What cannot be imported into Brazil

The short answer

A handful of categories cannot be imported at all, regardless of NCM code: used consumer goods, with narrow exceptions, and used or retreaded tyres. A wider set faces a licence requirement or a duty penalty tied to the specific code and country: used capital goods, products under an anti-dumping measure, and goods inside a tariff-rate quota. None of these show up on a product description search; they attach to the classification.

Used consumer goods: prohibited

Portaria Secex 249/2023 article 35 prohibits the import of used consumer goods, full stop. The exceptions are narrow: donations to public bodies and charities, goods received by inheritance, items with recognised cultural value, and cars over 30 years old. A shipment of used electronics, clothing or machinery intended for resale does not clear customs under any of these.

Used capital goods: licensed, not prohibited

Used capital goods and their parts (bens de capital usados) are a different case: an import licence is required, and Secex grants it only where identical equipment is not manufactured in Brazil (Portaria Secex 249/2023 articles 29-30). Article 30 §2 carries a list of exceptions where the licence requirement does not gate the same way: ships, refurbished IT and telecom parts, moulds, and complete production lines.

Used and retreaded tyres: prohibited

NCM 4012 (used and retreaded tyres) cannot be imported even where the tyre has been reprocessed, under Portaria Secex 249/2023 article 39. The single exception is the return of aircraft tyres after a temporary export.

Tariff-rate quotas: current example, steel

Resolução Gecex 929/2026 put a tariff-rate quota regime in force from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2027 for flat steel products, profiles and tubes on a defined list of NCM codes. Inside the quota the duty runs from 7.2% to 16% depending on the code; above the quota, 25%. Quotas are allocated by four-month periods. This detail is reached through a secondary republication of the act text (LegisWeb) rather than the official gazette directly.

Anti-dumping duties: check by code and country

Anti-dumping measures are country- and product-specific, published on the MDIC list "Medidas de defesa comercial em vigor," updated 14 September 2026 at the time of writing. Examples on that list: seamless tubes from China carry several measures, and China and Romania face a separate measure on conductor tubes up to 5 inches; Ukraine faces the same measure on conductor tubes up to 5 inches until 4 September 2031; welded stainless tubes in grades 304 and 316 from China, India and Taiwan, and separately from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam; flat glass from Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey, from December 2025 until 23 December 2030. These are current examples, not a static list: check the live MDIC page for your own code before assuming either that a measure applies or that it does not.

Anti-dumping measures run for up to five years and can be extended after a review under Decreto 8.058/2013; the procedural detail of that review was not confirmed against the decree's primary text while preparing this page.

Method: how to check your own code

First fix the exact NCM code, since a restriction reads against the code, not a general product description. Then check that code against two things: the MDIC list of trade defence measures in force, and the TEC annexes to Resolução Gecex 272/2021 for any temporary rate increase or quota. For used goods specifically, read Portaria Secex 249/2023 articles 29-39, consolidated text on gov.br/siscomex, last consolidated by Portaria Secex 523 of 15 July 2026.

Sources

• Used consumer goods, used capital goods, used and retreaded tyres: Portaria Secex 249/2023, articles 29-30, 35, 39, consolidated text on gov.br/siscomex (last consolidation Portaria Secex 523/2026).
• Anti-dumping measures in force: MDIC, "Medidas de defesa comercial em vigor," updated 14 September 2026.
• Steel tariff-rate quota: Resolução Gecex 929/2026, reached via LegisWeb (secondary republication).
• Wooden packaging restrictions: see port and customs clearance fees.

Rates verified 23-24 September 2026. Trade defence measures and quotas change without much notice; check the MDIC page directly before pricing a shipment against any figure here.