The bill on the conversion of the Provisional Measure 458/09, on the agrarian regulation in the Amazon region, presented on Thursday (19), by its rapporteur, Deputy Asdrubal Bentes (PMDB-PA), deeply changed the government’s bill. The new text allows the acquisition of federal land which had been irregularly occupied, for at least one uninterrupted year, by February 2009. The government’s bill required that the land had been settled since before December 2004. The rapporteur also eliminated restrictions, such as the exclusion of corporations (companies, NGOs and associations, for instance) of the benefits provided by the new rules.

Foreigners
The conversion project, such as the original text of the MP, forbids foreigners to receive land in the Amazon region, according to the new streamlined rules. “There is a specific legislation [which restricts the acquisition of rural land by foreigners]”, reminded Bentes.

The old MP closed, though, a gap in law used by foreigners to acquire land in the Amazon region, by forbidding the title acquisition by corporations – which was eliminated from the text by its rapporteur.

Democratic game
The deputy assessed that, despite the changes in several points of the MP, his report maintained the essence of the bill. “I am from the Amazon region, I know the reality of the region, and it is there [in the report]. Why would I penalize the people who went to the Amazon region out of good will?” he argued, referring to the settlers.

He said he does not fear seeing his project of conversion provoking an impasse in the very allied basis of the Executive, of which he is part, such as with the report of Deputy Tadeu Filippelli (PMDB-DF) on the MP 449/08, which changes the rules on tax system. “That is part of the democratic game”, he affirmed.

Greater benefits
According to Bentes’ texts, the settlers in rural area will have to prove that they had been present in the estate since at least one year before February 11th, 2009, and not that they had settled in the lot before December 1st, 2004, as it had been provided for in the original MP. “Those who were in the land in 2004 are as legal as those who settled afterwards. Either we regulate everything or not at all”, argued the deputy.

The conversion bill, different from the original MP, allows civil servants – except those working in bodies involved in agrarian issues – and owners of other rural estates in Brazil to receive the land they occupy with the benefits described in the MP (with the right to property of up to one fiscal module for free, or of larger lots, with up to fifteen modules, without bidding processes.)

In the later case, the price of land will be established by the National Institute on Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) and can be split in up to 20 years, with readjusted installments, but with no interest rate. The acquisition of properties measuring up to four modules will have a 50% discount in the installments if all children of the purchaser from 7 to 14 years old attend school.

Bentes preserved the possibility a 20% discount for cash payments.

Title transference
According to the conversion bill, it will be possible to negotiate property titles or concessions obtained according to the rules of the MP – what was forbidden in the original text for at least 10 years after their acquisition.

According to the rapporteur, because of that prohibition, a parallel market would be created, which Public Power would pretend to ignore”. According to him, the so-called “drawer contracts” (unofficial contracts) would be the rule, and the people would sell [the land] in an unofficial way”.

According to Bentes, the authorization to sell real estate will allow transparency. “All will know who bought and who sold what”, he alleged.

Report - Edvaldo Fernandes
Editing- João Pitella Junior
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda