Guides

Brazilian leniency agreements, explained for buyers

A leniency agreement is a company formally admitting corruption, fraud or cartel conduct to the Brazilian government in exchange for reduced penalties. It is a different instrument from debarment, it is public, and it is frequently the more serious finding of the two.

What a CNPJ is, and what its status does not prove

The CNPJ is Brazil’s company tax identifier and the key to every other check on a Brazilian supplier. How to read one, how to find a supplier’s number, what each registration status means, and the several things an ACTIVE status does not tell you.

Checking a Brazilian company against OFAC and UN sanctions

International sanctions lists are name-based, not tax-ID based, which makes them the easiest check to run and the easiest to get wrong. What the OFAC and UN lists are, why a name match is weak evidence, and how to treat a hit.

INPE deforestation data: what PRODES and DETER can and cannot prove

Brazil publishes some of the best satellite deforestation monitoring in the world, and it is routinely over-claimed in supply-chain marketing. What PRODES and DETER each measure, why an alert is not a finding against a company, and what it takes to connect either to a supplier.

EU ban on Brazilian animal products, 3 September 2026

From 3 September 2026 the EU removes Brazil from its list of countries authorised to export animal products, over controls on antimicrobial use. What is covered, why it is not a deforestation measure, and what it means whether you buy from Brazil or sell to Europe.

What the EUDR is, and who it reaches

The EU Deforestation Regulation, what it requires from anyone placing cattle, timber, coffee, soy, cocoa, palm oil or rubber on the EU market, and how that requirement travels down to individual Brazilian suppliers.

The Lista Suja: Brazil’s forced-labour registry

How Brazil’s register of employers found to have subjected workers to conditions analogous to slavery works, and why it matters to anyone buying from Brazilian suppliers.

The CAR: what Brazil’s rural environmental registry does and does not tell you

What the Cadastro Ambiental Rural records about a rural property, and why its status alone is not evidence of environmental compliance.

Lacey Act: the species field that stops timber shipments

What the US Lacey Act requires for timber and derived products from Brazil, and the single missing data point that most often causes a hold at the border.

Cattle traceability: why the transit permit alone is not enough

How Brazil’s Animal Transit Permit (GTA) and the electronic invoice (NF-e) complement each other, and the known laundering gap that auditing only one of them leaves open.

CEIS and CNEP: Brazil’s federal sanctions registers

What the CEIS and CNEP registers published on Brazil’s Transparency Portal record, and how an active sanction becomes a risk signal in supplier due diligence.

How to check a Brazilian supplier against IBAMA embargoes

The real process of checking a supplier for IBAMA environmental embargoes, what a positive result contains, and why checking once has almost no value.

Brazilian supplier due diligence: the full source checklist

The fourteen public sources that make up a real due diligence process for a Brazilian supplier, grouped by risk area, with what each one covers and misses.

EUDR deadlines, and what to prepare before them

How the EUDR implementation timeline works, why the dates have moved before, and what is worth preparing regardless of the exact date in force.

How to check a supplier against the Lista Suja

The full manual process for checking Brazil’s forced-labour register, and why a single check does not solve the problem the register exists to prevent.

LkSG: what Germany’s supply chain law requires of Brazilian suppliers

How Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act reaches Brazilian suppliers who have no direct relationship with German law, and what buyers end up asking for.

CBAM is in its definitive phase, and what that asks of a Brazilian supplier

Since 1 January 2026 the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is no longer a reporting exercise: imports of cement, iron and steel, fertilisers and aluminium now carry a certificate cost. What the dates are, who is exempt, and what a Brazilian supplier is actually asked to provide.

Brazil is “standard risk” under the EUDR, and what that does not mean

The European Commission classified Brazil as standard risk for deforestation, the European Parliament voted to reject the classification system, and the list is in force anyway. What the category actually changes about your due diligence, which is less than the word suggests.

The EU–Mercosur agreement applies provisionally from 1 May 2026

Preferential tariffs on Brazilian goods entering the EU began on 1 May 2026 under the interim agreement, while a CJEU opinion is still outstanding. What a buyer has to do to claim the preference, and why a tariff preference does not carry any other requirement with it.

NR-13: selling pressure vessels into Brazil

Brazil does not make you build a pressure vessel to a Brazilian code. NR-13 requires the code you used to appear in the vessel’s documentation file and on its nameplate, and without it import and sale are prohibited. What the documents must contain, which items a file prepared for another market will not already have, and what falls to your Brazilian importer and their engineer.