Brazil Updates Mandatory Energy Label for Air Conditioners
Saturday, August 1st, 2009Brazil recently adopted a new set of rules for conformity assessment and energy effficiency labeling for air conditioners. Among other things, National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro) Portaria 215, adopted on 23 July 2009 and published in the federal gazette on 27 July: extended the rules and compulsory labeling requirement (see sample […]
Brazil Bans DDT
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009Brazilian President Lula just signed a law banning all manufacture, import, export, stocking, sale or use of the organochlorine pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, more commonly known as DDT. The law also requires (a) the incineration of all existing DDT stocks in Brazil within 30 days; (b) federal agencies to complete a study within two years of the environmental […]
Thermal Power Plants Will Have to Compensate for Carbon Emissions
Friday, March 20th, 2009Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc says he will sign in April an administrative rule (portaria) that will require all thermo-electric power plants (burning petroleum or coal) seeking environmental licenses from the national environment agency, IBAMA, to provide for compensation (abatement) measures for their carbon emissions before they will be granted a license. The portaria will […]
Recycling Used Motor Oil Packaging in Brazil
Thursday, December 25th, 2008In past posts I’ve discussed how recovery of used motor oil is still in its early stages in Latin American nations such as Brazil and Colombia. But that’s only part of the waste problem generated by the lubricants we use in motor vehicles. There’s also the packaging that the new motor oil comes in, the […]
If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It
Friday, February 1st, 2008Quite a few Temas Blog readers noticed the absence of new posts for several weeks. I was fully occupied with work day-and-night on the final stages of the total revamp and re-launch of my main site, temasactuales.com Although work continues on the Spanish and Portuguese versions (coming soon!), the burden has lightened enough that I […]
Brazil Wants CFCs Out of Inhalers
Thursday, November 1st, 2007Synopsis in English: Brazil's National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (ANVISA) just published a portaria (an administrative regulation) that will ban, as of 01 January 2008, the production and import of medicines in metered dose inhalers (MDIs) that contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as propellent. Anvisa is asking for public comment on the measure [Temas Observation: Interesting how Anvisa […]
New Rules for Used Oil Recycling in Brazil
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007At the end of August Brazil published an inter-ministerial portaria setting minimum parameters for the collection of used or contaminated oil (lubricants). A portaria is an administrative rule implementing a regulatory measure — usually adopted by a single ministry or agency, except where the subject matter (such as this one) cuts across several jurisdictions and […]
Consumer Protection in LAC II-B – Consumer Legislation in LAC Nations
Tuesday, April 17th, 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 provided an overview of […]
Consumer Protection in LAC II-A – The Intergovernmental Actors
Friday, April 13th, 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. Today I’ll provide an overview of and guide […]