Global Trade Alert

On 20 April 2016, the Brazilian Foreign Trade Council (Camex) issued Resolution No. 40 temporarily decreasing the import tariff on maize from 8% to 0%. The Resolution entered into force 22 April 2016 and is in force for a period of six months. The affected good falls under Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM): 1005.90.10. The import tariff was reduced following the subject good's inclusion on the List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff (LETEC).
Subsequently, cotton falling under NCM 5201.00.20 was removed from the LETEC and thus returned to its initial level of import duty.

List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff
The tariff codes were included in the List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff (LETEC) of Mercosur. LETEC is a mechanism that allows member states of Mercosur to apply customs duties that are lower or higher than otherwise listed in the Mercosur Common External Tariff schedule. However, the tariffs shall not surpass the ceilings given by the WTO.
Mercosur Decision CMC no. 26/15 gives Brazil the right to maintain a LETEC of 100 codes based on the NCM until 31 December 2021. Due to this restriction, Brazil had to retrieve one other good from the LETEC, which was NCM 5201.00.20.
Affected trading partners are identified based on UN Comtrade's import data from 2014.