The Ministry of Economy overhauled its conformity assessment procedure related to non-preferential rules of origin, establishing a post-trade verification procedure. It adheres to the Business Environment Provisional Measure, designed to facilitate Brazilian foreign trade.
The Foreign Trade Secretariat (SECEX) at the Ministry of Economy, through Ordinance n. 87/2021, overhauled the conformity assessment procedures for verifying non-preferential rules of origin, which are conducted by SECEX, in order to adhere to the trade facilitation measures provided by Provisional Measure n. 1.040/2021, reported by the 1st special edition of the Regulatory Report: 2021 Outlook.
The provisional measure (article 12) enacted changes to Law n. 12.546/2011, which provides the rules for SECEX conformity assessment on non-preferential rules of origin. As reported, the changes shifted from an import license procedure (ex-ante) to a post-trade investigation, as a means not to impose additional and unnecessary trade costs.
The new SECEX ordinance replaced Ordinance n. 38/2015, which provided the import license procedure, in favor of a special verification procedure, according to article 2 of the new ordinance. Such procedure will be conducted by right of office (ex-officio) or after official complaints are submitted, and is applicable to imports subject to non-preferential rules of origin.
The special verification procedure for non-preferential rules of origin is provided in the ordinance’s chapter “III”. The procedure is comprised of on-the-spot verification and a final report, within which all interested parties (defined in article 8) are considered. Revision and confidentiality rules are also provided.
Additionally, according to article 48, all official document submissions must be carried out through e-mail, thus avoiding costs related to the presentation of paperwork.
