Rebeca Duran

Rebeca Duran

Staff Writer
The Brazil Business

Updated

How to Classify Goods Imported to Brazil

Rebeca Duran

Rebeca Duran

Staff Writer
The Brazil Business

Updated

Goods imported to any part of the world must be classified for customs and if they were imported to Brazil they must be as well. The Brazilian classification system named NCM is based in the harmonized system applicable worldwide.

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System

The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of tariff nomenclature – also known as HS – is an international standardized system used for classifying imported and exported products. The system was developed by the World Customs Organization and nowadays more than 200 countries or territories are employing the HS worldwide.

The contracting parties must base their taxation system on the HS nomenclature, but they are allowed to set their own duty rates. Most of of the parties used the system for:

  • custom taxes
  • collection of international trade statistics
  • product origin rules
  • internal tax collection
  • trade negotiations
  • transport taxes and statistics
  • monitoring of controlled goods

Nomenclature Rules and Classification

The goods are classified in increasing order of human participation in their elaboration. The system first assigns goods to categories of natural and crude products and progresses to assign goods to categories with higher complexity. The HS is subdivided in 21 sections that contains 99 chapters. Among these chapters, three of them were purposely left blank:

  • Chapter 77: future international use only.
  • Chapter 98 and 99: special classification provisions used by each party, according to the country's party rules.

The HS used names and numbers to classify products, being the nomenclature composed by six digits, each one representing a specific function:

Levels of Classification Digits of Classification
Chapter 000000 first two digits
Position 000000 third and fourth digits
Simple Sub Position 000000 fifth digit
Composed Sub Position 000000 sixth digit


Some countries already had extended their nomenclatures to ten or eight digits. In Brazil, the harmonized system comprises eight digits.

The Harmonized System also comprises general rules for the interpretation of the HS, that establishes general rules for the classification of goods in the Nomenclature. And explanatory notes to the HS – the NESH – that provides clarification and interpretation of the Harmonized System, setting out in detail the scope and content of the nomenclature.

NCM and the Harmonized System: Differences

NCM in the Mercosul Common Nomenclature that was created in 1995 and approved by a decree in 1997 in Brazil, substituting the Brazilian Nomenclature of Goods. With the system was also approved aliquots of importation taxes, that comprises the Tarifa Externa Comum – also known as TEC – which is a external common tariff established among Mercosul parties.

Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay also adopted since January 1995, the Mercosul Common Nomenclature, which is based on the Harmonized System. Thus, the eight digits that composes the NCM, the first six are from the Harmonized System, while the seventh and eighth digits represent the specific unfolded within Mercosul.

The systematic classification of the codes in NCM correspond to the following structure:

Levels of Classification Digits of Classification
Chapter 00000000 first two digits
Position 00000000 first four digits
Simple Sub Position 00000000 fifth digit
Composed Sub Position 00000000 sixth digit
Item 00000000 seventh digit
Sub Item 00000000 eighth digit

NCM and the Harmonized System: Similarities

  • The 21 sections of the HS are the same sections of NCM.
  • The NCM, such as HS, also presents interpretation rules and the explanatory notes (NESH).
  • The NCM chapters are the same that the ones comprised in the HS, with the exemption of chapter 77, 98 and 99. Chapter 77 is turned to future international use by HS and the other two chapters are turned to specif country's or economic bloc's rules.

Sections of NCM and HS

Section Number Harmonized System and NCM
I. Live animal and animals products
II. Vegetable products
III. Animal or vegetable fats and oil and their clevarage products, prepared edible fats, animal or vegetable waxes
IV. Prepared foodstuffs, beverages, spirits and vinegar, tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes
V. Mineral Products
VI. Products of the chemical or allied industries
VII. Plastics and articles thereof and rubber and articles thereof
VIII. Raw rides, skins, leather, furkusins, articles thereof, saddlery, harness, travel goods, handbags, similar containers and articles of animal gut
IX. Wood, articles of wood, wood charcoal, cork, articles of coark, manufactures of straw, of esparto and of other plaiting materials, basketware and wickerwork
X Pulp of wood or of other Fibrous Cellulosic Material, recovered (waste and scrap), paper or paperboard, paper, paperboard and articles thereof
XI. Textiles and textile articles
XII. Footwear, Headgear, Umbrellas, Sun Umbrellas, Walking-sticks, seat-sticks, whips, Riding-crops, parts thereof, prepared feathers, articles made therewith, artificial flowers and articles of Human Hair
XIII. Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials, ceramic products, glass and glaware
XIV. Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metal, articles of thereof, imitation jewellery and coin
XV. Base metal and articles of base metal
XVI. Machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical equipment, parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, parts and accessories of such articles
XVII. Vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment
XVIII. Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or sirurgical instruments, apparatus, clocks and watches, musical instruments, parts and accessories
XIX. Arms and ammunition, parts and accessories thereof
XX. Miscellaneous manufactured articles
XXI. Works of art, collectors pieces and antiques

