WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/LIC/N/2/BRA/5 
19 April 2010 
 (10-1983) 
Committee on Import Licensing Original:   English 
  
 
AGREEMENT ON IMPORT LICENSING PROCEDURES 
 
Notification under Article 5
 
 
BRAZIL 
 
 
The following communication, dated 14 April 2010, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Brazil. 
_______________ 
 
 
(a) List of products subject to licensing procedures  
  As a general rule, import licensing is not re quired in Brazil. However, whenever import 
licensing is requested, application for both au tomatic import licensing and non-automatic import 
licensing are effected using Brazil’s electronic system of foreign trade, known as SISCOMEX.  
 
The list of products subject to import licensing is  available on the webpage of the Ministry of 
Development, Industry and Foreign Trade ( www.mdic.gov.br) and also on the SISCOMEX.  
 
(b) Contact point for information on eligibility 
 
  Contact must be made with the Departme nt of Foreign Trade Operations (DECEX), 
subordinated to the Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX ) of the Ministry of Development, Industry and 
Foreign Trade (MDIC), at the following address:  
- Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco J, 3
o andar- Brasília (DF), Brasil 
 
 Information may also be directly obtained by accessing SISCOMEX. 
 
(c) Administrative bodies for submission of applications  
 
 Applications must be submitted to the Departme nt of Foreign Trade Operations (DECEX).  It 
is worth mentioning that since 1997, when SISCOM EX was implemented, the importer is able to 
access and register import licenses directly from his/her company, or by means of authorized banks, specialized companies, entities and firms whic h deal with the cited system.       
 
 Depending on the product, the following Governmental bodies may be also in charge of the licensing:  
  ANCINE – National Cinema Agency;  ANEEL – National Electric Energy Agency; 
 ANP – National Petroleum Agency; G/LIC/N/2/BRA/5 
Page 2  
 
   ANVISA – National Health Surveillance Agency; 
 CNEN – Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission;  DFPC – Brazilian Army;  DNPM – National Department of Mineral Production;  DPF – Department of Federal Police; 
 EBCT – Brazilian Mail and Telegraph Company; 
 IBAMA – Brazilian Institute of Environm ent and Natural Renewable Resources; 
 INMETRO-National Institute of Metrology,  Standardization a nd Industrial Quality; 
 MAPA – Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply;  MCT – Ministry of Science and Technology. 
 
 The list of the products which are subject to  automatic and non-automatic licensing, the 
contact information of the competent Governmental  body and the concerned legislation can be found 
on the webpage of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade ( www.mdic.gov.br
).  
 
(d) Date and name of publication where import licensing procedures are published  
 - Ministerial Act MDIC no. 235 of 7 December 2006, published in the Official Gazette on  
8 December 2006;  
- Ministerial Act MDIC No 77 of 19 March 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
23 March 2009; 
- Ministerial Act MDIC No 92 of 30 April 2009, pub lished in the Official Gazette on 4 May 2009;  
- Ministerial Act MDIC No 171 of 1 September 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
3 September 2009; 
- Ministerial Act MDIC No 207 of 8 December 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
9 December 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 25 of 27 November 2008
1, published in the Official Gazette on  
28 November 2008; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 1 of 14 January 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
15 January 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 3 of 19 February 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
20 February 2009;  
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 6 of 31 March 2009,  published in the Official Gazette on  
1 April 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 7 of 1 April 2009, pub lished in the Official Gazette on 3 April 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 10 of 7 May 2009, publ ished in the Official Gazette on 8 May 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 12 of 27 May 2009,  published in the Official Gazette on  
29 May 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 18 of 30 June 2009, publ ished in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 19 of 8 July 2009, pub lished in the Official Gazette on 10 July 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 24 of 26 August 2 009, published in the Official Gazette on  
28 August 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 26 of 4 September 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
11 September 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 29 of 18 September 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
22 September 2009; 
- Ministerial Act SECEX No 30 of 28 October 2009, published in the Official Gazette on  
29 October 2009. 
 
 Note: Automatic consolidation of all Ministeria l Acts related to impor ts - "Consolidation of 
Directives SECEX (importation)" - is ava ilable on the above mentioned webpage.  
                                                      
1 Available for consultation in the Secretaria t (Market Access Division ) (Portuguese only).  G/LIC/N/2/BRA/5 
 Page 3 
 
 
  (e) Indication of whether the procedure is automatic or non-automatic  
  Such indication is available in Ministeria l Act SECEX No 25/2008 and on the web page of 
the Ministry of Development, Industry and Fore ign Trade. Currently, both modalities of licensing are 
applied. 
 
(f) Administrative purpose of automatic licensing procedures
 
  Information obtained by SISCOMEX is used fo r statistic monitoring, follow-up of the trade 
flows related to drawback operations , which involve legal suspension of taxes, or to some products of 
interest to the foreign trade policy. 
 
(g) Indication of the measure being implemen ted through the non-automatic licensing procedure
 
  According to legislation mentioned in the no tifications under articles 1.4(a) and 8.2(b), the 
following types of operations constitute examples of situations in which there is licensing control on 
the part of governmental bodies. This is a non-exhaustive list:  
 
- products which may pose risks to human, animal or plant health; 
- products which may cause environmental damage; 
- products classified as weapons or made for warlike objectives; 
- products subject to non-tariff and tariff quotas as established in Agreements of the Uruguay 
 Round; 
- products subject to trade defense measur es established in accordance with the WTO 
 agreements. 
 
(h) Expected duration of the licensing procedures
 
  There is no deadline for the elimination of th e adopted measures, considering the importance 
of the goals indicated in indent "g", above. As for products subject to non-tariff quotas, the duration of 
the licensing procedure is restricted to the peri od established in the international agreement.  
 
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