazon, Cerrado and all other Brazilian biomes, resuming the role of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama, in Portuguese). Through the dispatch, the president provided for the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to present, within 45 days, a proposal for a new regulation of the National Council for the Environment (Conama, in Portuguese).
In another decree signed this Sunday, Lula reestablishes the Amazon Fund and makes the application of 3.3 billion reais (about 618 million US dollars) in donations feasible. This money is an international donation to tackle environmental crimes in the Amazon rainforest.
By means of a decree, too, the president revoked a measure of the previous government that encouraged illegal mining in the Amazon, in Indigenous lands and areas of environmental protection.
Undue secrecy
The president signed a dispatch determining that the Comptroller General of Brazil reassess, within 30 days, decisions taken by former-President Bolsonaro that imposed undue secrecy on documents and information from the public administration.
Decrees that segregate
With two decrees, President Lula suspended a previous document that segregated children, teenagers and adults with health conditions or impairments, preventing their access to inclusive education. The decrees also overturned a measure that made it more difficult for social participation in discussions and elaboration of public policies.
Reassessment of privatizations
Lula determined to ministries that they have to submit proposals for removing public companies such as Petrobras, Correios and Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), among others, from the privatization process.
Tribute and encouragement to recyclable waste pickers
Paying homanage to the memory of Diogo Santana, a social activist, Brazil’s president determined that the General Secretariat prepare a proposal to recreate Pró-Catadores, a program to support the activities of recyclable waste pickers.
Edited by: Thalita Pires e Flávia Chacon
