Single Foreign Trade Portal speeds up imports of vegetable products

Inspections on imports of vegetable products and their by-products are already being processed in a single federal government system called the Single Foreign Trade Portal. This system allows a safer and more agile control of imports. It is a concerted effort between the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply and the Ministry of Economy, with the objective of reducing bureaucracy at Brazilian ports, whilst facilitating secure international trade.

Before this system, inspectors from the International Agricultural Surveillance System (Vigiagro) needed to access three different systems to inspect wheat flour imports, for example. The user also needed to provide the same information for different databases.

From now on, all information will be processed using the Single Foreign Trade Portal. The information is checked electronically and classified as being in the green, yellow or red channel. The Federal Agricultural Auditor then adopts measures as necessary. The initiative will allow low-risk cargo or those where control is just a documentary formality, to be released in a few minutes, optimizing the use of inspection teams to intensify inspections of products in higher-risk categories as well as perishable products that need to be released faster to maintain their quality.

Time reduction

In 2018, meat exports benefited, when the time taken for inspections was reduced from 3 days to about 5 minutes. In 2019, exports of cotton, soy complex, corn and other vegetable products benefitted from a reduction in the time taken to issue international certificates. This is the third wave of red tape being cut in the Vigiagro, which affects the entire operation of importing plant products via ports, airports and border posts throughout the country.

The initiative is the result of a partnership between Vigiagro and the Foreign Trade Secretariat – Secex of the Ministry of Economy. The Secretariat for Agricultural Defense points out that this is a measure in line with the Brazilian government’s commitment to the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (AFC), held in Bali during the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference, in December 2013, which went into effect in March 2016. The products using the new system can be consulted on the Siscomex Import portal.

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