Brazilian Federal Revenue modifies the import and export customs clearance procedure

On 03/18/2022, the Brazilian Federal Revenue issued Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022, which brought relevant changes on the import and export customs clearance.

The  Brazilian Federal Revenue can now require several documents from the importer when there are doubts about the price charged in the import operation, in cases where the goods are parameterized for the so-called gray channel (when the authorities identify fraudulent elements upon the import transaction). The documents are those understood as evidence of the business transaction and include commercial correspondence, price quotations, proof of formalization of commitments and contractual responsibilities, “proforma” invoices, insurance and transportation contracts, among others.

According to Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022, such information will be qualified as “mandatory documents” in the case of the gray channel, meaning that if the importer fails to provide any of these documents, the authorities will be allowed to arbitrate the customs value, as per art. 70, item II of Law No. 10,833/03. In other words, it is authorized the arbitration of the customs value (instead of its calculation according to the methods provided in the Customs Valuation Agreement) when any of the requested supporting documents are not provided by the importer.

Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022 also provides for other important changes, such as the possibility of clearance of goods subject to the provision of guarantee when there are doubts about preferential treatment, and the possibility for the importer to request the rectification of the Import Declaration as to the fields that can only be changed by the customs authorities.

As for export clearance, the legislation was amended to include the interruption of clearance in cases involving the application of the seizure penalty (in addition to the cases of prohibited export and fraudulent interposition of third parties) and the possibility of remote monitoring of the exporter in the case of physical verification of goods.

Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022 came into force on the date of its publication.