Senate Passes Bill Granting New Legal Status to Domestic Animals

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Senate approved, on Wednesday, August 7th, a bill establishing a specific legal framework for animals. Under the text (PLC 27/2018), animals may no longer be considered objects. The bill now returns to the Chamber of Deputies, as it was modified in the Senate.

Under the initiative of deputy Ricardo Izar, the bill establishes that animals will have a unique legal status, as subjects of dispersonified rights. They will be recognized as sentient beings, i.e., endowed with a biological and emotional nature and subject to suffering.

The text includes a new provision in the Environmental Crimes Law (Law 9,605 of 1998) stipulating that animals are no longer considered chattels under Brazil’s Civil Code (Law 10,402 of 2002). As a result of the amendments to the law, ansimals are granted an additional legal status in the event of ill-treatment, as they will no longer be deemed things, rather beings capable of experiencing emotional pain or suffering.

Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the project’s rapporteur in the Environment Commission (CMA), emphasized that the new law will not impact eating habits or cultural practices, but will contribute to raising awareness of Brazilian legislation over the treatment of other living beings. According to the senator, there is no chance of “thinking about human development if humankind does not have the ability to coexist with other species peacefully.”

The Senate bill excluded from the new status. animals used by agribusiness or involved in cultural heritage activities such as vaquejadas.

According to Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, the project does not affect agribusiness, but is a demonstration of humanity and civility.