INMETRO is the main national accreditation body and is in charge of implementing the national policies regarding quality and metrology established by CONMETRO, which oversees INMETRO’s activities. INMETRO is responsible for certification of products, services, licensing, and testing labs, among other duties.

The Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) is the recognized standards organization which establishes and manages marks of conformity with standards applied in voluntary or compulsory product certification schemes. ABNT is an accredited registration body to certify quality systems, environmental management systems and several products. They develop national standards, and reference ISO and IEC standards, and sometimes, U.S. developed international standards. Some U.S. Standards Development Organizations have MOUs with ABNT for cooperation.

When the need for standardization of a given topic arises, ABNT refers the matter to the responsible Technical Committee, where it will be considered by the various sectors involved. Once the draft standard has been prepared, it is then submitted for national consultation. In this process, the Draft Standard, prepared by a Study Committee representing the stakeholders and sectors involved, is submitted publicly for consideration. During this period, any interested party may express, recommendations to the Study Group to authorize the approval of the text as presented; approval of the text with suggestions; or its non-approval, though the interested party must present the technical objections and justification.

INMETRO’s New Conformity Assessment Policy

The Conformity Assessment Board (DCONF), INMETRO’s body responsible for macro conformity assessment policy, designed a new regulatory model which was launched in February 2022. The purpose of this model is to improve regulatory performance, reduce administrative burdens, encourage innovation and the competitiveness of the productive sector, and align the country with the best international practices in product regulation. The initiative supports the federal government’s directive to improve the regulatory environment in Brazil in order to promote economic development. 

The regulatory model has two objectives. 

• To expand the effectiveness and efficiency of INMETRO regulations by improving targeting, coverage, and compliance. Approximately 40 percent of products previously subjected to INMETRO regulation were removed from INMETRO regulations. 

To reduce adverse effects of regulations on economic activity. Reduction of red tape, simplification of regulatory management, and optimization of resources are the main principles that guide the model. 

INMETRO has looked to international best practices to achieve these objectives.  The regulatory model has three pillars that will allow it to achieve its objectives. 

• Introduction of general regulations and essential requirements, which will help to increase regulatory coverage under INMETRO’s legal scope and reduce the prescriptiveness of specific rules. 
• Solving regulatory problems by strengthening monitoring activities and planning and prioritizing regulatory actions based on identified problems. 
• Increasing the responsibility of suppliers for compliance.

At the base of the three pillars is the general principle of flexibility. That principle relates to the idea of efficiency and proportionality of regulatory actions. The actions used must be those strictly necessary for the resolution of the regulatory problems and resources should be allocated to maximize the effectiveness of the regulation.

Testing, Inspection, and Certification

Conformity assessment includes all activities needed to demonstrate compliance with specified requirements relating to a technical regulation or voluntary standard. In Brazil, the conformity assessment system follows ISO guidelines. Conformity assessment includes test and calibration laboratories, product certification bodies, accreditation bodies, inspection and verification units, and quality system registrars.

Conformity assessment can be voluntary or mandatory, accomplished through a legal instrument to protect the consumer on issues related to life, health, and environment. Interested U.S. parties can be accredited by INMETRO to perform conformity assessment activities.

For regulated products, the relevant government agency generally requires that entities engaged in product testing and mandatory certification be accredited by INMETRO. Generally, testing must be performed in-country, unless the necessary capability does not exist in Brazil. INMETRO is currently engaged in a regulatory reform process. Its stated reform goals include improving regulatory performance; reducing administrative effort; stimulating innovation and competitiveness of the productive sector; and improving alignment of Brazilian regulations with international best practices. INMETRO has indicated it will look to reduce extensive third-party local testing and certification requirements based on a risk analysis under the new model. 

INMETRO is a signatory to the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), which can facilitate acceptance of test results from U.S. laboratories that are accredited by U.S. organizations and are also signatories.

There is no legal mandate to retest non-regulated products that have been approved in their country of origin. For non-regulated products, some U.S. marks and product certifications may be accepted. As with all voluntary standards, any certification that may be required in non-regulated sectors is a contractual matter to be decided between buyer and seller. Market forces and preferences sometimes make a specific certification needed, while not officially required, due to market preferences.

To facilitate U.S. product acceptance in Brazil by recognizing existing certifications, agreements between U.S. and local certifiers/testing houses are encouraged. There is no impediment to the establishment of U.S. certification organizations in Brazil. If your product has been certified in the U.S. or Europe, it may not need to be recertified (see ILAC MRA above). If your product is not certified, please refer to the mandatory product certification process.

A search engine of certified products, both mandatory and voluntary, in Brazil is available. The General Coordination for Accreditation (CGCRE) of INMETRO is responsible for accrediting certification bodies, quality system registrars, inspection bodies, product verification and training bodies, as well as testing and calibration laboratories.

The regulations on Public Consultation are on INMETRO’s website. INMETRO and CONMETRO use their websites to inform the public about updates to technical regulations. 

Publication of Technical Regulations

Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by World Trade Organization (WTO) Members under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and does not require registration unless the user wishes to receive customized e-mail alerts.  Use it to browse notifications on past as well as new draft and updated product regulations, food safety and animal and plant health standards and regulations, find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees, locate information on SPS/TBT Enquiry Points and notification authorities, and to follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest.  

Notify U.S., operated and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 2003 to distribute and provide access to notifications (and associated draft texts) made under the WTO TBT Agreement for US stakeholders, has reached its end of life. Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates a national TBT (and an SPS) Enquiry Point.  National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/guidance/guidance.cfm for further information. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. INMETRO is the main national accreditation body and is in charge of implementing the national policies regarding quality and metrology established by CONMETRO, which oversees INMETRO’s activities. INMETRO is responsible for certification of products, services, licensing, and testing labs, among other duties.