The Official Gazette of the Union published on Thursday, December 18th, Resolution CGen No. 50, of November 5, 2025, which establishes guidelines and criteria for the preparation and fulfillment of Non-Monetary Benefit Sharing Agreements (NMBAs) that have the Union as a party, as well as regulating the procedures to be adopted by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA) in cases where associated traditional knowledge (CTA) is identified as available in secondary sources within the scope of these proposals.
The regulation enters into force on the first business day of January 2026. In summary, Resolution CGen No. 50/2025:
• Defines general guidelines that should guide the MMA’s actions in the analysis, preparation, and fulfillment of NMBAs, including the presumption of good faith of the user, the protection of associated traditional knowledge, the use of the best available information, transparency, equal treatment, and evidence-based decision-making (Article 2, items I to X);
• Establishes criteria that must be observed as a condition for the signing of ARB-NM proposals by the Union (Article 3, items I to IV);
• Regulates the applicable procedures when a CTA (Technological Resource Acquisition) available in secondary sources is identified, providing for an assessment of whether the research, technological development, or notified product reproduces traditional use or was facilitated or made possible by this knowledge (Article 4, § 1, items I and II);
• It provides for formal communication to the user when the hypothesis of access to traditional knowledge from secondary sources is identified, ensuring the possibility of choosing between: (i) requesting the reclassification of the activity as access to associated traditional knowledge, with a deadline for registration regularization and presentation of a Benefit Sharing Agreement for access to traditional knowledge (BSA), not being subject to the administrative sanctions provided for in Decree 8.772/16 or (ii) maintaining the classification as exclusive access to genetic resources, by submitting a specific declaration and supporting documentation (art. 4, § 2, item II, subparagraphs “a” and “b”, and §§ 3 to 7);
• Establishes the requirements and minimum content of the declaration that the user must issue in cases where the maintenance of the classification as exclusive access to genetic resources is chosen, including the assumption of legal responsibility and the possibility of recourse action by the Union (Article 4, § 5, items I to IV; Article 5; and Annex);
CGen Resolution No. 50/2025 applies to ARB-NM proposals that have the Union as a party and that are still under analysis for signature by the MMA.
The Environmental, Regulatory and Biodiversity Law team at NMSA actively monitors and participates in discussions related to the topic and continues to monitor the developments of the implementation of CGen Resolution No. 50/2025, remaining available for further clarification on the practical impacts of the regulation and the obligations arising therefrom.
Evelini Oliveira de Figueiredo Fonseca | evelini.fonseca@nascimentomourao.adv.br
Partner in the Environmental, Regulatory and Biodiversity Law area
Bruna Aveiro Santos | bruna.aveiro@nascimentomourao.adv.br
Lawyer in the Environmental, Regulatory and Biodiversity Law area
