Gilmar suspends presumption of ‘good faith’ in the gold market – 04/04/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

The minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Gilmar Mendes suspended, this Tuesday (4), the legal provision that instituted the so-called “presumption of good faith” in the gold trade.

The measure is provided for in a 2013 law and allows gold to be traded in Brazil only based on information from sellers. In practice, according to experts, the principle facilitates illegal mining in the country.

The magistrate says that “the legislative diploma in question made private monitoring unfeasible by making the buyer not responsible, which encouraged the illegal market, leading to the growth of environmental degradation and the increase of violence in the municipalities where mining is illegal”.

The minister also determined the adoption, within 90 days, by the Executive Power of the Union, of a new normative framework for the inspection of the gold trade.

“It is necessary that this spurious consortium, formed between illegal mining and criminal organizations, be paralyzed as soon as possible”, says Gilmar Mendes.

The decision was made within the scope of a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality filed by the PSB and the Sustainability Network. She questioned an amendment by deputy Odair Cunha (PT-MG), according to which the word of the gold seller was enough to attest that its origin is legal. Thus, the buyer assumed that the truth was being told, and was not punished if one day the contrary was proven.

In practice, however, the law limited the supervision, by the Central Bank, of financial institutions accredited to operate with gold, the so-called Distribuidora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários (DTVMs). It also compromised the criminal punishment of these establishments, in case an investigation proved that the gold came from an environmental reserve, for example.

DTVMs are a fundamental link in the chain of legalization of gold taken from indigenous lands and reserve areas. It is in these companies that the illegal prospector can present a forged mining permit and leave with the invoice that makes the product legal to be transported and traded.

Gilmar Mendes’ decision is in line with a proposal by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which had been preparing to revoke the law of presumption of good faith.

On the last day (30), the Federal Revenue published a normative instruction in which it adopts the electronic invoice for the commercialization of gold from mining. The adoption of electronic invoices was the first change in a package of legal amendments planned for mining.

Since 2001, the Revenue has maintained the use of paper notes, although the digitalized document is already used in most sectors. The electronic invoice will be required in July this year.

The change was a request from environmental organizations, entities in the mining sector and even the Federal Police, as it was considered an important instrument to combat illegal mining, mainly in indigenous lands and environmental reserves.

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Actress Alexandra Richter received guests at the premiere of the show “Gargalhada Selvagem”, directed by Guilherme Weber, held at Teatro Porto, in São Paulo, on Saturday (1st). The actors Ailton Graça and Rodrigo Sant’anna.

_{with CLEO GUIMARÃES (interim)BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH}

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