Brazil Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in brazil, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Trade Barriers
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Overview

Brazil can be a challenging market for doing business, in part due to a complicated regulatory environment. U.S. companies often report duplicative, arbitrary, or sometimes discriminatory regulations as barriers to trade for U.S. products in Brazil. 

U.S. companies also cite high tariffs, an uncertain customs system, and high and unpredictable tax burdens, as major hurdles to doing business in Brazil. U.S. exporters in highly regulated industries such as medical devices, and health and safety products have a particularly challenging time navigating Brazilian rules and regulations. U.S. companies can increase their chances of success by working with Brazilian partners and demonstrating their commitment to the Brazilian market. While U.S. companies have faced market access challenges in Brazil over the past several years, including local content requirements, the U.S. Government is working with the Government of Brazil (GOB) to reduce non-tariff barriers, especially in the areas of trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, technical standards, and conformity assessment through several bilateral and multilateral fora. 

Brazil has a strong regulatory regime, strict rules regarding standards, and an active cohort of standards organizations. INMETRO is the operating arm of Brazil’s standards regime, led by the National Council of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (CONMETRO). The council is formed by a group of eight ministries and five governmental agencies. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) also has Brazil-related standards information via its Standards Portal. 

On February 2, 2022, the bilateral U.S. – Brazil Protocol Relating to Trade Rules and Transparency entered into force, covering commitments in three areas: trade facilitation, good regulatory practices (GRPs), and anti-corruption. 

In recent years, Brazil has taken some significant steps designed to ease regulatory burdens and implement GRPs including:  

  • In August 2024 the Government of Brazil launched its “Regula Melhor” Strategy, with the objective of making the preparation, implementation, monitoring and review of Brazilian regulations more efficient, in addition to promoting transparency and public participation in the regulatory process. 
     
  • In February 2022, the main metrology body in Brazil, INMETRO, launched its new regulatory framework which is more aligned with international best practices. It will serve as a guideline for regulating products under INMETRO’s domain, such as toys and electrical equipment. The framework reduces the number of products under regulation, so that only products with a safety or environmental concern remain covered. The framework also allows for the greater use of self-declaration of suppliers and producers, when appropriate, and increases the acceptance of international tests. 
     
  • On June 30, 2020, Brazil published Decree 10.411, which implements the regulatory impact analysis (RIA) established by the Economic Freedom and Regulatory Agencies laws, which make certain GRPs, like public consultation requirements and the use of a regulatory impact analysis (RIA), legal requirements for all Brazilian regulating agencies.   

The governments of the United States and Brazil continue to collaborate and share information and best practices about good regulatory practices to promote a regulatory environment that is transparent, consistent, and predictable. This process has helped U.S. companies comply with Brazilian regulations, since Brazil has been more open to regularly consulting the private sector when developing new regulations. By implementing and improving regulatory policy, Brazil has been reducing regulatory burdens for U.S. exporters and increasing mutual understanding of U.S. and Brazilian regulatory systems to enable better promotion of bilateral commerce and investment.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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