Foreign Trade Glossary

Temporary Admission is the special customs regime that lets goods enter Brazil for a set period, with total or partial suspension of import duties.

It is used for events, trade fairs, exhibitions, sporting competitions and projects that need equipment for a limited time. At the end of the period, the goods are re-exported or their destination is regularized.

Grupo Port Trade prepares the application, follows the case with the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) and controls the deadlines and the ancillary obligations until the regime is closed.

Temporary Export is the customs regime that authorizes national or nationalized goods to leave the country for a set period, returning in the same state in which they left.

It is used for international trade fairs, repairs abroad, exhibitions and tests. No Export Tax applies.

We handle the paperwork and the deadline control so the goods come back within the terms of the regime.

Ex-Tarifário cuts, for a set period, the Import Tax rate on capital goods (BK) and information technology and telecommunications goods (BIT) that have no equivalent production in Brazil.

The rate can drop from 14% to 0% (BK) and from 16% to 0% (BIT), which changes the cost of importing machinery and equipment.

We draft the petition to the federal government, with the technical description of the goods and evidence that there is no domestic production, and follow the case through to publication in the Official Gazette.

Back to Back Operations are triangular: a Brazilian company buys goods from a supplier in one country and resells them to a buyer in another, without the cargo entering national territory.

Since there is no physical import or export in Brazil, the operation needs no customs clearance here and cuts the logistics cost. It is a common format among trading companies.

Grupo Port Trade structures the operation: the commercial negotiation, the purchase and sale contracts, the inbound and outbound exchange contracts and the paperwork required by the Central Bank of Brazil.

Drawback is the special customs regime that relieves the import of inputs used to make products destined for export. It has three modes:

• Suspension: duties are suspended when the inputs are imported, conditional on the export of the finished product
• Exemption: duty-free replacement of the stock of inputs already used in an exported product
• Refund: return of the duties paid on inputs of products that were exported

In practice, the regime cuts the production cost of the exporter. We handle the registration, the application for the concession act and the control of the deadlines and the quantities evidenced.

International Multimodal Transport combines two or more modes (air, sea and road) in a single operation, under the responsibility of one operator.

We run Sea-Air (sea plus air), which sits between the cost of the ship and the speed of the plane, along with Mercosur/ALADI routes and international Door to Door service.

The combination of modes is set operation by operation, by the profile of the cargo, the transit time required and the cost.

Oversized cargo (beyond standard transport dimensions) and overweight cargo (beyond conventional weight limits) call for a route survey, transit permits, escort and specific equipment.

PortTrade Cargo moves industrial machinery, turbines, mining equipment, steel structures and other special cargo.

We coordinate from the feasibility study to delivery at destination, including lifting and positioning.

LCL (Less than Container Load) is the shipment in which cargo from different shippers shares the same container. It suits volumes that do not justify an exclusive container.

FCL (Full Container Load) gives the whole container to a single shipper. It suits larger volumes, with less handling of the cargo.

We run both, with space booked with the shipping line, special licenses for large cargo and follow-up from origin to destination.

LTL (Less than Truckload) is the road transport mode in which cargo from different shippers shares the same vehicle. The freight cost is split, which pays off for volumes that do not justify a dedicated truck.

It is the usual choice for regional distribution, part-load deliveries and operations with variable volume.

In Door to Door service, a single operator answers for the cargo from collection at the supplier to delivery at the address of the client.

It covers collection, packing, documentation, international transport, customs clearance and delivery. The client deals with a single point of contact and gets the position of the cargo on every leg.

Pick-up and Delivery covers collecting the goods at the point of origin (export) or picking them up at the port or airport (import), and the transport to the final destination.

We choose the vehicle by the type and the volume of the cargo, with real-time tracking and a delivery date agreed in writing.

Container stuffing is the packing of the cargo inside the container, with weight distribution, protection against damage and compliance with maritime safety rules.

We coordinate the stuffing: load plan, lashing (securing the cargo), photographic record and certification of the Verified Gross Mass (VGM), required by the international rules of ocean transport.

Special Projects are imports of large scale or complexity, such as production lines, industrial plants, industrial machinery and heavy equipment, involving several shipments, several modes and linked deadlines.

We coordinate the logistics planning, the document review, the specialized transport, the customs clearance and the positioning at the installation site, on an agreed schedule and with control over the integrity of the cargo.

An NVOCC (Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier) is an ocean carrier with no vessels of its own: it buys space from the shipping lines and takes on carrier liability towards the shipper.

In practice, the NVOCC consolidates LCL cargo from different clients into one container and issues its own bill of lading (House Bill of Lading), while the shipping line issues the Master Bill of Lading to the NVOCC.

Grupo Port Trade handles consolidation and deconsolidation of cargo and negotiates space with the shipping lines, with route, transit time and cost options for LCL and FCL shipments.

A freight forwarder, or forwarding agent, is the intermediary that plans and books international transport on behalf of the shipper: freight quotes, space booking, collection, documentation, insurance and follow-up through to destination.

The difference from an NVOCC is the liability: the freight forwarder acts as an intermediary and contracts on behalf of the client; the NVOCC takes the position of carrier and issues its own bill of lading.

Grupo Port Trade acts as a freight forwarder on air, sea and road shipments, and ties the transport to customs clearance, warehousing and distribution at destination.

Customs Clearance is the procedure by which the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) checks whether the goods, the documents and the data declared in an import or an export are correct, and then releases the cargo.

It involves tariff classification under the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM), customs valuation, document and physical inspection and payment of the duties. A classification error or a missing document brings a customs query, a fine, cargo held at the terminal and extra days of storage.

