Brazil’s Department of Foreign Trade Operations (Decex) issued Communiqué Importação No 077/2026 on 23 July, confirming that all import-processing platforms linked to the Siscomex Single Window will go offline from 07:00 BRT on 25 July until 07:00 BRT on 27 July. The planned outage is necessary to finalise the long-awaited conversion of the national taxpayer ID (CNPJ) from a numeric to an alphanumeric format—an upgrade designed to align Brazil’s customs database with OECD and Mercosur digital-trade standards. During the 48-hour window, customs brokers, freight forwarders and in-house trade-compliance teams will be unable to register Import Declarations (DI) or access the new Import Process (NPI) modules. Decex has authorised contingency procedures: companies may file paper-based Simplified Import Declarations (DSI) for time-sensitive shipments, but they must email full documentation to decex.coimp@mdic.gov.br within ten working days of customs clearance. While the change primarily targets goods trade, mobility practitioners should expect knock-on effects. Corporate expatriates relocating with household goods under temporary-import arrangements (carnets and baggage certificates) could face clearance delays at ports such as Santos and Rio-Galeão. Pet import permits, which rely on the same CNPJ validation service, may also queue at MAPA inspection posts. Airlines that issue cargo manifests through the Portal Único are advising shippers to advance filing cut-offs by at least 24 hours. The migration completes phase 3 of Brazil’s Single Window overhaul, first announced in 2022. From Monday, the new format will allow foreign branches of multinationals—whose registry numbers often include letters—to interface with Brazilian customs without resorting to surrogate local IDs. Compliance software providers estimate that 175,000 master-data records will need re-mapping over the weekend. Decex has warned that any importer submitting legacy numeric CNPJs after 27 July will have declarations automatically rejected. Global mobility and trade-compliance managers should advise relocating employees to postpone heavy-lift or bonded shipments until the first week of August, and ensure logistics providers have updated EDI schemas. Failure to do so could trigger storage fees and demurrage at bonded warehouses.
