The Brazilian order wants INMETRO: check the regulated list, then decide who files registro

The mail says “INMETRO seal required.” Sales attaches the EU declaration of conformity and a UL workplace file. The shop floor asks whether to print a conformity mark. Finance asks which line of the goods price should lock the certification fee. Reverse the order: list first, then the ordinance, then who approaches an accredited body and who files registro. Law 9.933/1999 places metrology, quality and conformity assessment with the INMETRO system. A regulated object follows the current Portaria — certification or a supplier declaration — and many objects also need product-and-service registro before they may be placed on the Brazilian market. Membership wires to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED and buys showcases only. It does not file registro and it does not issue an Institute certificate.

How a Mexican quote is written, and what the contract must not lock, sits on NOM. Who runs a Saudi import file on the platform sits on SABER. The Brazilian stall is rarely “buy another South American certificate.” It is an unmatched list, an unread ordinance, an empty registro holder, or a number the public register will not return. The rest of this page is the sequence you can run on the next inquiry: look up the Portaria, read certification versus declaration, name who files registro and check the certificate on PRODCERT, then handle a CE / UL mismatch, keep ANATEL in its own bag, and pack the importer file when they still want a mark off the list.

How to look up the Portaria on the official list

INMETRO states that the Institute regulates products and services, and that the regulated-products page publishes the mandatory (compulsórios) list, the voluntary (voluntários) list, and the Portaria that gave public notice of each rule. An intermediary saying “your category always needs it,” a buyer template printed with an INMETRO logo, or a neighbouring model that went to Brazil last year does not replace that page. The mandatory list decides whether you have a legal conformity duty. The voluntary list is a different set; people still describe a voluntary item as “already certified, you may print the mark.” Open both, but quote a lead time, start a path, or print a mark only against the mandatory list and that Portaria.

Before you open the page, gather four things: the product name in English and Chinese (Portuguese if you have it), the tariff or the NCM the buyer sent, the ratings (voltage, power, capacity, children’s use), and whether the unit is electrical or carries a radio module. If ratings are missing, ask the shop floor first. Do not scan the list under a bucket word such as “appliances” or “hardware.” The list sits on objects. Luminaires, plugs, toys, appliances, packaging and safety equipment are different Portaria. Retitling a plug report for a sofa produces the ordinance-number email every time.

1. Open the regulated products and ordinances page. Click compulsórios and enter the mandatory list by category or object name. Do not open the voluntary list first in order to write “we are already certified.” Use the voluntary list only to check whether someone has reported a voluntary item as mandatory.
2. Match the English and local names, the tariff and the ratings to an ordinance number. Write down the Portaria number, the publication or revision date, and the scope (which models, which ratings, whether accessories and children’s use are in). If the scope says a class is excluded, copy the exclusion to the shop floor so that excluded models are not sent out for a quote.
3. Send the ordinance number and the scope to the shop floor against the model, the ratings, children’s use, whether the unit is electrical, and whether it carries a radio module. “More or less the same series” is not an answer. The shop floor must say whether this shipment’s model sits inside the scope. A new subcontract factory, a new voltage, a new enclosure or a new internals set is a new model. Do not reuse last year’s memo.
4. The same page also links the directory of accredited bodies (Cadorg) and the laboratories. Confirm the object is on the mandatory list before you pick a body. If the list has not been matched, asking Cadorg “how much is INMETRO certification” will not tell you whether the object is regulated. Bodies and labs cannot make that call for you.
5. Off the mandatory list: reply that the category is not a current regulated object; attach the buyer’s own purchasing papers if they still want a file. Do not quote a certification lead time. Do not quote an “official INMETRO fee.” Do not write INMETRO approved on the showcase. If they still want paper, treat it as purchasing policy after you have read the later section on marks off the list.
6. On the mandatory list: go to the next section. Read whether that Portaria wants certification or a supplier declaration, and whether registro is required before placing on the market. Write the ordinance number into the internal memo and the inquiry to the body. Do not write “Brazil package included” on the PI.

