Ex-Tarifário is a regime that temporarily reduces the Import Tax rate — usually to 0% or 2% — for capital goods and IT/telecom equipment with no domestic equivalent.
The logic behind it
Brazil protects domestic industry with relatively high import rates on capital goods. But when no domestic manufacturer makes that specific equipment, keeping the full rate only raises the cost for whoever needs to modernize production, without protecting anyone. Ex-Tarifário addresses that gap case by case.
How the request is reviewed
The process goes through merit review by Brazil's Ex-Tarifário committee, which assesses whether a domestic equivalent truly doesn't exist. Domestic manufacturers in the same segment can formally object during the process, so the technical quality of the request matters as much as its merit.
When it's worth considering
If your company is about to import significant capital equipment and hasn't checked Ex-Tarifário yet, it's worth reviewing before closing the import — the rate difference can be a meaningful share of the total investment, and the request must be filed before shipping, not after.