The present research has as its theme biopiracy and the traditional customs of local communities, pointing out as a reason for this delimitation the concern in producing scientific knowledge for the discussion of issues concerning the legal protection of access to biodiversity and the misappropriation of its elements - biopiracy. Biopiracy is a new issue, still unregulated, without a specific definition. It seeks protection indirectly in sparse laws such as Law 9.605/98, which deals with Crimes against the Environment, specifically Crimes against Fauna and Flora, and in the Federal Constitution through the protection of biodiversity, as well as in the Convention on Biological Diversity. The objective of this study is to examine the criminal protection in Brazilian legislation against biopiracy, based on the criminal protection of biodiversity and its liability. The proposed problem consists of analyzing the need to criminalize biopiracy. The question is to what extent criminal protection can represent an efficient legal mechanism for the protection of Brazilian biodiversity and whether the exploitation of local communities of the Brazilian biome constitutes the crime

Lawyer, secretary general of the Nova Serrana/MG OAB's commission for legal aid lawyers. An eternal lover of law.