Furniture, textiles and plain machinery with a spoken INMETRO are the usual false alarm. A São Paulo purchasing desk drops an appliance template onto a sofa, a curtain or an unpowered shelf and still writes seal required. After the six steps above, the object is often off the mandatory list. The usable reply is: we checked the current mandatory list; this object is not listed; please send the Portaria number. If they cannot send one, take their own quality papers and do not start certification. Retitling a luminaire or plug CE / UL for a sofa sends the buyer to the public register; they will not find a number and the order stops. A textile with electric heat, a child restraint or a safety device may fall under a different object. Do not close the file with “textiles are never listed.” Match this unit’s ratings and use again.

A trading company stuffing a mixed container has to look up each object. One shipment can hold sockets, luminaires and unpowered furniture: one object on the mandatory list, one off it, one that also needs a telecom path. When the forwarder asks for “one Brazilian certificate,” reply that files split by object and that unlisted objects do not get a certification quote. The list is updated. Date the memo and write the Portaria number you actually saw. A new inquiry does not inherit a screenshot from six months ago.

Keep the internal memo as one row per object, not a sentence that says “this container is Brazil-certified.” A row needs at least: name and model, tariff or NCM, the date you looked, mandatory-list result (on / off), Portaria number or “not listed,” mechanism (certification / declaration / not yet read), whether registro is required, and whether radio opens a separate ANATEL bag. Sales copies the conclusion from that row. It does not invent a new sentence from chat. A new rating or a new subcontract factory opens a new row. Do not append “also applies” to the old one.

Read the ordinance: certification or supplier declaration

Once the object is on the mandatory list, open the Portaria itself. Do not stop at the list title. INMETRO splits certification and supplier declaration into two sets of general requirements (the Institute names them RGCP, RGDF and related texts). Those general requirements only give the shared skeleton: how certification is assessed, how a declaration keeps evidence. The object is decided by that Portaria — whether you certify, whether you declare, whether you file registro, and which number the mark follows. An intermediary does not get to pick “the cheaper one” or “the faster one.” A buyer template that says “INMETRO certification” does not overwrite a declaration path. Some objects are not certification at all.

Copy at least five fields out of the ordinance and send the same sheet to sales, the shop floor and finance:

1. Mechanism: certification, supplier declaration, or another assessment the ordinance names. Certification is issued by an accredited certification body. A supplier declaration is evidence kept by the manufacturer or the importer under the ordinance, often with test reports from an accredited laboratory. If the mechanism is wrong, the body and the quote are wasted.
2. Scope: product name, ratings, children’s use, whether accessories count, whether a rebrand or a modification is a new case. A model outside the scope does not ride on the same certificate or declaration.
3. Named person: who is responsible for the model on the certificate or the declaration. The Hong Kong seller, the mainland factory and the Brazilian importer are often three people. If the ordinance does not make the store the obligated person, do not write “we are INMETRO certified” on the quote.
4. Registro: whether product-and-service registro is required before placing on the market. Where registro is required, the conformity identification seal usually follows registro, not a stamp on a scan.
5. Mark: whether the ordinance requires a conformity identification seal, and whether that seal follows the certificate number or the registro number. If registro is required and you do not have a matching registro, do not print. Do not invent artwork rules for face, colour or a minimum size in millimetres — those sit in the ordinance and the current official note. This page only locks one line: if registro is required, do not print without a matching registro.

On a certification path, check Cadorg first: is the body accredited, and does the scope cover this object. Then send samples and the file under that Portaria. The quote request names the object and the Portaria number. It does not ask for “a full Brazil certification package.” Screenshot the body’s full name and accreditation scope into the memo. Before you ask for a price, get the body to confirm in writing that the scope covers this ordinance; a spoken “we can do it” is not enough. If the scope does not match, change bodies before you ship a sample, and do not send the sample to an intermediary who is not on Cadorg. The certificate sits on the model, the holder and the applicable ordinance. A plant-wide “INMETRO passed” sheet will not cover a new model, a new factory or a new rating. A trading company mixing three subcontract factories in one container cannot ride on one old certificate. On a declaration path, the obligated person builds the evidence and keeps the test reports. A declaration is not an intermediary letter that says the whole plant is fine. A new factory or a new critical part means the declaration and the evidence are redone under the ordinance. Renaming the PDF is not a redo.

