Brazil’s weighted average tariff is 6.7% (2009 Index of Economic Freedom) and
its Common External Tariff (CET), covering a variety of imported products, ranges from
0% to 21.5% (U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service and U.S. Department of State 2009).
However, protectionism is present in the Brazilian market. Brazil uses a non-automatic
import licensing system which means that importers have limited means to determine
in advance which products require import licenses, so using as many local resources as
possible could end up saving money and time. Furthermore, there are registration fees
on some imported products such as medical and pharmaceutical equipment. These
along with import bans, market access barriers in services, export support programs,
opaque government procurement rules, and poor protection of intellectual property
result in steep non-tariff barriers (2009 Index of Economic Freedom).