On January 14, 2022, Decree No. 10,940/2022 ("Decree") was published in the Federal Official Gazette, redirecting to Brazil's National Council of Energy ("CNPE") the administrative responsibility for fixing the anhydrous ethanol content in gasoline in the country, which until then was the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply and conditioned to the approval of the Interministerial Council for Sugar and Alcohol ("CIMA"), which was abolished in 2019.
Law No. 8.723, of October 28, 1993, provides the mandatory addition of 22% of anhydrous ethyl alcohol fuel to gasoline throughout the entire country, granting the Executive Branch the ability to increase the percentage up to a maximum of 27.5%, as long as its technical feasibility is verified, or reducing it to 18%.
The Decree also altered changed the competences of CNPE, as it had been laid out in Decree 3,520/2000, to set the percentage of anhydrous fuel ethanol to be add to gasoline, within the limits set by Law 8,723/1993.
Among the changes introduced by the Decree, the Chief State Ministry of Institutional Safety Office of the Presidency, the Special Secretary of Strategic Affairs of the Presidency and the President of the Energy Research Company – EPE, are now members of CNPE.
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