Trade Agreements
International agreements are important mechanisms to gain new markets and expand the offer of products in countries in which consolidated commercial relationships are already present. To safeguard the sector’s interests, in addition to identifying opportunities and supplying information to negotiators of the Brazilian Government in these agreements, Bracelpa jointly works with its member companies and chooses a single adequate positioning for the pulp and paper sector, which is then adopted in each negotiations.
In the elaboration of the sector’s positioning, Bracelpa seeks the opinion of its member companies, receives and compiles market information and analyses that may eventually impact, positively or negatively, Brazilian pulp and paper producers. Within this context, companies assume the commitment to inform the Association their interest to be a part of agreements and also in terms of providing:
- Reciprocity1 in import tariff reduction requested
- Grounds for product exclusion and/or sensitiveness classification2 in connection with foreign countries’ exports
- Percentage of specific requisites related to origin3.
In addition, member companies also assume the responsibility to elaborate a roster of products that will be a part of the agreement, identifying such products by Official Nomenclatures.
From these data, Bracelpa will adjust controversial terms and consolidate the sector’s positioning in the respective agreements. Throughout this process, the Association will accompany the progress of negotiations vis-à-vis the Brazilian Government and elucidate details to its member companies.
MERCOSUR – Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil form the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) Block, created in 1991 with the objective of integrating the above-mentioned countries “by means of free circulation of merchandise, services and byproducts, in addition to the establishment of one single Common Foreign Tariff (CFT), the adoption of a common trade policy, the coordination of macroeconomic and sectorial policies and the amendment of legislation in pertinent areas”. According to MERCOSUR’s Resolution 34, the countries that compose the Block may not sign agreements outside the group. Agreement renewal and amendment negotiations signed prior to the establishment of MERCOSUR are, however, allowed – such is the case of the Brazil-Mexico Agreement, currently in progress.
(1) Reciprocity: One given country requests import tariff reduction to another country with which it has negotiations and offers the same tariff reduction to the country of origin.
(2) Sensitiveness: Sensible products are defined as those for which high investments in technology are required to meet a specific demand of the domestic market. Normally, they are represented by small production scale products, without any chance to compete with imported products.
(3) Specific Requisites related to Origin: Percentage that identifies the amount of local raw material a product from a given country should have.
