The environmental embargoes check is a Brazil local law check that OriginsNext runs for each farm on an Order. It compares the farm with the register of environmental embargoes published by IBAMA (the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and saves the result as Evidence for that farm. You set it up through an Order's compliance requirements, using the template Local law compliance (farm), and start it from the Order's Compliance tab. This article explains how to set up the check, start it and read the results.
Note: Environmental embargoes is the only Brazil local law check offered at the moment. It checks farms in Brazil.
What the environmental embargoes check looks for
The environmental embargoes check looks for embargoes in the IBAMA register that share land with the farm's boundary, or that name the CNPJ (Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica, the Brazilian company registration number) of the farm's owner. Each match is listed as a finding or as information:
Match | Where it is listed |
An active embargo that shares land with the farm's boundary or names the owner's CNPJ | Findings |
A lifted embargo | Information |
A small edge overlap: 0.5 ha or less of shared land that is also 1% or less of the farm | Information |
Matches listed under Information are noted for your records and do not count as findings. If the farm's owner has no CNPJ on file, only the land is checked, and the result says "The farm owner has no CNPJ on file, so only the land was checked." The check compares the register with the farm's boundary, so add the farm's boundary before you start the check.
Set up the check on an Order
To set up the environmental embargoes check, add a supporting requirement that uses the template Local law compliance (farm) to an Evidence Template used on Orders, then add that Evidence Template to the Order's compliance requirements:
Go to Evidence Tracking > Templates and open the Evidence Template you use on the Order, or click + Add evidence template to create one.
In the Supporting evidence requirements table, click Add requirement. The Add supporting evidence requirement window opens.
Enter a Requirement name, for example IBAMA environmental embargoes, and set Applied to to Location.
In Supporting evidence requirement, choose Local law compliance (farm).
Set Check against, for example to Ordered product locations, and in Location type choose the type you use for farms, for example Farm.
Under Modules required for compliance, tick Environmental embargoes.
Click Add requirement, then save the Evidence Template.
Open the Order, go to the Compliance tab and click Edit next to Order compliance requirements. In Evidence requirements, tick the Evidence Template and click Save.
For the other fields in the window, see How do I configure supporting requirements on an Evidence Template? For adding requirements to an Order, see How do I add compliance requirements to an Order?
Start the check
To start the environmental embargoes check on an Order:
Open the Order and go to the Compliance tab.
Under Order compliance requirements, click the environmental embargoes requirement. Its panel lists the Order's farms.
Click Start Environmental embargoes assessment. One check runs for each farm, and its result is saved as Evidence for that farm.
The panel then sums up the checks, for example "4 of 4 locations checked · 4 with findings", and each farm's row shows its result, for example Findings identified. A farm with any finding is shown in red, even if other checks on it passed. Click View on a row to open the farm's result.
Read the result
Each farm's result is Evidence numbered with the prefix LAW- (deforestation checks use DEF-). In the evidence details, each check has its own card, for example Environmental embargoes. The card shows its outcome first, such as Findings identified with the number of findings, and starts closed: click Show details to open it and Hide details to close it.
The details show:
The register edition the check used, on a line that starts "Register: IBAMA", and the note "A result is a snapshot of the register edition shown. A newer edition does not change it; run the check again to use it."
Checked boundary: a map of the farm's boundary that was checked, with Download boundary (GeoJSON). Under the map, a note reads "The satellite image is a composite of photos taken on different dates. It may not show the forest as it was on {date}."
Findings and Information: each matched embargo, with labelled fields such as Matched by (Farm boundary or CNPJ of the owner), Shared land, Share of farm, Place, Area stated in the register, Lifted on, Embargoed party and Register description. For a match on the owner's CNPJ, the owner's CNPJ is shown.
A farm only shows the checks that ran there. A check that has not run at a farm yet says "This check has not run at this farm yet." If no copy of the register was available when the check ran, the result reads "Inconclusive: no copy of the register is available yet. Run the check again once it is."
Important: The environmental embargoes check gives a screening result against the IBAMA register edition shown. It is not a legal finding of non-compliance, and how you use it in your due diligence is your decision.
For deforestation checks, see How do I run a deforestation assessment on an Order? For what each status means, see What do the Evidence status labels mean?