In brief
On 18 March 2022, the Brazilian Federal Revenue issued Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022, which brought relevant changes to 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 in the import transaction). Such documents, which are considered evidence of the business transaction, include commercial correspondence, price quotations, proof of formalization of commitments and contractual responsibilities, pro forma 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, arbitration of the customs value (instead of its calculation according to the methods provided in the Customs Valuation Agreement) will be authorized when the importer does not provide any of the requested supporting documents.
Normative Instruction No. 2,072/2022 also provides for other important changes, such as the possibility of obtaining clearance for goods subject to the provision of a guarantee when there are doubts about preferential treatment, as well as the possibility for the importer to request the rectification of certain fields on the Import Declaration 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 cases of prohibited export and fraudulent interposition of third parties) as well as 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.
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