Trade Defense: Suspension of on-the-spot inspections due to COVID-19

The Brazilian Government announced new procedures to be adopted in the scope of trade remedies and public interest investigations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) announced the suspension, for an indefinite period, of conducting in-person visits to verify the correctness of the information provided by interested parties in the Trade Defense processes, known as on-the-spot inspections, provided for in Decree No. 8,058/2013, given that many countries have been restricting the entry of foreign nationals to their borders to prevent the spread of the virus, in addition to adopting measures of social isolation or quarantine, and that airlines have been announcing the suspension of international flights.

The formalization of this position by SDCOM corroborates the decisions that have been made after the declaration of the pandemic, which canceled the on-the-spot inspections planned for the period.

Without the in-person visits, SDCOM will, exceptionally, proceed only with the detailed analysis of all information submitted by interested parties in the scope of trade defense investigations and public interest assessments, and may request evidence in order to validate the information presented.

In the same act, SECEX also made public that the deadlines for the proceedings may be suspended, in order to guarantee adequate time for the collection and analysis of the information necessary for the determinations of the Under Secretariat of Trade Defense and Public Interest (SDCOM).

The announced changes will also be applied to public interest assessments, investigations of subsidies and global or bilateral safeguards conducted by the Brazilian government, as appropriate.

Demarest’s International Trade team is available for any further information or clarification on this matter.