Brazil Prioritizes Bioinputs Regulations As Industry Calls For Modernization

12 October 2026, São Paulo: The Secretariat of Agricultural Defense at Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (SDA/MAPA) is concentrating its efforts on regulating the country’s bioinputs legal framework, established by Law No. 15,070/2024, even if this means temporarily slowing work on the implementing decree for the new Pesticides Law (Law No. 14,785/2023).

The decision was outlined by Agricultural Defense Secretary Carlos Goulart during a meeting of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG) Input Committee, where he discussed regulatory priorities and the modernization of the Ministry’s procedures.

According to Goulart, the decision reflects the different stages of implementation of the two laws and their respective impacts on the sectors concerned. While Law No. 14,785/2023 is largely self-executing, allowing most of its provisions to be applied without an implementing decree, the absence of specific regulations for bioinputs represents a more significant obstacle for the industry, particularly in terms of legal certainty, product registrations and investment.

The development of bioinputs regulations is being coordinated by the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Presidency (Casa Civil), which is facilitating discussions among government agencies and holding rounds of dialogue with private-sector representatives. According to the secretary, the challenge is to ensure that the decree remains within the limits established by law while accommodating the characteristics of a sector encompassing different production models and uses of biological products.

Goulart also advocated simplifying procedures without compromising the technical quality of assessments. “Complicated and complex regulation does not mean rigorous assessment,” he said. Potential measures include more inclusive regulatory models, dual-purpose products, multiple registrations and procedures proportionate to risk.

The secretary stressed, however, that publication of the decree will not conclude the regulatory process. The broad scope of Law No. 15,070/2024 will require specific secondary regulations covering areas such as phytosanitary control, plant nutrition, animal feed and veterinary medicines. Until these rules are issued, registrations and imports of biological products will continue to follow the regulatory frameworks applicable to their respective categories.

Industry backs priority but calls for modernization

The Ministry’s decision is considered appropriate by Mauro Heringer, international relations director at the Brazilian Association of Bioinputs Industries (ABINBIO). In his view, prioritizing bioinputs regulations is a technically justified allocation of government resources and addresses one of the main bottlenecks facing the sector.

“The decision to prioritize bioinputs regulations rather than spread MAPA’s technical resources across different priorities demonstrates a correct understanding of the sector’s real bottleneck — and directly reflects what the biologicals industry has been highlighting for some time,” Heringer said.

The industry representative agrees that the largely self-executing nature of Law No. 14,785/2023 allows technical resources to be focused on implementing Law No. 15,070/2024. According to ABINBIO, the absence of specific regulations undermines the predictability needed for business development, product registrations and investment in a segment in which Brazil holds a prominent international position.

Heringer also supports the coordination led by Casa Civil and the dialogue between the government and the private sector. However, he emphasizes that the process’s effectiveness depends on compliance with the limits established by law and the resolution of disagreements within the industry itself. In ABINBIO’s view, the rules must preserve inclusive regulatory models and apply technical criteria that tailor procedures to each product’s risk profile, without compromising quality and safety standards.

The ABINBIO director, however, argues that the discussion must extend beyond the drafting of legal instruments. He says regulatory modernization must be accompanied by tangible changes to the administrative procedures used by federal and state regulatory agencies.

“Modernizing the legal framework will achieve little if it does not translate into more effective and streamlined secondary regulatory procedures within the public agencies and operators responsible for regulating biological and chemical inputs,” he said.

In this context, Heringer advocates modernizing information systems and adopting new procedural methods, with an emphasis on digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI). The objective, he says, is to optimize workflows and make administrative decisions concerning registrations of biological and chemical inputs more efficient and predictable.

The proposal is consistent with support for a regulatory model combining greater accountability for economic operators with auditing and risk management, without eliminating registration requirements or lowering product quality standards.

Siscomex and Plant Variety Protection Law expand the agenda

Another issue highlighted by Heringer is the need for companies to prepare for the planned discontinuation of the previous import system within Brazil’s Single Foreign Trade Portal (Portal Único Siscomex), scheduled for Jan. 1, 2027. The ABINBIO director recommends that companies immediately begin testing and adjusting their processes to avoid operational disruptions and additional transaction costs.

Updating Brazil’s Plant Variety Protection Law is also part of the modernization agenda. Goulart said progress on the proposal depends on the National Congress and that legislative proceedings could gain momentum after the election period. MAPA considers the draft legislation mature and has issued a favorable opinion with reservations, most of which were subsequently incorporated into the legislative report.

The secretary highlighted the progress made in negotiations over the past two years compared with the nearly three decades of discussions that preceded them. The legislation will mark its 30th anniversary in 2027, a milestone that Heringer considers an opportunity to consolidate convergence among the different segments of Brazilian agribusiness.

For the ABINBIO director, the sector faces a strategic window of opportunity combining bioinputs regulations, an update to plant variety protection legislation and the government’s commitment to reducing Brazil’s cost of doing business. Success, he argues, will depend on continued dialogue between the government and industry and on the ability to translate legal advances into simpler, more predictable and more efficient procedures without sacrificing technical rigor.

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