Brazil's LPCO: What Changed in Import Licensing

Since April 27, 2026, every ocean or air import into Brazil that requires regulatory approval goes through the LPCO (Licenças, Permissões, Certificados e Outros Documentos, roughly “Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other Documents”) inside Portal Unico, Brazil’s single window for foreign trade, per the Siscomex implementation timeline. The traditional Import License (LI), which was filed in the legacy Siscomex system before the import declaration, is no longer accepted for these modes. For customs brokers and compliance analysts handling imports into Brazil, the change reshapes the licensing sequence: the LPCO must be approved or at least under review before the DUIMP (Brazil’s single import declaration) can be filed, and the two are linked through the Product Catalog inside Portal Unico.

The old license was sequential; the LPCO runs parallel to the declaration

Under the previous system, the customs broker filed the Import License in Siscomex, waited for the regulatory agency to approve it, and only then filed the DI (import declaration). Each step lived in its own system and its own screen. Licensing came first, customs clearance came second.

In Portal Unico, the LPCO and the DUIMP share the same data layer: the Product Catalog (Catalogo de Produtos). When the importer registers a product in the Catalog and fills in the attributes that its NCM (tariff code) requires, the system automatically determines whether that combination of NCM and attributes triggers an administrative treatment. If it does, the LPCO must be requested and approved before the DUIMP is filed, or at least be under review by the regulatory agency. The workflow shifted from “license first, then declare” to “prepare the Catalog, request the LPCO, link it to the DUIMP,” all within the same platform.

This change hits the customs broker’s work at a specific point: licensing now depends on data that must be correct in the Product Catalog before any request reaches the regulatory agency. An incomplete attribute can prevent the system from recognizing that approval is needed, leaving the DUIMP without a license. A wrong code can trigger an approval requirement the goods did not need, creating an unnecessary request and delaying the process.

The Product Catalog determines whether approval is required

In the old system, the need for a license was checked by NCM code at the time the LI was filed, based on a treatment table maintained by each regulatory agency. The customs broker looked up the NCM, checked whether it required an LI, and if so, filled in the Siscomex form.

In Portal Unico, that check happens inside the Product Catalog. Each NCM has a set of mandatory attributes, and the combination of NCM plus declared attributes defines the applicable administrative treatment. The Portal Unico licensing dashboard shows treatments by agency and by period.

In practice, the same NCM can require or waive approval depending on the declared attributes. A product under the same tariff code may need ANVISA (health authority) approval if declared as food for human consumption, and skip it entirely if declared as an industrial raw material. Filling in the attributes correctly is the importer’s responsibility, or that of whoever the importer delegates. The customs broker who reviews the Catalog entry before requesting the LPCO avoids two situations: requesting approval that the goods did not need, and failing to request approval when it was mandatory. The second situation blocks the DUIMP at filing time.

Inmetro (Brazil’s standards body) updated its attributes and administrative treatments in the Product Catalog in September 2026, and other agencies make periodic adjustments. A customs broker working from an outdated attribute set risks filing with the wrong treatment.

Each regulatory agency migrated to Portal Unico with its own rules

Since October 2025, all regulatory agencies are integrated into Portal Unico, as confirmed by Brazil’s trade ministry (MDIC). ANVISA, MAPA (agriculture), Inmetro, the Army, IBAMA (environment), ANP (petroleum), and CNEN (nuclear) all operate within the same platform. The integration is technical: each agency receives LPCO requests through Portal Unico and reviews them under its own criteria.

Review timelines vary by agency and product type. An approval from MAPA for an animal-origin product can take days because it involves reviewing the sanitary certificate from the country of origin and, in some cases, physical inspection. An ANVISA approval for a product subject to registration may require supplementary documentation that the importer must provide before the agency even begins its review. An Inmetro approval for a product under mandatory certification may depend on a conformity certificate issued by an accredited body.

A customs broker who treats all approvals as interchangeable will misplan the clearance. The LPCO must be requested with the lead time each agency needs, and that lead time depends on the product, the origin, and the documentation the importer has ready. Cargo that arrives at the port before the LPCO is approved sits in the bonded warehouse, accumulating storage charges. If the shipment is containerized, the free time and demurrage clock runs while the approval is pending.

Filing the DUIMP without an approved LPCO blocks the process

The most frequent error in the new workflow is attempting to file the DUIMP while the LPCO is still pending. In the old system, the customs broker could file the DI even with the LI under review, because the two systems were independent. In Portal Unico, the DUIMP and the LPCO are linked: if the NCM’s administrative treatment requires approval and the LPCO is not approved, the system blocks the filing.

That block has real costs. Cargo that has already arrived at the port sits in the bonded warehouse, and the importer pays storage fees daily. If the cargo is containerized, the free time and demurrage count advances. The freight forwarder’s operator receives the charge and must explain to the importer that the delay is not in customs clearance: it sits in the licensing stage.

Corrections have also changed. If the customs broker registered the Product Catalog with incorrect attributes and the LPCO was requested based on those attributes, fixing it requires amending the Catalog, canceling or modifying the LPCO, and depending on the stage, amending the DUIMP itself. The cost of amending the DUIMP can include fines for inaccurate information under Complementary Law 214/2025.

To avoid this block, it helps to confirm three things before any filing: whether the product attributes in the Catalog are current per the latest administrative treatment published by the agency, whether the LPCO was requested with all documentation the agency requires, and whether the agency’s review timeline fits the clearance schedule. If it does not, the importer needs to know before the cargo ships.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between the LPCO and the old Import License (LI)?

The LI (Import License) was filed in the legacy Siscomex system as a standalone document before the import declaration. The LPCO (Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other Documents) is the Portal Unico module that replaced it, integrated with the Product Catalog and linked directly to the DUIMP. The main operational difference is that the LPCO relies on attributes registered in the Product Catalog to determine whether approval is needed, while the LI relied solely on the NCM tariff code.

Is the LPCO required for all imports into Brazil?

The LPCO is required when the combination of NCM and product attributes in the Product Catalog triggers an administrative treatment that demands approval from a regulatory agency (ANVISA, MAPA, Inmetro, the Army, IBAMA, ANP, or CNEN). Imports of products that do not require regulatory approval proceed directly to DUIMP filing without an LPCO.

What happens if the LPCO is not approved when the DUIMP is filed?

Portal Unico blocks the DUIMP filing when the NCM’s administrative treatment requires approval and the LPCO is not approved or under review. The cargo remains in the bonded warehouse until the situation is resolved, accumulating storage costs and, for containerized shipments, demurrage.

How Tier2 Cargo tracks import licensing in the process

The import process in Tier2 Cargo records the LPCO as part of the customs clearance data: the license number, the regulatory agency, the review status, and the approval date sit in the same process that carries the CE Mercante, CCT, DUIMP, and operational milestones. When the LPCO status changes, the operator updates the process and the information becomes available to anyone following the shipment, including the business partner who accesses Tier2 Portal.

The compliance team and the operations team then work from the same timeline: they know whether the LPCO is pending, under review, or approved without switching to Portal Unico in another tab.

Learn about Tier2 Cargo or get in touch.

A customs broker handling imports into Brazil in 2026 works within a licensing system that demands more upfront preparation than its predecessor. Reviewing the attributes in the Product Catalog, requesting the LPCO with the lead time each agency requires, and confirming approval before filing the DUIMP are three steps that, taken in the right order, prevent the costliest bottleneck for the importer: cargo sitting at port waiting for a license that should have been resolved before shipment.