Environmental Control Brigade

Through Resolution No. 306/2020 (“Resolution No. 306”), published in the Official Gazette on September 8, 2020, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development created an Environmental Control Brigade (“EVB”) whose objective is the protection of the environment and natural resources through the exercise of the federal environmental police force.

Resolution No. 306 repeals Resolution No. 41/2018 issued by the former State Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development, by means of which the Specialized Body for Environmental Auditing and Control was created. Both the objective and the main functions of said body were very similar to those currently envisaged to the EVB, with the difference that the latter has been endowed with a series of powers that were not previously provided. Among such powers we highlight the following:

1. To immediately enter all public or private facilities and activities that are governed by regulations whose enforcement authority is, directly or subsidiarily, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, to conduct control or monitor tasks;
2. In case of opposition, when the entry is prevented, when the corresponding information is denied or when deemed necessary, to require the assistance of the public force in order to cease the environmental harmful activity that is detected or activities that do not comply with environmental regulations and, should this occur, to request the necessary search warrants for such purposes;
3. In case of detecting a breach of environmental regulations, to order the immediate interruption of the activity, adopting the necessary preventive measures, such as the suspension or cancellation of registrations with the registries kept by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the total or partial preventive closure of the site, the total or partial cessation or suspension of activities, sealing, confiscation or seizure of machinery and non-human living beings or their products, by-products, derivatives and remains, as well as any other element used to commit or facilitate the commission of the possible infringement, which will be subject to subsequent confirmation;
4. To carry out any other diligence that is expressly or reasonably implicit in order to comply with the objectives of the control procedure.

In addition, Resolution No. 306 replaces section 12 of Resolution No. 1135/2015 issued by the former Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development, incorporating within the chapter of preventive and/or provisional measures a series of powers granted to the acting inspectors if an existence of danger of serious or irreversible damage to people’s health or the environment and any non-compliance with environmental regulations of which the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development is the enforcement authority is detected. Within the powers we can mention the possibility of carrying out total or partial preventive closures and the total or partial cessation or suspension of activities, among others.

In addition, Resolution No. 306 contains an annex with provisions regarding a series of general concepts such as the requirements that the inspection reports must comply with, the procedure in the event of obstructions to control proceedings, the application of preventive measures and their possible lifting (provisional and/or definitive), the deadlines for the public administration to issue a decision in this regard, among others.

Lastly, Resolution No. 306 instructs the Undersecretariat of Control and Remediation to draft a Management Handbook in order to develop the procedures that are conducted within the Inspections Department.