How to Obtain an Import License in Brazil
Importing to Brazil may be difficult in cases when the right specifications are not duly met. In this article, learn what documents are necessary to get an import license in the country.
Before importing to Brazil, it is necessary to obtain certain authorizations and licenses. The first one is RADAR, the Registro e Rastreamento da Atuação dos Intervenientes Aduaneiros, which is a tracking register for stakeholders of international trade operations. It is required in order to request and obtain an import license in Brazil.
The procedures to acquire a RADAR are explained in this article. After getting a RADAR, importers must register at SISCOMEX as importers in the register known as REI or Registro de Exportadores e Importadores.
Need for Import License
Most Brazilian imports are exempt from licensing. Usually, importers only need to register a DI or Declaração de Importação, the Import Declaration, at SISCOMEX for each import operation. However, in some cases it is also necessary to provide a Brazilian import license, named Licença de Importação or simply LI.
Getting an Import License
The import license is a document which contains information about the goods that will be imported, and the import operation in general, as well as the importer, exporter, country of origin, tax regime, currency exchange and others.
There are penalties for importing products that require a license and don’t obtain one, as well as for licenses which are requested after there is the shipment abroad, in cases where they should have been issued prior to the shipment.
Import licenses are generally valid for up to 90 days, starting from the day they were obtained.
It is important to note that even though not all products require a Brazilian import license, it is always necessary to obtain a RADAR before importing any good to the country.
Necessary Documentation
In case the imported product requires an import license, it is necessary for importers to provide the following information to SISCOMEX, before the shipment of goods abroad:
- Importers identification.
- Country of origin.
- URF or Unidade da Receita Federal, Federal Revenue Unit, responsible for the shipment.
- URF responsible for the entrance.
- Identification of the exporter.
- Manufacturer or producer of the good and their relation to the exporter.
- Fiscal classification of the good, according to the NCM or Nomenclatura Comum do Mercosul, Mercosur's Common Nomenclature.
- Classification of the good in NALADI/SH or NALADI/NCCA in case the country of origin is a member of the ALADI bloc. NALADI is the Nomenclatura da Associação Latino-Americana de Integração, the Latin American Association of Integration Nomenclature. It can be based in SH or Sistema Harmonizado de Codificação e Designação de Mercadorias, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, or in the Nomenclatura do Conselho de Cooperação Aduaneira, the Customs Co-operation Council Nomenclature.
- Quantity of the goods measured in the statistic unit, except when it is kilogram.
- Net weight (kg).
- Contractual clause that defines the obligations and right of both seller and buyer, in an international contract of goods' sales and purchase, according to the INCOTERMS table managed by SECEX.
- "Commoditie" number, given by Banco do Brasil SA to the comunicado de compra, a document requested in the import of goods that have their prices quoted in stock markets. It is necessary for all imports which need a comunicado de compra.
- Code of the negotiated currency.
- Total amount of the operation in the negotiated currency.
- Distinction of the good according to the NCM code. This information is necessary when there must be the approval of NCM (NCM sujeita a anuência).
- Abbreviation of the approval entities, according to the Órgãos Anuentes table managed by SECEX, plus identification of the license process in this entity.
- Information regarding the good's condition - if it is a used material or a custom made good.
- Detailed description of the good, containing:
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- Type, brand, number, series, reference, measure, scientific and/or commercial name etc of the good.
- Measurement unit used for the commercialization of the good, according to the commercial invoice.
- Number of units of the good.
- Cost of the good by commercialized unit in the negotiated currency, according to the commercial invoice.
- Type of tariff agreement
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- Fulfillment of the ALADI code agreement, when the good originates from a member country of ALADI.
- Tax regime for the import duty (II), according to the Regimes de Tributação do II table, managed by SRF.
- Drawback concession acts, in case of Drawback-Suspension and Drawback-Exemption, with the number of the act and the prefix of the SECEX agency where there is the control type of the Drawback-Suspension.
- Characterization of the operation in the exchange and balance of payments point of view, containing:
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- Existence or not of currency exchange, according to the Cobertura Cambial table managed by BACEN.
- Type of payment, according to the table Modalidade de Pagamento, managed by BACEN. This information is necessary when the payment term exceeds 360 days.
- Financial institution of the operation, according to the table Instituições Financiadoras, managed by BACEN. This information is necessary for imports with exchange currency whose payment term exceeds 360 days.
- Code of the financing institution.
- Name of the financial institution when one of the following situations is selected:
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- Official foreign entities - Supplier's Credits.
- Private foreign entities - Supplier's Credits.
- Private foreign entities - Buyer's Credits.
- Official foreign entities - Buyer's Credits.
- Other non specified.
- Reason why the import is made without exchange currency, according to the Motivo da Importação Sem Cobertura Cambial table managed by BACEN.
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- Number of the operation given by BACEN. It is obligatory for the following cases:
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- Financial or operational leasing with a term that exceeds 360 days.
- Simple leasing, including rent and charterer, with a term that exceeds 360 days.
- Foreign capital investment.
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- Amount of days for the payment limit, beginning on the shipment date. This information is obligatory for imports with exchange currency, payable in up to 360 days.
- Substitution of import license. Necessary information in case of import license substitution. Must contain the referral of the substitute import and the number of the substituted import license.
- Additional information about the licensing.