The main objective of this study is to evaluate the licensing process in Brazil, trying to understand how it has changed over the past few years and how it has been perceived by society. Brazil, a continental country with an accelerated process of urbanization which requires investments in its industrial parks and infrastructure, shows an increasing number of environmental licensing processes. Environmental agencies and intervening organizations have resource deficits. Municipalities have difficulties to generate revenue and to enforce essential public policies. Society sees in the large investors a possible solution to attend suppressed demands to improved quality of life. This is the scenario in which enterprises need to be inserted and be licensed. The environmental licensing process in Brazil can be conducted by environmental agencies of all three government levels (federal, state and municipal). Characteristics of the project and its location will determine which of them will lead the process. Although the licensing process is conducted by a single environmental agency, there is still the need for participation of other governmental entities linked to different Ministries. In Brazil there are currently 39 Ministries, and it cannot be expected for institutional interrelations to be well established and with a clear hierarchy. The Preliminary License should be authorized upon determination of environmental viability, however with so many factors and stakeholders involved it is natural that conflicts should arise. The environmental licensing process in Brazil has been criticized by the various stakeholders involved. While impacts to the physical and biotic environment generate fewer conflicts in the identification and proposal of measures, those impacts associated with social and economic aspects often arouse conflicts of difficult resolution that have often led to judicial processes.