Using a sourcing agent in Brazil

We are independent, based in Brazil, and we do not take a commission from sellers. That position, and what it means in practice, is set out on the Sourcing from Brazil hub; this page does not repeat it beyond stating it here.

The short answer

Brazilian law has several contract types that could describe what a sourcing agent does, and no single one of them is written specifically for a foreign buyer's local agent. Which applies turns on what the agent actually does, not on what either side calls the arrangement. Get any agency contract reviewed by a Brazilian lawyer (admitted to the OAB) before you sign it; this page explains the frameworks well enough to have that conversation, not to replace it.

The frameworks that could apply

Lei 4.886/1965, commercial representation. This is Brazil's main statute on commercial intermediaries, and it is built around a representative who mediates deals on behalf of a "represented" party, generally read as a seller. It requires registration with a regional council (CORE), bans commission-guarantee (del credere) clauses, sets a minimum termination indemnity of 1/12 of the total remuneration earned over the life of the representation for termination without cause, requires 30 days' notice (or payment of a third of the prior three months' commissions) on an open-ended contract, and ranks amounts owed to the representative like a labour claim if the represented company becomes insolvent. Every one of these protections is written around a seller's representative. Whether any of it applies to an agent working for a foreign buyer instead is not confirmed by the sources checked for this page.

Código Civil articles 710 to 721, contrato de agência. A broader civil-law contract for someone who, without an employment relationship, regularly promotes another party's deals in a defined territory, for pay, and who may or may not hold power to conclude contracts on that party's behalf. Article 721 points back to Lei 4.886 as the specialised law where it applies, which does not resolve the buyer-agent question either.

Mandato (Código Civil article 653). If the agent has the power to act and sign in your name, this is the matching definition. Mandate is presumed unpaid unless agreed, except where acting as an agent falls within the person's profession.

Comissão (Código Civil article 693). If the agent buys in its own name but on your account, this is the matching type. The agent, under this structure, is the one directly obligated to the people it contracts with, not you.

Corretagem, brokerage (Código Civil article 722). If the agent's role is limited to bringing you and a seller together, without a standing mandate or dependency relationship, and is paid on the result, this is the matching type. A broker must act with diligence and inform the client of the security or risk of the deal, and is entitled to pay once the intended result is achieved, even if a party later withdraws.

Which one actually applies to your arrangement

This depends on what the agent does, not on the label in the contract. An agent who signs supplier contracts in your name is closer to mandato. One who buys goods in its own name and resells to you is closer to comissão. One who only introduces you to vetted suppliers and steps back once a deal is agreed is closer to corretagem. Write the contract to describe the actual function, and have a Brazilian lawyer confirm which regime, or mix of regimes, it falls under before you sign. This page describes the categories; it does not tell you which one your specific contract creates.

Registration and the consequence of skipping it

For a seller-side representative under Lei 4.886, registration with a regional council (CORE) is mandatory, and Brazilian case law has taken a hard line on the consequence of skipping it: the Superior Tribunal of Justice has held that the absence of CORE registration removes the representative from the protections of Lei 4.886 entirely, including the termination indemnity. Whether this same registration requirement, and the same consequence, extends to a buyer-side sourcing agent was not confirmed in the sources checked for this page. If your agent describes itself as a registered commercial representative, asking for the CORE number is a reasonable, low-cost check regardless of which regime ultimately governs your contract.

Fees: no rates, ask in writing

No documented range of sourcing-agent commission rates or flat fees for the Brazilian market was found while researching this page, and none is quoted here. What Brazilian law does establish is structural rather than numeric: under Lei 4.886, commission for a registered representative is tied to payment of the order, not merely to signing it, and del credere clauses (making the representative guarantee the buyer's payment) are banned outright. Under the Código Civil's brokerage rules, if a fee is not fixed by contract or by law, it follows the nature of the deal and local custom, and it becomes payable once the broker delivers the result, even if one party later backs out.

Commission, a flat fee, a retainer, or some mix of the three each shape an agent's incentives differently: a pure commission aligns the agent with closing a deal, which can push toward closing rather than thorough vetting; a flat fee or retainer pays for the work itself, search and due diligence, regardless of outcome. Ask any agent, in writing, who pays them and whether they receive anything from any other party to the deal, including the seller.

Red flags, from documented sources

• The agent is also the seller, or acts for both sides without disclosure. Under the Código Civil, a deal a representative concludes with themselves, or in conflict of interest with the person they represent when that conflict was or should have been known to the other party, is voidable (articles 117 and 119).
• Undisclosed commissions from the seller. Brokerage law requires disclosure of the security or risk of a deal (Código Civil article 723), and a commercial representative can be sanctioned for refusing to account for money or documents it received on the principal's behalf (Lei 4.886 article 19). No source found specifically addresses a buyer's agent secretly paid by the seller; the practical safeguard is the written fee declaration above, not a specific statutory rule against it.
• A request to pay a personal account, or an account that changed mid-deal. This is the business email compromise pattern documented at scale by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center: 24,768 BEC complaints and over US$3 billion in reported losses in 2025 alone, in its 2025 annual report. Confirm any change of payment instructions through a channel other than the message that requested it, in full on export scams when sourcing from Brazil.
• NCND agreements and long broker chains presented as an ICC requirement. The ICC has warned since 2005 that documents citing "ICC Regulations 400/500/600," "ICC Prove and Move Rules," or a bogus non-circumvention and non-disclosure agreement dressed up as an ICC instrument are fraud markers, not real ICC paperwork. A more recent ICC notice lists specific fake instrument names circulating in commodity-trade fraud, including an "Irrevocable Master Free Protection Agreement" and a supposed "International Buyer's License," and states that genuine ICC correspondence comes from an iccwbo.org address. An agent whose paperwork invokes any of these is not describing a real requirement.

Where this fits

Verifying the company behind any Brazilian counterparty, agent or seller, follows the same general checks, on verifying a Brazilian exporter. The documented commodity-fraud pattern and the payment-instruction check are on export scams when sourcing from Brazil. Structuring the payment itself is on payment terms and instruments.

Sources

• Lei 4.886/1965, articles 1, 2, 5, 19, 27, 31, 32, 34, 41, 43, 44: planalto.gov.br, primary, quoted from verbatim fragments; confirm full article text before relying on precise wording.
• Código Civil articles 653 (mandato), 693 (comissão), 710 to 721 (agência e distribuição), 722 to 725 (corretagem), 117 and 119 (conflict of interest): planalto.gov.br, primary; specific article text cross-checked against statute mirrors where the primary page was truncated.
• CORE registration and the consequence of its absence: Superior Tribunal de Justiça, AgInt no REsp 1.847.424/MG, decided 29 August 2023, reported by LRI Law (4 March 2024) and ConJur (17 July 2023). Secondary reporting of a primary decision; the decision text itself was not read directly.
• Business email compromise scale: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Annual Report, ic3.gov, primary, US government data.
• Fake ICC instruments and NCND fraud pattern: ICC, "Traders warned about non-existent ICC instruments," 1 April 2005; ICC, "Beware of fraudulent documents mentioning ICC," last modified 16 February 2026. Both primary, iccwbo.org.
• Not confirmed here, and not stated as fact: which Brazilian legal regime governs a buyer-side sourcing agent specifically; any commission rate or fee range for Brazilian sourcing agents.

Facts checked 24 September 2026. This is not legal advice. Have any sourcing-agent contract reviewed by a Brazilian lawyer before signing it.