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Radar Siscomex is the registration Brazil's Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) grants so a company can trade abroad and file customs declarations in its own name. Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020 sets three types: expressa, limitada (up to USD 50,000 or USD 150,000 in imports per six months) and ilimitada. You apply through Habilita.
The problem usually shows up late: the supplier has accepted the order, the customs broker asks for the Radar, and the company finds it was placed under the USD 50,000 cap, below what it planned to import. This guide explains each type, how Receita Federal calculates your limit, how to apply or request a review and how to check any company's Radar.
Radar stands for Registro e Rastreamento da Atuação dos Intervenientes Aduaneiros, the register in which Receita Federal records who may operate in foreign trade. In market language, "having Radar Siscomex" means being cleared to trade.
Without it, a company cannot file a Duimp, a DI or a DUE (Brazil's import and export declarations) in its own name. Nor can it appoint a customs broker as its representative, because representation is set up from the registration. It is the first step of any formal import or export, before you even get a freight quote.
There are three, and what separates the last two is the financial capacity Receita Federal estimates for the company. The table summarises articles 16 and 17 of Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020:
Type | Who qualifies | Import limit |
Expressa | Publicly listed corporations (S.A.) and their wholly owned subsidiaries, state-owned companies and mixed-capital companies | No limit |
Limitada | Companies with estimated financial capacity of up to USD 150,000 per six months | USD 50,000 or USD 150,000 per period of six consecutive months |
Ilimitada | Companies with estimated financial capacity above USD 150,000 per six months | No limit |
Source: Receita Federal, Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020, in force since 1 December 2020, and the Siscomex registration manual, checked in October 2026.
The expressa type depends on legal form, not size. A large privately held company with high revenue will never fall under expressa: its route is ilimitada.
Habilita automatically estimates the company's financial capacity and uses it to set the type and the limit. The method is in Coana Ordinance No. 72/2020, which looks at federal taxes paid by the company in the current year and the four previous years.
The cap is measured on the customs value of imports plus freight and insurance to the place of discharge, for each period of six consecutive months. The calculation uses the cost of the goods landed in Brazil, not just the invoice price.
Take a typical case. A company opened a year ago, with little federal tax paid, gets the USD 50,000 limitada. It plans three USD 25,000 lots in the six-month period, with freight and insurance at 10% each. That adds up to USD 82,500, and the third lot does not fit. It needs to request a review before the second shipment, not after the third.
Radar Siscomex registration is requested in the Habilita system, inside Portal Único (Brazil's single window for foreign trade), by the company's legal representative. Before you start, check the requirements Receita Federal lists: enrolment in the Electronic Tax Domicile (DTE), an active CNPJ (corporate taxpayer number), a regular CPF (individual taxpayer number) or one pending regularisation for every member of the shareholder and management board, and no disqualification or suspension in force. The routine:
With the company registered, filing the import declaration follows the routine in the guide to Siscomex imports.
A company on limitada can request a review of its estimate to move up a band or switch to ilimitada. The simplest route is Habilita itself, which recalculates capacity from the data Receita Federal already holds.
If the automatic recalculation does not solve it, the route is a digital process, with documents proving financial capacity above the estimate. The decision then depends on an officer's review. Plan with a comfortable margin before the first shipment.
The public lookup moved in 2026. According to a Receita Federal notice, since 31 August 2026 it is done through public access on Portal Único Siscomex, under Cadastro de Intervenientes, Habilitação, Consultar Habilitação, and the old Radar page was switched off on 30 September 2026.
Enter the CNPJ root, the first eight digits. Anyone can check, free of charge, and the result shows whether the company is registered. It is a useful check before closing a deal with a Brazilian import agent or with a customer who will receive your goods in Brazil.
There is no expiry date, but there is deactivation for inactivity. Under Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020, a company that goes twelve months without any operation recorded in the foreign trade systems is automatically deactivated, counting from the grant or from the last operation.
To come back, a new request in Habilita is enough. The risk is finding out with cargo already on its way. If you import once a year, around seasonal dates, check the registration two months before ordering from the supplier. Full purchase planning is covered in the guide to importing into Brazil.
No. Article 17 of Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020 applies the caps to imports only, and also excludes imports without foreign exchange coverage. A company on limitada can export with no value ceiling, and the shipping routine is in the guide to exporting from Brazil.
It counts against the acquirer, the company that ordered the goods, not the importer carrying out the operation on its behalf. The same rule applies to purchases made through import by order (importação por encomenda), under Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020.
Individuals can operate in their own name, but only in operations tied to personal use and consumption, professional activity or a personal collection, under the same normative instruction. To resell, the route is to set up a company and register its CNPJ.
The company's legal representative, who logs in to Habilita on Portal Único with their own credentials. The customs broker comes in afterwards, as a representative added by the already registered company.
With the Radar in the right type and the cap planned for the six-month period, your first import no longer stalls on a registration block. For samples and smaller orders, express shipping helps you test suppliers while the formal operation builds volume.
To import into and export from Brazil with clearance handled by specialists, open a DHL Express business account.
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