G/LIC/Q/BRA/23  
 
17 April 2018 
(18-2346) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Import Licensing  Original: English  
 
IMPORT LICENSING SYS TEM OF BRAZIL  
REPLIES FROM BRAZIL TO QUESTIONS FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION  
 
The following communication, dated 16 April 2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Brazil.  
 
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EU question No 1 : Could Brazil submit additional information on the tasks of the inter -ministerial 
Technical Group on Import Licenses, notably about the participants and its  scope? Could also Brazil 
clarify the expected timeline of the review? What sectors will the review cover?  
 
Reply from Brazil:  The Brazilian Working Group on Import and Export Licensing was established 
within the scope of the National Committee on Trade F acilitation (“CONFAC”) under the auspices of 
the Brazilian Foreign Trade Council (CAMEX). The main objective of the Working Group is to 
“reduce the number of products that need import or export licensing” in Brazil. CAMEX and the 
Foreign Trade Secretariat of the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (SECEX) are the 
coordinators of this working group and the participants are all the 15 public entities that require 
import licensing (ANCINE - Agência Nacional do Cinema; ANEEL - Agência Nacional de E nergia 
Elétrica; ANP - Agência Nacional de Petróleo; ANVISA - Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária; 
CNEN - Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear; DECEX - Departamento de Operações de Comércio 
Exterior; DFPC - Exército Brasileiro / Diretoria de Fiscaliza ção de Produtos Controlados; DNPM - 
Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral; DPF - Departamento de Polícia Federal, ECT - 
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos; IBAMA - Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos 
Recursos Naturais Renováveis; INMET RO - Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalização e 
Qualidade Industrial; MAPA - Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento; MCT - Ministério 
da Ciência e Tecnologia; and SUFRAMA - Superintendência da Zona Franca de Manaus); as well as 
all the 1 1 public entities that require export licensing (ANEEL - Agência Nacional de Energia 
Elétrica; ANP - Agência Nacional de Petróleo; ANVISA - Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária;  
CNEN - Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear; DECEX - Departamento de Oper ações de Comércio 
Exterior; DFPC - Exército Brasileiro / Diretoria de Fiscalização de Produtos Controlados; DNPM - 
Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral; DPF - Departamento de Polícia Federal; IBAMA - 
Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recurso s Naturais Renováveis; MCTI - Ministério da 
Ciência e Tecnologia e Inovação; MIN. DEFESA - Ministério da Defesa).  
 
There are several steps and deadlines for the activities developed by this Working Group. Details 
are available at:  www.camex.gov.br/images/PDF/Negociacoes/Plano -de-Trabalho -CONFAC.pdf  
 
EU question No 2 : Could Brazil confirm that the Technical Group is in charge of the review of th e 
import procedures applied to nitrocellulose?  
 
Reply from Brazil: All of the items that require export or import licensing are under the scope of 
this Working Group. The actual decision to revise a given procedure, however, falls within the 
responsibility of the governmental entity that requires the license. In the case of nitrocellulose, its 
import, export and domestic trade are regulated by the Brazilian Army ("Diretoria de Fiscalização 
de Produtos Controlados, DFPC", or Direction for the E nforcement of Controlled Goods ). And 
indeed, among the regulations under revision by the Brazilian Army is Decree 3.665, of 20 G/LIC/Q/BRA/23  
 
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  November 2000, which currently regulates the importation of several sensitive products, including 
nitrocellulose.  
 
EU question No  3: Could Brazil present in details with reference to the procedures to be followed 
for the importation of nitrocellulose?  
 
Reply from Brazil:   The Brazilian Government considers that a tight control and monitoring of 
nitrocelullose trade is necessary, in  light of the explosive characteristics  of the se products. As 
previously informed, administrative procedures for the importation of nitrocellulose can be 
accessed at “http://www.mdic.gov.br/index.php/comercio -exterior/importacao/tratamento -
administrativo -de-importacao”. Those procedures include registration by the Army, as provided for 
under Portaria 56/2017; abide by the provisions of Portaria 9/2004 of the Army´s Logistics 
Department, which regulates Import Licensing of products subject to control by the Army; and 
filing an International Certificate of Importation to the Brazilian Army´s DFPC, according to Decree 
3.665 of 20 November 2000. The latter is currently being revised, under the above mentioned 
whole -of-government effort to streamline import and e xport licenses.  
 
As in other non -automatic import licenses, it falls under the authority of corresponding authority to 
issue the license or not. In the case of Nitrocellulose, DFPC considers each request on a case —by-
case base and is authorized to issue im port licenses after considering, among others, national 
security and public safety aspects.  
 
EU question No 4:  Could Brazil clarify what it is meant with “national security interests”?  
 
Reply from Brazil: In light of its explosive characteristics, security concerns related to 
Nitrocellulose (391220) are multifold. Nitrocellulose is part of the production chain of defense 
products such as rockets and grenades, and the security concerns involved in its trade range from 
the risks of accidents throughout the products´ life cycle, to the threat of deliberate misuse by 
terrorists and regular criminals, as sadly illustrated by recent events. Some of such events are 
public and were documented and reported by the int ernational press, other of restricted nature.   
 
EU question No 5 : Could Brazil clarify why the nitrocellulose for industrial use originating in 
Uruguay can be imported?   
 
Reply from Brazil: There are no provisions entailing different treatment for the im portation of 
Nitrocellulose (39.12.20) originating  from Uruguay.  
 
EU question No 6:  Is it due to a specific bilateral agreement between Brazil and Uruguay? Could 
Brazil submit the legal basis?  
 
Reply from Brazil: There are no provisions entailing differen t treatment for the importation of 
Nitrocellulose (39.12.20) originating  from Uruguay.  
 
EU question No 7 : Could Brazil clarify why the nitrocellulose for industrial use originating in 
Uruguay is different from the EU products?  
 
Reply from Brazil: There ar e no provisions entailing different treatment for the importation of 
Nitrocellulose (39.12.20) originating from Uruguay.  
 
 
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