Bodies quote by project and by model. There is no site-wide official price, and there is no line called “official INMETRO fee” to lock into the unit price. Penalties follow the current ordinance and the competent authority. Do not invent a reais figure and write it into the contract as a quote. What finance needs is: the body quotes this unit; registro often sits with the importer; membership does not file it. That is not one frozen certification cell on the cost sheet.

The ordinance text is usually Portuguese. Sales should not pick the mechanism from a machine-translated title. Send the Portaria number, the scope paragraphs and the mechanism section to a Portuguese reader or to the body, and ask only three questions: certification or declaration, whether registro is required, and which number the mark follows. A machine translation that turns a declaration into “certification” will send the whole path the wrong way. If nobody can read it yet, write “ordinance mechanism still open.” Do not quote a certification lead time on that guess.

Who files registro, and how to check a certificate on PRODCERT

Many regulated objects must complete product-and-service registro before they are placed on the Brazilian market. INMETRO’s registro page states that registro is the act by which the Institute authorises, as provided by law, the making available of a product, input or service on the national market and the consequent use of the conformity identification seal. A Hong Kong seller and a mainland shop floor do not automatically become the registro holder. The Brazilian importer often files. Opening the store does not file registro. Membership wires to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED and buys showcases. It does not submit registro to the Institute and it does not make you the importer. The contract should split three columns: who is the importer / registro holder, who supplies the model and the lot, and who approaches the accredited body. Leaving a column blank is safer than writing your own name into it.

Registro is not another filename for the certificate. The certificate or declaration shows that conformity assessment was done. Registro is the authorisation to place the object on the market and to use the seal. Where the ordinance requires registro, a certificate without registro still reads as missing at the public register and at the port. Where the ordinance requires certification, the registro page also conditions the grant on a valid conformity attestation; where the ordinance uses a supplier declaration, registro often wants an accredited-lab report or the inspection the ordinance names. Follow that Portaria and the current registro page. Do not let an intermediary skip it with “print the mark now, file later.”

INMETRO states that PRODCERT gathers certificates of products, services and processes assessed against the Institute’s requirements, and that the web module queries the database of issued certificates. Before sales sends a scan, check the certificate number yourself. Do not stop at “we have a PDF with the word INMETRO on it.” Check fields:

1. The certificate number returns on PRODCERT, the status is valid, and it is not an expired file or an old file whose scope no longer matches.
2. The holder (the named person) is the company named in the contract, not the neighbouring company at the subcontract factory, and not a trading title you no longer use.
3. The covered model is this shipment’s model. If the rating, the commercial name or the series does not match, treat it as a new model.
4. The applicable Portaria is the one you wrote down from the list. If the ordinance was renumbered or replaced, do not assume the old certificate still runs.
5. The issuing body returns on Cadorg, and the accreditation scope covers this object. If the body or the scope fails, do not send the scan that day.

If any of the five fields fails, write “number still open,” and stop sending prices or sailings that say the goods are saleable in Brazil. Do not send a higher-resolution scan and hope they cannot read it. The registro number is queried at the registro entry, not mixed with the certificate number into one “INMETRO number” on the PI. An invoice seller that is a Hong Kong company and a registro holder that is the Brazilian importer is a common split, not an error. The error is naming the store as the registro holder, or printing the importer’s registro number as if it were your own certification number. The certificate’s named person, the registro holder and the invoice seller only have to match their own roles. Do not force them into one letterhead. Corpable does not act as the Brazilian importer, does not file registro, and does not apply to a certification body. An advisor can sit with you on the list result, the ordinance mechanism, and which column is missing when the public register does not match.

When they ask for a seal, ask which number they mean

The three vaguest words in the mail are seal, INMETRO mark and INMETRO number. Some buyers want a certificate number they can check on PRODCERT. Some want a registro number they can check in the registro database. Some want a picture their purchasing policy recognises, on a unit that is not on the mandatory list at all. The first reply splits the ask. Do not send mark artwork first.

