2016-11-24
pmee0006-novembro-evento-bsb2.png
On November 1, the Special Secretariat of Micro and Small Enterprises (Secretaria Especial da Micro e Pequena Empresa – SEMPE) organised a seminar title “Streamlining of Foreign Trade Procedures for Micro and Small Enterprises” in Brasília. The event included presentation of results and outcomes of a Brazilian mission to Europe in October and of a study prepared on the issue as part of the 8th Call of the EU-Brazilian Sector Dialogues Support Facility, an initiative coordinated by the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Development and Management (Ministério do Planejamento, Desenvolvimento e Gestão – MP) and the EU Delegation in Brazil (DELBRA).
At the seminar’s opening session, the Deputy Secretary of SEMPE, Nizar Ratib Midrei, noted that despite the fact that micro and small enterprises (MSEs) make up the majority of Brazilian business they account for less than 1% of the country’s total exports. “We believe that this segment could contribute far more to the export market. To this end, we are working to make the segment more competitive. Europe’s experience in this area will certainly serve as a guide for implementing changes”, he said. However, Nizar Midrei state that Brazil could also collaborate with the EU in this area through successful initiatives of its own, such as the Unified Foreign Trade Portal (Portal Único de Comércio Exterior), which consolidates the databases and system of agencies engaged in export and import procedures in Brazil and streamlines purchase and sales transactions for goods.
Pedro Santos, DELBRA’s First Counsellor for Trade, argued that MSEs are the foundation of the European and Brazilian economy alike. “In the European Union, it was small enterprises that revived the economy after the crisis, accounting for two-thirds of all jobs today”, underscored Mr Santos. He also reported that the member States are responsible for the majority of rules and procedures governing the segment. The European Commission, nonetheless, identified the 10 most pressing challenges facing MSEs and adopted measures to assist them.
In his remarks, Luís Felipe Salin Monteiro, emphasised that the objective of the Ministry of Planning is to offer government agencies the tools needed to enhance their services. “One of these tools is the Sector Dialogues Support Facility, through which Brazil and the European Union are able to exchange experiences. The analysis of the proposal submissions for the initiative took into account their transformative potential to spur innovation, such as, by way of example, the issue under discussion here today”, he concluded.
Also participating in the opening session were Flávio Augusto Trevisan, Director of the Department of Foreign Trade Competition (Departamento de Competitividade no Comércio Exterior), a component body of the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Commerce (Ministério da Indústria, Comércio Exterior e Serviços); Fabiano Coelho, Representative of the Sub-Secretariat of Customs and International Affairs (Subsecretaria de Aduana e Relações Internacionais), an agency of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Department (Receita Federal do Brasil – RFB); and Márcio Naves Lima, Special Adviser of the Chamber of Foreign Trade (Câmara de Comércio Exterior – CAMEX).
The comparative study on the foreign trade procedures adopted by MSEs in Brazil and the EU was presented by the document’s authors, Gonzalo Polo, Director for Special Studies at the Spanish Institute for Tax Studies (Instituto de Estudios Fiscales – IEF), and Rose Mary Estacio, Consultant for the São Paulo branch of the Brazilian Micro and Small Enterprise Support Service (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas – SEBRAE).
Mission to Europe
The following officials took part in the Brazilian mission to Europe in October: Nizar Ratib Midrei; Flávio Martins Pimentel, Assistant at SEMPE; Luís Felipe de Barros Reche, Technical Adviser of the Secretariat of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Department (Secretaria da Receita Federal do Brasil – RFB); Rui Hiroshi Yamada Filho, Foreign Trade Analyst of the Secretariat for Foreign Trade (Secretaria de Comércio Exterior – SECEX).
The first city on the mission’s itinerary was Madrid, Spain, where the delegation visited the Ministry of Economy and Competition (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad); State Secretariat of Trade (Secretaría de Estado de Comercio); Sub-Directorate General for Inspection, Certification and Technical Assistance in Foreign Trade (Subdirección General de Inspección, Certificación y Asistencia Técnica del Comercio Exterior); and foreign trade logistical operators ASECOMEX and INTERCOES. Specialist Gonzalo Polo accompanied the delegation on its visits.
In Rome, Italy, the delegation toured the Customs Agency to get a first-hand look at the streamlined procedures introduced in the wake of the enactment of new customs regulations in the EU. Italy was of particular interest given the high levels of participation of that country’s SMEs in the export segment. The Brazilian mission’s last stop was Brussels, Belgium, headquarters of the European Commission’s Directorates-General for Taxes and Growth.
For SEMPE’s Deputy Secretary, the mission proved highly valuable. “We believed that Europe offered differentiated treatment to micro and small enterprises as occurs here in Brazil, but discovered that, in fact, no distinction is made. Instead, streamlined processes are used to facilitate exports in general, including for SMEs. Our procedures here are excessively bureaucratic. While an export process takes approximately 24 hours in Europe, a full 15 days are required in Brazil to complete an operation. We found that the focus in Europe is on capacity building and distribution, a model strategy that has spurred the changes underway here”, reported the Deputy Secretary.
According to Nizar Midrei, the EU has a private logistics network composed of a large number of service providers to meet the needs of exporters and importers, with the capacity to fully serve small-scale exporters lacking the physical infrastructure and personnel required to conduct foreign trade operations. “We were struck by the large number of logistical operators with the necessary warehousing, transportation, and customs clearance infrastructure to deliver comprehensive service offerings to exporters. Equally interesting was the capacity of private operators to manage more than one type of customs regime in the same facility, providing users with flexibility and lower transportation costs for goods.”
23/10/2020
Study addresses regulatory and governance challenges to decarbonize and digitalise the energy sector
16/10/2020
Joint press release - 8th EU-Brazil High Level Political Dialogue on the Environment Dimension of Sustainable Development on 16 October 2020 (virtual meeting)
03/08/2020
Webinar discusses the importance of data protection in the COVID-19 pandemic
22/05/2020
European Union and Brazil decide to cooperate in projects to fight COVID-19
Founded UE. © Diálogos