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Loading ...More Brazilian States Opt for Smoke-Free Environments
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009The push for smoke-free environments continues to march across Brazilian states — how long before federal legislators decide to extend such protections nationwide? Today the governors of the southern state of Paraná (PR) and the western state of Amazonas (AM) signed new tobacco control laws, joining Ceará (CE), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo […]
Ceará Limits Public Smoking
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Today Ceará (CE) became the latest Brazilian state (after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) to severely restrict smoking in public areas. The governor signed a law that prohibits smoking any product, whether derived from tobacco or not, in “collective enclosures” except in segregated areas that have a physical barrier separating them from nonsmokers with […]
A Smokeless Rio?
Monday, August 17th, 2009If you’ve ever been to Rio de Janeiro (RJ), you know that it’s not exactly a nonsmoker’s paradise. Despite all the health warnings and studies issued over the years, quite a bit of smoking still occurs in public places within the state. Not for much longer. Or at least that’s the stated legislative intent of […]
Checking on the Green Protocol
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009At a ceremony today in which Brazil’s Central Bank joined public and private banks in signing the “Green Protocol” of environmental commitments, Environment Minister Carlos Minc announced that an upcoming meeting with public banks and the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) will the rules for reporting how banks are meeting their Protocol commitments. Proper reporting, […]
Brazilian Banks Assume Environmental Commitment
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Brazilian businesses depending on bank financing for their economic activities will have to prove from now on that they are committed to developing socio-environmental policies, such as those regarding respect for human and workers’ rights, conservation of biodiversity, valuing the diversity of local cultures, reduction of poverty and income distribution inequality. This is the intended […]
Brazil Proposes Energy Labels for Buildings
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009Yesterday Brazil’s National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro) published for public comment in the official gazette (the Official Daily of the Union – Diário Oficial da União) a draft administrative rule (portaria) on the award of certification labels for energy efficiency in public, commercial and service buildings. It is supplemented by an […]
PROCON: Firms Still Not Obeying Customer Service Rules
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009Recently Brazil’s Justice Ministry (MJ) warned firms that they better get fully into compliance with the customer service decree (“SAC Decree” or “call center decree”) and its related portarias. Now the consumer protection authority (PROCON) of Brazil’s economic powerhouse, São Paulo (SP), reports on where compliance stands after the Ministry warning and its efforts to […]
SP Governor Proposes Very Tough Smoking Ban
Thursday, September 4th, 2008On August 28 — Brazil’s National Day to Combat Tobacco — José Serra, the Governor of the state with the biggest market in the nation, São Paulo, sent to the state legislature a bill would ban smoking in areas of collective use, whether public or private. The bill looks to be one of the toughest […]
O futuro é hoje!
Thursday, September 27th, 2007It is a pleasure to welcome a second guest post by Brazilian Federal Deputy Arnaldo Jardim — for a full introduction please see his "Cidadania Ambiental." As I mentioned in that post, for those of you who cannot read Portuguese, you can always use the handy translation button in the righthand column of this blog. […]
Consumer Protection in LAC IV – Consumer NGOs in LAC
Monday, April 23rd, 2007To make up for missing World Consumer Rights Day (March 15), I promised to give you a five-part overview of consumer protection in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In Part I, I looked at how consumer agencies and consumer NGOs in the region celebrated the Day. In Part II-A I examined how intergovernmental bodies […]