A usable question is: do you need the certificate number (or declaration number) under that Portaria, or the product-and-service registro number? Please send the ordinance number. We will check the public register before we decide which page to send. Until that answer lands, the shop floor does not open the print run. If the ordinance requires registro before the conformity identification seal may be used, do not print without a matching registro. Do not write your own rule for which panel the mark sits on, which colour it uses, or a minimum size in millimetres — those sit in the ordinance and the official note. Sales does not write “INMETRO approved / saleable in Brazil” on the showcase or the PI unless the certificate and, where required, registro both match this shipment’s model in the public register.

A supplier or intermediary sample that says “print now, number later” is treated as missing. If cartons are already on the press, stop the following lots. Split what has already been printed: if registro exists and the model matches, put the registro number and the certificate number into the importer pack; if there is no registro and the mark is already on the box, do not invent a number to close the story. Tell the buyer the mark and registro are still being matched, and stop further printing.

After you send CE / UL, what to reply when the public register does not match

The Brazilian public register wants the certificate or declaration under that Portaria, and registro when the ordinance requires it. CE answers conformity under EU directives: the manufacturer signs the declaration and, where needed, involves a notified body — that file is on CE. UL answers a US workplace or product recognition number — that file is on UL. Both can go to a Brazilian body as homework. Sent as the delivery file, they produce the next mail asking for the Portaria number and a Brazilian number that can be queried. If the log or the registro does not match, the port and the buyer treat it as missing.

If CE or UL already went out as the INMETRO annex, correct it the same day. Do not fix it on chat. The correction states three things: the annex is the EU or US path, not the certificate or declaration under that Portaria; the Brazilian path is matched against the mandatory list and the ordinance separately; until a queryable number matches, the quote and the sailing will not say certified or saleable in Brazil. Void the old PI and issue a new page. Do not change one word on the old page. If they screenshot your own “certified” line, answer with the correction page. Do not send another retitled CE.

When the public register does not match, name which number failed. Certificate number missing on PRODCERT: stop the scan, go back to the holder, the model and the issuing body, and do not let an intermediary “issue another copy.” Registro number missing: go back to whether the importer is the holder and whether this model and lot were filed. The Hong Kong store cannot fill that column. The buyer typed a UL file number into an INMETRO search: reply that the number is a US workplace recognition, not a PRODCERT or registro number, and ask them to send the ordinance number instead. A Mexican order that wrote a quote promise into the contract stalls on the NOM number; a Brazilian order stalls on the public register. Neither market is saved by the phrase “South America certified.” How the Mexican contract is rewritten sits on the NOM page.

If goods are booked or already on the water, send only papers that match. Do not invent a registro number. Do not hand the store’s master account or a body login to an intermediary to “complete the certificate.” Any sailing mail that already said “INMETRO done” is stopped and rewritten as “conformity file still being matched.” What the port asks for, and whether cargo is held, follows the current handling. Do not write a penalty figure into the contract as a quote or as a threat.

Split ANATEL from INMETRO

Telecom terminals and radiocommunication equipment sit under ANATEL. INMETRO is the Institute’s regulated-object conformity assessment and, where required, registro. ANATEL is the telecom approval. An appliance with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular radio may need both bags: the electrical or energy object follows the Portaria on the INMETRO list, and the radio follows ANATEL. Do not write “Brazil certification complete.” Do not let the forwarder “pick the file that looks Brazilian.”

Split the RFQ into two columns: which Portaria on the INMETRO mandatory list applies, and whether that ordinance wants certification, a declaration or registro; and whether the unit needs ANATEL approval, and whose account holds that approval. Opening the store grants neither column. If the buyer treats an ANATEL number as an INMETRO registro, or an INMETRO certificate number as a telecom approval, the public register will not match — they are not the same database. The reply asks for the INMETRO ordinance / registro number and the ANATEL approval number on separate lines. Do not collapse them into one “Brazil certificate number” field.

The forwarder’s bag splits the same way: one folder for conformity assessment and registro (certificate or declaration, the PRODCERT check, the registro number if any, the model and the lot); one folder for telecom (ANATEL papers, if they apply); one folder for the invoice and packing list. A Saudi file splits PCoC from the shipment certificate — that split is on the SABER page. A Brazilian file splits the Institute from telecom for the same reason: different path, different folder. A furniture lamp with radio, or an appliance with a module, does not skip the radio bag because the housing looks like furniture or a home appliance. Having ANATEL also does not skip the INMETRO list.

