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A customs broker in Brazil (despachante aduaneiro) is a professional registered with the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) who represents importers and exporters in customs clearance: preparing and filing declarations, attending inspections, answering officers' queries and collecting released goods. Hiring one is not mandatory, but on formal shipments it usually saves time and fines.
The question tends to come up at the same moment: the first shipment already has a sailing or flight date and nobody in the company knows what a customs query looks like. This guide covers what Brazilian law allows a broker to do, how to grant them powers in Siscomex, what to check in a quote and when the courier already handles clearance for you.
The broker handles everything between the arrival of the goods and their release, or between the invoice and loading, on exports. Article 808 of Brazil's Customs Regulation (Decree No. 6,759/2009) lists the clearance activities a representative may carry out:
In daily practice, a customs broker starts work before the goods arrive. They check the NCM classification, see whether the product needs a licence, prepare the Duimp or DI import declaration and calculate the taxes. When an officer raises a query, the broker answers it and files the documents.
That answer decides whether the cargo sits in the warehouse for one day or two weeks.
Only an individual listed in Receita Federal's Register of Customs Brokers. To join it, article 810 of the Customs Regulation requires at least two years registered as a broker's assistant, Brazilian nationality, legal adulthood, secondary education, no final conviction to a prison sentence and a pass in the technical qualification exam run by Receita Federal. Source: Decree No. 6,759/2009, article 810, text in force on the Planalto legislation portal in October 2026.
A customs broker is always a person, even when you hire a whole firm. Ask which professional will sign your files and get their CPF (the Brazilian individual taxpayer number) for the registration.
No. Under article 809 of the Customs Regulation, a company can be represented by a director or by an employee with an exclusive employment relationship, holding full powers of attorney. Individuals can act on their own behalf.
What counts is the cost of learning by mistake. A company importing twice a year rarely justifies an in-house person who masters the Duimp, administrative treatment and query responses, so the broker costs less than the error. A company importing every week, always the same product, may build its own team.
Filing the declaration itself is explained in the guide to Siscomex imports, and the path of a first purchase abroad in the guide to importing into Brazil.
The company sets up the representation itself on Portal Único Siscomex, once it is registered under Radar Siscomex, the customs registration for importers. According to Receita Federal's manual, the path has four steps:
The end date is the detail that most often stalls operations. An expired representation cuts the broker's access in the middle of a file, and nobody notices until the Duimp stops. Put the expiry date in the same calendar as the digital certificate.
Representation by a broker has one more advantage: it lets you appoint them as manager of the Product Catalogue, the register the Duimp uses to describe each item.
There is no official fee schedule. The Customs Regulation states that brokers agree their fees freely (article 810, paragraph 2), so the price comes from negotiation. What you can control is what goes into the quote, and the table helps compare proposals:
Quote item | Who sets the amount | What to check |
Clearance fees | Broker, by contract | Whether charged per file, per declaration line or monthly |
Import taxes | Legislation | Whether the broker only calculates or also advances payment |
Storage | Terminal or bonded facility | Whether the estimate is in the quote or billed separately |
Extra services | Broker | Import licence, amendments, support during expert inspection |
Ask for a written proposal built on a sample file, using one of your real shipments. A generic proposal hides the cost of exceptions, and exceptions are where clearance gets expensive.
For express shipments, import clearance is carried out by the courier company, not by the recipient. That is set by Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,737/2017, and Coana Ordinance No. 81/2017 allows the courier to accredit its own employees or customs brokers as representatives.
If you receive samples, spare parts or smaller orders, there is no broker to hire: the courier files the declaration and calculates the taxes. Value bands and taxation are in the guide to courier imports and the RTS, and what can hold a shipment is covered in customs clearance and restrictions.
By experience with your product, not by city. Looking for a broker in Santos, Manaus or Foz do Iguaçu makes sense when the cargo enters there, but quality depends on knowing the regulatory agency and the NCM you import. Before signing, ask:
A vague answer to the third question? That is a faithful preview of your first customs query.
No. A freight forwarder (agente de carga) hires transport on behalf of the importer or exporter and consolidates or deconsolidates cargo, as defined in article 31 of the Customs Regulation, while the customs broker handles clearance before Receita Federal. On formal cargo it is common to have both on the same shipment.
The broker is an agent of the importer or exporter, who remains liable for the taxes and the information declared. Under article 808 of the Customs Regulation, a broker can only sign a guarantee for a tax obligation if the power of attorney includes a specific clause for it.
No. Individuals can act on their own behalf in clearance, and for express shipments the courier company handles clearance. A broker comes in when the operation is formal and the importer prefers to delegate.
You can, but the switch means adding the new representation on Portal Único and handing the full file history to the new professional. Doing it with an open query usually delays release, so the best moment is between shipments.
Hiring a broker is a matter of volume and complexity: formal cargo, licensed goods or regular flows call for a dedicated professional. Samples and smaller orders move more simply as express shipments, with clearance included in the service.
If your company wants to import and export with clearance handled by people who do it every day, open a DHL Express business account.
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