Product clearance
In Brazil, cosmetics fall under ANVISA, the national health authority. Every product must be notified or registered before it can be sold, depending on its risk category. A foreign manufacturer cannot do this alone: an authorised Brazilian company is required, and it becomes the holder of the clearance.
European compliance is not enough. Compliance with the European cosmetics regulation helps in preparing the dossier, but Brazil has its own rules on formulations, permitted ingredients, testing and labelling.
Whoever holds the clearance holds the market
If your importer holds the product clearance, your importer holds the keys. Do you want to change distributor, open a second channel, renegotiate terms? You may have to start the whole procedure again. The commercial relationship turns into dependency.
The trademark
In Brazil, trademarks are protected by registration with the INPI, the national industrial property office, and the first-to-file principle generally applies. If someone else registers your mark before you do — even a partner of yours — recovering it can be long and expensive. Protect the mark before you present the product to partners, not after.
The final price
With an ex works shipment you do not see what happens next: import taxes that compound on one another, logistics costs, distribution margins. Your product can reach the shelf at a price that no longer matches the positioning you had in mind.
Brazil is not a single market
It is an archipelago of markets. Each state has its own tax policy: state taxes, starting with ICMS (the tax on the circulation of goods), and incentive programmes vary considerably from one state to another. States such as Goiás, for instance, have attracted industrial investment partly through their own incentives.
So it is not enough to check how much tax is due. What you need is a genuine tax optimisation strategy, lawful and planned, to help decide where to clear customs, where to manufacture, where to store and how to distribute across the country. The same goods, at the same starting price, can reach the shelf at very different costs depending on the route chosen. The tax reform now under way will change the picture over the coming years, but for now location matters, and the decision should be built with people who practise tax law every day.
The right channel
Pharmacies, professional salons, perfumeries, e-commerce, direct selling: in Brazil each channel has its own logic, margins and partners. The same product can succeed in one and fail in another. An entry strategy starts with the choice of channel, not with the search for the first available buyer.
The right partner is verified, not taken on trust
Finding an importer or a distributor is not enough: you need to know who they really are. Before entrusting your product to them, it is worth carrying out due diligence — a thorough check on the partner: financial soundness, tax and legal standing, the health authorisations they hold, their reputation in the sector and with the other brands they work with.
In Brazil this matters even more, because your product passes through them: from regulatory clearance to its image on the market. If the partner has problems with the tax authorities, with the health authority or with their own creditors, the consequences can fall on you too. Taking a partner on trust means running risks for someone else's faults.
The distribution agreement
Exclusivity or not, duration, sales targets, what happens when the relationship ends, which law and which courts apply. A good contract protects both sides; a badly drafted one leaves the brand defenceless at precisely the wrong moment.
Labelling and communication
Translating the label into Portuguese is not enough. What also counts are the claims — the promises made on the pack or in advertising: “natural”, “vegan”, “anti-hair-loss”, “dermatologically tested”. Every statement must be permitted and demonstrable. A wrong claim can hold up a launch or expose you to challenge.
Liability towards the consumer
Brazil has one of the most protective consumer codes anywhere. Complaints, defects, product recalls: you need to know in advance who answers for them, how they are handled and how you protect yourself in your contracts.
Ingredients from Brazilian biodiversity
Anyone considering manufacturing in Brazil with local plant or natural ingredients should know that access to the country's genetic resources is governed by specific legislation, with registration and benefit-sharing obligations. A product opportunity, provided it is handled correctly from the outset.
Confidentiality
Formulations, commercial plans, company data: in a market-entry project they pass through many hands. That is why we work with confidentiality agreements that also bind every professional involved.