What sales writes for the three list outcomes

Once the mandatory list has been checked, sales can reply that day. You do not wait until “certification is finished.” Three results get three sentences. Do not merge them into “we are processing Brazil certification.”

All three replies name this shipment’s model. Do not write “our plant has done Brazil before.” An item that appears only on the voluntary list does not get the second or third sentence as “certification in progress.” If the buyer still wants a voluntary certification as a purchasing condition, open it as a separate job and a separate quote, written apart from the mandatory path, so nobody reads it as a legal duty you have already started. If the list check is not finished, you can still reply once: we will match this unit against INMETRO’s current mandatory list and the Portaria; then we will tell you whether the path is certification, a declaration, or your purchasing papers. That answers the mail without describing an unfinished path as already underway.

Off the list but they still want a mark, and the pack for the importer

If the unit is off the mandatory list and the buyer still wants a seal or an INMETRO mark, ask for the Portaria number first. If they can give one, go back to the list section and match again — the object name may not be your internal product name, or the ratings may push the unit into another ordinance. If they cannot give one, treat it as purchasing policy: take their quality-paper list, decide whether to attach a factory test or a third-party report they named, and do not start INMETRO certification. Do not ask Cadorg to “just run it anyway.” The showcase, the PI and the sailing mail do not say “INMETRO approved / saleable in Brazil.” Do not make mark artwork first. Without an ordinance and without a registro duty, printing a picture that looks like the Institute’s seal is harder to unwind later.

Whether the unit is on the list or not, if a Brazilian importer sits across the contract and they intend to place the goods on the market, pack the importer file by field. A missing field is why registro will not match this shipment. Prepare at least:

1. Model and ratings: commercial name, model, ratings, children’s use, whether the unit is electrical, whether it carries radio; the same names as the invoice and the packing list, not the showcase marketing name.
2. The Portaria number from the list (required when the object is listed; when it is not, write that it is not on the current mandatory list, and date the check).
3. Any certificate or supplier declaration you already have: number, named person, covered model, applicable ordinance; attach the PRODCERT check you ran yourself, not only the scan.
4. Invoice and packing-list lot: quantity, lot or carton numbers, the invoice seller’s name. Registro and the port match this shipment. Last container’s papers will not cover the next one.
5. Factory name and address: the plant that actually made the goods, not a secretarial floor and not a subcontract factory you no longer use. A new factory is a new row. Do not reuse the old registro pack.

Without a named person or a lot, the importer cannot tie registro to this cargo. Do not write the Hong Kong store as the certificate applicant or the registro holder unless the ordinance and the contract actually say so — they usually do not. A factory address that is not the invoice seller’s address is common: mainland production, Hong Kong contract. Write both rows. Do not leave only a secretarial floor. If the importer also wants photographs, nameplate drawings or a critical-parts list, send them under that Portaria. “We have a full CE set” does not fill those fields. CE technical papers can be homework. They do not type into the registro fields. Private-label goods also need the brand name and who holds the brand — registro matches the object placed on the market, not the marketing series on your showcase.

If goods are already on the water or at the port, send only a certificate or registro that matches. Do not invent a registro number. Do not ask the shop floor to print a mark that does not match so the carton “looks finished.” The store master account, the body login and the importer’s registro account stay off intermediary remote desktops. A DDP quote does not gift a Brazilian importer. Opening the store does not gift a registro holder. Corpable does not act as the Brazilian importer, does not file registro, and does not promise that Santos — or any other port — will release the cargo. An advisor can sit with you on whether this unit is on the mandatory list, whether the ordinance wants certification or a declaration, and whether the missing column on the public register is the certificate or the registro.

Questions teams actually ask

Related reading

• CE: how the file is prepared
• UL: how a workplace number is used
• NOM: quote language versus the contract
• SABER: who runs the Saudi import file
• Contact Corpable · info@aliad.hk

Written by Corpable Marketing Limited for Alibaba.com Hong Kong-channel sellers. Not legal, tax, or audit advice. Platform, customs, bank, and auditor outcomes follow the latest official notices. Membership fees go to ALIBABA.COM HONG KONG LIMITED. Corpable does not collect them.