Our customs brokers file the declaration in Siscomex, follow the inspection channel it is assigned and answer the queries through to release.

The DTA (Declaração de Trânsito Aduaneiro, Customs Transit Declaration) covers the transport of goods under customs control from one point to another in Brazilian territory (from the port of arrival to a bonded facility inland, for example) without paying the duties on that leg.

The MIC/DTA (Manifesto Internacional de Carga / Declaração de Trânsito Aduaneiro, International Cargo Manifest / Customs Transit Declaration) is the version used in international road transport within Mercosur.

We issue and follow these declarations so the transit is completed within the deadlines and the terms set by the Receita Federal.

Every foreign trade operation depends on a set of mandatory documents. The main ones:

• CO (Certificate of Origin): proves where the goods come from, so tariff preferences can be applied
• Packing List: list of packages, weights and dimensions of the cargo
• Proforma Invoice: commercial offer with the terms of sale and the amounts
• Commercial Invoice: the final invoice for the transaction
• B/L (Bill of Lading): the ocean bill of lading, the main transport document
• LI (Licença de Importação, Import License): prior authorization to import products under control
• DI (Declaração de Importação, Import Declaration): the electronic document filed in Siscomex for clearance

We check every document before the declaration is filed, because a mismatch between invoice, packing list and B/L is the most common cause of a customs query.

RADAR (Registro e Rastreamento da Atuação dos Intervenientes Aduaneiros, Registry and Tracking of Customs Intermediaries) is the registration with the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) that authorizes a company to operate in Brazilian foreign trade.

There are three tiers:

• Express: operations up to US$ 50,000 per half-year
• Limited: operations up to US$ 150,000 per half-year
• Unlimited: no value cap

Without RADAR, a company cannot file a single operation in Siscomex. We review the paperwork, submit the application and follow the case with the Receita Federal through to approval.

Siscomex (Sistema Integrado de Comércio Exterior, Integrated Foreign Trade System) is the federal government platform where foreign trade operations in Brazil are filed, tracked and controlled.

It is where the Import Declaration (DI), the Export Registration (RE), the Import License (LI) and the other administrative acts of the operation are processed.

We file the operations of our clients in Siscomex with the data checked and on time, which avoids amendments and customs queries.

A trading company brokers international purchase and sale: it finds the supplier or the buyer abroad, negotiates price and terms, structures the payment and runs the foreign trade operation through to delivery.

What sets it apart from a freight forwarder or a customs broker is the scope: the forwarder handles the transport and the broker handles the clearance; the trading company also takes on the commercial relationship (sourcing, negotiation, contract and, depending on the model, the purchase risk itself).

In Brazil, Decree-Law No. 1,248/1972 created the export trading company with a special registration, but the market uses "trading company" in a broader sense, for any company that does this intermediation.

Both models are governed by Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,861/2018 and must be declared in Siscomex. Both companies need a RADAR registration, and the link between them is recorded in the import declaration.

• On behalf of a third party: the importer provides a service. The party that buys the goods abroad and pays for them is the acquirer; the importer files the clearance on behalf of the acquirer.
• To order: the importer buys with its own funds the goods it already knows it will resell to a predetermined orderer. It is a purchase and a resale, and the import risk sits with the importer.

The choice changes the cash flow, the tax liability and who answers to the authorities. That is why it is settled before shipment, not after.

Hiring a trading company usually pays off in four situations:

• The company does not work in foreign trade yet: no RADAR registration, no team to run the process, and it needs to import now.
• Working capital is the bottleneck: in an import to order the trading company funds the purchase, and the company pays on the domestic resale.
• Volume does not reach scale: the trading company pools demand from several clients and negotiates with the manufacturer on terms a single purchase does not reach.
• The product or the origin is new: the trading company already has the supplier relationships and knows what the country of origin requires.

Once a company imports regularly, holds its own registration and has its own team, a trading company fits better on one-off operations: a new origin, a new product, a demand peak.

Paying a supplier abroad requires an exchange contract closed with an institution authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil. The contract ties the remittance to the foreign trade operation behind it (the import declaration, in the case of a purchase).

Since Law No. 14,286/2021, the Brazilian foreign exchange framework, the rules on exchange and international capital sit in a single statute, with fewer document requirements for smaller operations.

The cost and the risk of the operation come down to three variables: the payment method agreed (advance payment, collection, letter of credit), the term and the exchange rate movement between closing the deal and settlement. We set that combination with the client before the order is placed.

International sourcing is the stage before the logistics: identify manufacturers abroad, qualify the ones that can actually deliver, compare offers and negotiate price, lead time and delivery terms.

Qualification checks production capacity, the certifications the product requires, export track record and commercial terms. A low price from a supplier that cannot issue the right paperwork costs more at clearance.

PortTrade Trading keeps direct contact with manufacturers in the Energy segment in countries such as China, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Before the customs paperwork come the commercial documents, which are what defines the deal:

• Proforma Invoice: the offer from the supplier with product, quantity, price, Incoterm and lead time. It is the basis for the order and for closing the exchange contract.
• Purchase Order / sale and purchase agreement: formalizes the acceptance and the obligations of each party, including warranties and penalties.
• Commercial Invoice: the final invoice for the operation, which travels with the cargo and is the basis for customs valuation.
• Packing List: breaks down packages, weights and dimensions. It is what the physical inspection checks against.

The Incoterm chosen (EXW, FOB, CIF and the others published by the International Chamber of Commerce) runs through all of them: it defines how far the responsibility of the seller goes over cost, risk and contracting the transport.