Brazil Working to Streamline Import Operations

The Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade’s Department of Foreign Trade (DECEX) has announced that effective 15 October it will begin accepting electronic transmissions via email or the Internet with the documentation required to carry out import, export and drawback operations. Receipt of these documents will only be accepted through electronic means beginning on 1 January 2016.

The elimination of paper-based trade operations is one of the objectives set out in the trade facilitation pillar of the new national export plan unveiled by the Brazilian government on 24 June. By moving trade operations to an electronic environment the Brazilian government hopes to reduce the time required to process transactions and lower overall costs. The goal is to reduce the time it takes to clear an import transaction from 17 to 10 days and the time necessary to clear an export operation from 13 to eight days.