On August 8, 2025, Federal Law No. 15.190/2025 (“General Licensing Law”) was published, which governs Environmental Licensing, after years of discussions on various draft laws that addressed the topic. The creation of a law that comprehensively governed environmental licensing in Brazil was a legitimate expectation of different sectors, seeking greater legal certainty and national standardization of one of the most complex and bureaucratic processes in Public Administration, but which provides greater security in environmental protection.

However, the General Licensing Law addressed controversial points that sometimes lack legal basis and violate important constitutional provisions. Upon enacting the law, the President of the Republic vetoed 63 provisions, as announced through Message No. 1,097/2025. Even so, some legal flaws remain.

In addition to the vetoes, the Executive Branch submitted Bill No. 3834/2025 to the National Congress, which aims to amend several provisions of the recently published law in an attempt to reconcile the interests of the different branches of government. Furthermore, it issued Provisional Measure No. 1,308, of August 8, 2025, which establishes the Special Environmental License and which, at the time of writing, already had 833 amendments in the National Congress.

This Technical Note, prepared by the LACLIMA team, aims to analyze the General Licensing Law from the technical perspective of Environmental Law, considering two approaches: firstly, the constitutionality of the law, considering the provisions of the Federal Constitution and the principles of Environmental Law involved; secondly, from the perspective of conventionality, considering different international instruments to which Brazil is a party.

Ultimately, this Technical Note aims to provide legal support to anyone interested in the constitutionality of the aforementioned legislation. Its objective is not to exhaust the subject of the General Licensing Law, but only to address its main points of constitutional conflict and its alignment with international treaties that are binding in Brazil.

Document prepared by: André Castro Santos and André Ferreira de Castilho

DOI : https://doi.org/10.63806/7