Chapters of NCM and HS

Chapter Number Harmonized System and NCM
0. Services
1. Live animals
2. Meat and edible meat offal
3. Fish, crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates
4. Milk and dairy products, birds eggs, natural honey, edible products of animal origins
5. Other edible products of animal origins
6. Live plants and floricultural products
7. Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers
8. Fruits, peel of citrus fruits or of melons
9. Coffee, tea, maté and spices
10. Cereals
11. Products of the milling industry, malt, starches, inulin and wheat gluten
12. Oilseeds andoleaginous fruits, miscellaneous grains,seeds andfruit,industrial or medicinal plants, straw and fodder
13. Gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts
14. Vegetable plaitingmaterials
15. Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products, prepared edible fats, animal or vegetable waxes
16. Preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates
17. Sugars and confectionery products
18. Cocoa and cocoapreparations
19. Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk and pastrycooks' products
20. Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants
21. Miscellaneous edible preparations
22. Beverages, spirits and vinegar
23. Residues and waste from the food industries and prepared animal fodder
24. Tobacco or of tobacco substitutes
25. Salt, sulphur, earths and stone, plastering materials, lime and cement
26. Ores, slag and ash
27. Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation, bituminous substances and mineral waxes
28 Inorganic chemicals, organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, of radioactive elements and of isotopes
29 Organic chemical products
30 Pharmaceutical products
31. Fertilizers
32. Tanning or dyeing extracts, tannins and their derivatives, dyes, pigments and other colouring matter, paints and varnishes, putty, other mastics and inks
33. Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations
34. Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or souring preparations, candlesand similar articles, modelling pastes, dental waxes and dental preparations with a basis of plaster
35. Albuminoidal substances, modified starches, glues and enzymes
36. Explosives, pyrotechnic products, matches, pyrophoric alloys and certain combustible preparations
37. Photographic or cinematographic goods
38. Miscellaneous chemical products
39. Plastics and articles thereof
40 Rubber and articles thereof
41. Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather
42. Articles of leather, saddlery and harness, travel goods, handbags and similar containers and articles of animal gut (other than silkworm gut)
43. Furskins and artificial fur and manufactures thereof
44. Wood, articles of wood and wood charcoal
45. Cork and articles of cork
46. Manufactures of straw, of esparto or of other plaiting materials, basketware and wickerwork
47. Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material, waste and scrap of paper or paperboard
48. Paper and paperboard and articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard
49. Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans
50. Silk
51. Wool, fine or coarse animal hair,; horsehair yarn and woven fabric
52. Cotton
53. Other vegetable textile fibers, paper yarn and woven fabric of paper yarn
54. Man-made filaments
55. Man-made staple fibers
56. Wadding, felt and nonwovens; special yarns, twine, cordage, ropes and cables and articles thereof
57. Carpets and other textile floor coverings
58. Special woven fabrics, tufted textile fabrics, lace, tapestries, trimmings and embroidery
59. Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics and textile articles of a kind suitable for industrial use
60. Knitted or crocheted fabrics
61. Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted
62. Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted
63. Other made up textile articles, sets, worn clothing, worn textile articles and rags
64. Footwear, gaiters and the like and parts of such articles
65. Headgear and parts there of
66. Umbrellas, sun umbrellas, walking sticks, seatsticks, whips, riding-crops and parts thereof
67. Prepared feathers and down and articles made of feathers or of down, artificial flowers and articles of human hair
68. Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials
69. Ceramic products
70. Glass and glassware
71. Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad with precious metal and articles thereof, imitation jewelry and coin
72. Iron and steel
73. Articles of iron or steel
74. Copper and articles thereof
75. Nickel and articles thereof
76. Aluminum and articles thereof
77. -
78. Lead and articles thereof
79. Zinc and articles thereof
80. Tin and articles thereof
81. Other base metals, cermets and articles thereof
82. Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal and parts thereof of base metal
83. Miscellaneous articles of base metal
84. Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and parts thereof
85. Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof, sound recorders and reproducers, television image, reproducers and parts and accessories of such articles
86. Railway or tramway locomotives, rolling-stock and parts thereof, railway or tramway track fixtures, fittings, parts thereof and mechanical (including electro-mechanical) traffic signalling equipment of all kinds
87. Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, parts and accessories thereof
88. Aircraft, spacecraft and parts thereof
89. Ships, boats and floating structures
90. Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments, apparatus, parts and accessories thereof
91. Clocks and watches and parts thereof
92. Musical instruments, parts and accessories of such articles
93. Arms and ammunition, parts and accessories thereof
94. Furniture, bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions, similar stuffed furnishings, lamps, lighting fittings, illuminated sign illuminated nameplates, the like and prefabricated buildings
95. Toys, games, sports requisites, parts and accessories thereof
96. Miscellaneous manufactured articles
97. Works of art, collectors pieces and antiques
98. -
99. -