São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) took the first step to implement digital customs clearance in Brazil-Arab trade. Starting from July 1st, the validation of export documents of food and beverage cargo bound to Qatar will be carried out digitally. Pictured above, the Hamad Port in Qatar.
The process will be done via the blockchain system Easy Trade, which is part of an ABCC digital platform called Ellos. The digitized documents will remain electronically available in the system for validation and checking by the entities involved in the blockchain and the competent authorities in the target country. The electronic process can be used for clearing export documents such as health and origin certificates, invoices, and others.
ABCC secretary-general & CEO Tamer Mansour says the innovation will make the process more practical, faster and less bureaucratic. In this first phase, physical documents will still be sent, but the trend is that it becomes completely electronic. ABCC calls for companies to register and follow the legal procedures to participate in the pilot project right away.
According to Mansour, this new integration for digital document check-up will fast-track the custom clearance in the target country, thus avoiding unwanted costs with container demurrage when there are delays in the arrival of physical documents. Demurrage is the fine that the shipowners pay for its delayed operations of loading and unloading in a port.
The agreement for the electronic integration with Qatar was signed between the ABCC and the Port Health and Food Control Section at the Ministry of Public Health of Qatar. For now, it’ll be valid only for foods and beverages. But the ABCC aims to work for the electronic integration to take place with all Arab countries and include every type of product, thus facilitating and spurring Brazil-Arab trade.
The Arab League countries are the third largest destination of exports from Brazil. In agribusiness products only, Brazil is the top supplier for the Arab market. In the first quarter of 2021, Brazilian sales to the region’s countries stepped up 18% from a year ago and reached USD 2.9 billion. The ABCC believes the growth is bound to continue throughout the year, especially because of the recovery of most Arab markets due to the high rate of vaccination in the region.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
