The company obtains an injunction for the immediate release of its goods, regardless of the payment of storage expenses accrued during the period of their wrongful retention.

This demand arose due to the fact that the goods that were the subject of the legal proceedings remained detained for 505 (five hundred and five) days, solely due to the inefficiency of the public machine, so that practically the entire period occurred due to inertia or untimely administrative acts.

Therefore, the company sought legal recourse to have its goods released regardless of the payment of storage expenses, since the sum of said amount already exceeded 1/3 of the customs value, without the importer having caused it.

There was an excessive amount of time taken to establish the Special Customs Control Procedure, and during its validity, it lasted for a period far exceeding the 90 (ninety) days allowed by the Normative Instruction of the Federal Revenue of Brazil No. 1,169/2011, without any justification to support any extension of the deadline.

Nevertheless, after the closure of PART As mentioned above, the goods in question continued to be improperly retained, insofar as the illegality perpetrated against the company lasted for 505 (five hundred and five) days in an illegal and arbitrary manner.

The adoption of such a measure by the Administration went against the reasonable duration of the process in the administrative sphere and the right to the free exercise of economic activity, which consequently leads to the release of the goods without payment of storage fees., The company cannot be punished for the inefficiency of the public administration..

Thus, the 1st Federal Court of Nova Iguaçu ruled as follows:

As the plaintiff points out, This court has already acknowledged that there was an unequivocal delay in completing the special customs control procedure for the release of the goods..

This court is convinced that In this case, the long timeframe for completing the procedures with the Federal Revenue Service was evident, without any reasonable justification., ...and it is certain that no infraction notice was even issued. This fact undeniably violates the right to a reasonable duration of proceedings in the administrative sphere and the right to the free exercise of the Petitioner's economic activity, justifying the release of the goods regardless of the payment of taxes and fines related to the import..

It is important to note that the customs clearance procedure must respect a reasonable timeframe, and the importer acting in good faith cannot be held responsible, without any time limit, for all the costs arising from delays in completing said process..

Like this, The excessive delay by the supervisory body was noted., completely exceeding the established legal deadlines, It is not fair to pass on to the importer the storage costs generated by such delays..

Moreover, the excessive delay in analyzing import license applications, preventing the importer from registering the import declaration (DI) and initiating customs clearance for the nationalization of goods acquired abroad, causes various losses to the individual concerned, resulting from the very passage of time., due to the increase in storage costs and the impossibility of carrying out their professional activities. Conversely, the release of the merchandise will not result in losses for the Federal Government, since only amounts that can be collected through various other tools available to the Public Administration are being discussed.

(…) to determine that the Defendant proceed with the release of the merchandise without making it conditional on payment for the respective storage..

In other words, the company cannot be held liable for storage expenses if the excessive amount in its calculation was due exclusively to the inertia, untimeliness, and therefore inefficiency of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service in the processing of administrative acts. Therefore, the support of a specialized legal team is essential to prevent such payments from hindering the removal of goods by foreign trade operators from customs-controlled areas.

For more information, contact our team!

Decision commented by Gian Lucca Jorri, Lawyer, Area of Expertise: Customs Law and Tax Law, OAB (Brazilian Bar Association): 404.759.