International Trade and Customs Newsletter – No. 08

The International Trade and Customs Newsletter aims to provide information about recent news, trends and government guidelines in Brazil and abroad in connection with international trade, market access, trade remedies, import tariffs and competitiveness. This material is intended for informational purposes and should not be used for decision-making. Specific legal advice can be provided by our lawyers.

Enjoy reading!

International Trade Team

New rules on public interest assessment of trade remedies

On November 17, 2023, the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (“SECEX”) of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (“MDIC”) published Ordinance No. 282/2023 which establishes new rules for public interest assessments of trade remedies.

The Ordinance consolidates contributions received by SECEX after public consultations opened by Circular No. 12/2023 and modifies the current procedure standard of public interest assessments. Among the main changes, we highlight the following:

• Social-economic and total or partial interruption of production in Brasil modalities of public interest: the public interest assessment conducted by the Department of Trade Remedies (“DECOM”) will be carried upon the “social-economic” modality, which aims to examine the positive and negative effects of trade remedies for economic agents in Brazil as a whole, or “total or partial interruption of production in Brazil”, permanent or temporary, as long as it is deemed relevant.
• Public interest assessments after trade remedies procedures: SECEX modified the current standard, in which public interest assessments occur simultaneously to trade remedies investigations, so that interest parties must submit requests for the initiation of the procedure after the end of trade remedies investigations. In the social-economic modality, petitions must be submitted within 45 days of the final determination which imposed, extended, or altered the trade remedies. On the other hand, claims under the modality of total or partial interruption of production in Brazil may be submitted at any time, for as long as the situation giving rise to the claim persists.
• Rules on requests for reimposition, extension of suspensions or reassessment: SECEX provides for the procedures applicable to requests for reimposition, extension of suspensions or reassessment of public interest measures, including deadlines for the submission of petitions and procedural stages.

Ordinance No. 282/2023 will enter into force on January 01, 2024. The current regulation will be applicable to all procedures in which responses to the public interest questionnaires were submitted prior to that date.

CAMEX opens public consultation on proposed National Strategy for Foreign Trade

On November 06, 2023, the Foreign Trade Chamber (“CAMEX”) of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (“MDIC”) opened a public consultation with the aim of obtaining contributions from civil society for the drafting of the National Strategy for Foreign Trade, especially with regard to the proposed pillars and initiatives.

The National Strategy for Foreign Trade establishes the federal government’s strategic guidelines and directives on foreign trade matters, with the ultimate objective of encouraging Brazil’s competitive integration into foreign trade. The strategy, which is being drafted by the members of the CAMEX Strategic Council and coordinated by the CAMEX Executive Secretariat, is structured around five thematic pillars, which include the following initiatives that will be implemented and monitored over the next four years: 

1. Export Competitiveness
2. Economic Integration
3. Debureaucratization and Trade Facilitation
4. Trade and Sustainability
5. Combating Unfair and Illegal Trade Practices

Read the national strategy in full here.

Those interested in taking part in this public consultation can submit contributions until December 06, 2023, through an electronic form.

Brazil and 16 other countries concerned about EU anti-deforestation regulation

On September 28, 2023, during the 106th meeting of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Brazil and 16 other countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cote d`Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Thailand) submitted a Joint Statement expressing their concerns about the costs and potential restrictive effects on trade resulting from the entry into force of the European Union (EU) Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

This EU regulation bars imports of products from deforested areas or produced from inputs derived from deforested areas.

At the same meeting, Brazil co-sponsored the Cairns Group statement on the role of the multilateral trading system for sustainable and resilient agricultural and food systems. The referred statement reaffirmed the concern about trade measures of an environmental nature adopted unilaterally by certain WTO members, and listed 11 principles that should guide countries’ actions in the transition to more sustainable agricultural and food systems, among which we highlight the following:

• Commitment to the multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.
• Multilateral reform of agricultural trade in compliance with Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture, recognizing that most global agricultural support is distortionary and harmful to the environment and human health.
• Acknowledgment that different members have unique agricultural production conditions, circumstances, and practices, and that there is no “one size fits all” approach that can improve sustainability outcomes in agriculture.
• Avoid unjustified trade restrictions as well as excessive compliance requirements and costs when implementing measures affecting trade in agri-food products, and ensure that such measures are transparent and consistent with international standards, based on science and objective evidence, as required by the corresponding WTO regulations.

Brazil opens public consultation on trade agreement negotiations with India and the United Arab Emirates

On October 18, 2023, the Foreign Trade Secretariat (“SECEX”) of the MDIC published the public consultations below in order to receive contributions from the private sector, civil society, the academic sector, and other interested parties regarding the position of the Brazilian government in potential trade negotiations to be conducted through MERCOSUR:

• SECEX Circular No. 43/2023: expansion of the preferential trade agreement (“ACP”) between MERCOSUR and the Republic of India.
• SECEX Circular No. 44/2023: trade negotiations between MERCOSUR and the United Arab Emirates.

The public consultations encompass numerous topics, such as access to goods markets, regulatory measures, services, digital trade, investments, and sustainable development.

The public consultations are consultative and non-binding, and contributions must be submitted within 60 days from the date of publication of the circular letters in the Federal Official Gazette (“DOU”).

CMN approves new regulations for PROEX

On September 28, 2023, Brazil’s National Monetary Council (“CMN”) approved Resolution No. 5,103, which streamlines the conditions and procedures for requesting, approving, and paying subsidies under the Exports Financing Program (“PROEX”).

Among the main changes, we highlight the possibility of shipping, by potential beneficiaries of Proex financing, prior to the final status of their requests. In these cases, the exporting party assumes the risk of potential non-approval of the benefit in exchange for more speed in the export process.

In addition, the regulation establishes a 60-day time limit for financial institutions to inform Banco do Brasil of any amounts to be refunded to the Brazilian National Treasury, in the events of early liquidation of the financing, default, and replacement of reference indexes used in financing rates, under penalty of administrative sanctions (for example, imposing bars on further transaction approvals until the financial institution is duly regularized).