A WEEE Bill for Amazonas
Saturday, September 26th, 2009This week Amazonas (AM) became the latest state in which a bill on “technological trash” (lixo tecnologico or e-lixo) – the Brazilians nickname for what is known elsewhere as WEEE or e-waste — has been introduced. Unlike bills recently introduced in the northeastern states of Bahia and Pernambuco, which are based primarily on a Law on […]
São Paulo Adopts a WEEE Law
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009The state assembly of the state of São Paulo (SP) today passed a law on “technological trash” (lixo tecnológico) that is likely to have a significant impact on the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) product and component business in Brazil. SP is Brazil’s biggest EEE market and home to much of its EEE industry, and […]
New Pharmaceutical Labeling Rules Proposed in Brazil
Friday, April 10th, 2009Brazil’s National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (ANVISA) is proposing changes in package labeling rules for pharmaceuticals sold in that country (as set out in ANVISA Resolution RDC 333/03) with a view to making pack labels more informative to consumers. For example, the proposals released for public consultation (until 11 May) would make medicines with a sedative […]
New Brazilian Rules on Pharmaceutical Marketing
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008Brazil’s Health Minister, José Gomes Temporão, and the head of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Dirceu Raposo, recently announced new rules on pharmaceutical marketing in that country to replace less ambitious ones adopted in 2000. The new rules aim at substantially changing how medicines are promoted in Latin America’s largest pharma market, and may […]
First Mandatory Standby Power Label for TVs in LAC
Monday, August 11th, 2008Quiz: Which is the first Latin American nation — and one of the few in the world at this point — that requires all new television sets with cathode ray tubes (CRTs) — whether locally made or imported — to bear a labeling disclosing to the consumer the standby power rating for the set? Answer: […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An interesting thing happened over the last two weeks. Well, interesting to people like me who’ve been following the packaging waste debate for decades, at least. Environment enforcement officials for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state “blitzed” supermarkets in Rio de Janeiro city — first on 19 October in the well-to-do Leblon section, then on 23 […]
Alcohol Consumption in Brazil IV: Drinking-Related Problems; Policy Responses
Sunday, October 14th, 2007At end-2005, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) resolved to undertake a regional effort to combat alcohol consumption under the guidance of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). As they do, they’ll likely study the efforts of Brazil to take the lead on the issue. This past spring Brazil adopted a national policy and not […]