Overall, the changes to the forest code reduced by 58% the total forest area to be restored (to about 210 000 km2), affecting mainly the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes (Soares-Filho et al., Registration in the CAR is mandatory for all rural properties and holdings, including information about the RL and APP in each area, by May 2016. The rural properties that do not comply with the land set-aside obligations will be required to join a state-level environmental regularisation programme. As required by the Brazilian Central Bank, CAR registration will be a condition to access rural credits, from both public and private banks, as from October 2017.