Action for Declaration of Unconstitutionality 3009429-27.2026.8.19.0000

In May 2026, the Attorney General of the State of Rio de Janeiro filed a Representation of Unconstitutionality (RI) before the Court of Justice with the objective of declaring the unconstitutionality of Municipal Complementary Law 281/2025, subsequently amended by Complementary Law 291/2025, both from the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro. The law promotes changes and flexibilities in the urban and building parameters established by the Master Plan, instituting a broad exceptional regime for the regularization, licensing, and expansion of buildings through the payment of financial compensation to the Municipality. The legislative changes allow the legalization of irregular constructions, the addition of sidewalks, horizontal and vertical expansion of buildings, the enclosure of balconies, and changes in real estate uses.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the legislation promotes structural changes in municipal urban policy without observing the constitutional limits applicable to territorial planning and without conducting studies that demonstrate the environmental and urban carrying capacity of the municipal territory, transforming exceptional regularization mechanisms into permanent instruments for expanding the city's construction potential. It pointed out that these mechanisms are operationalized through digital self-declaration procedures and impact assessments without sufficient technical guarantees. This scenario is aggravated by the inadequate regulation of the Neighborhood Impact Study and Report at the municipal level, which compromises the prior assessment of urban impacts and the observance of the principles of precaution, the social function of the city, and the democratic management of the territory. The public prosecutor argues that the law violates several provisions of the Constitution of the State of Rio de Janeiro related to the social function of the city and property, sustainable urban planning and development, popular participation, the protection of cultural heritage, the right to an ecologically balanced environment, and the guideline for reducing socio-environmental vulnerabilities.

It highlights how Technical Information from the Specialized Technical Support Group (GATE/MPRJ) indicates that the expansion of construction potential resulting from vertical and horizontal additions may cause damage to the urban landscape, increase soil impermeability, intensify the risk of flooding, and overload the drainage infrastructure, especially in areas already classified as having a high degree of climate vulnerability. It emphasizes that the flexibilities promoted by LC 281/2025 affect areas already subject to significant environmental and climate vulnerabilities, notably risks of flooding and the formation of urban heat islands, and highlights that the changes may contribute to increased local temperatures and the worsening of urban thermal discomfort. It concludes that such changes are incompatible with the Sustainable Development and Climate Action Plan of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, contradict guidelines aimed at protecting the landscape, addressing climate change, and preserving the natural and cultural values of the city, and violate the precautionary duty established in Advisory Opinion 23/2017 (OC-23/2025) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). As a preliminary measure, it requests the suspension of the effects of the challenged regulation and, on the merits, a judgment declaring the regulation unconstitutional.