Tag: combating smuggling

Correio Braziliense holds seminar on illegal market. Participate! Places are limited.

The event 'Correio Debate 10 measures against the illegal market: the 3 Powers united against Organized Crime 'will bring together experts and authorities to discuss measures to end crime, increase security and contain the illegal market, one of the greatest threats to Brazilian society today. The event is a realization of Correio Braziliense and is sponsored by ETCO.

  • Date ………: 04/09/2018
  • Schedule…: 08h to 14h.
  • Location ………: Correio Braziliense headquarters auditorium - SIG QUADRA 02, 340 - Brasília - DF

Join this debate by signing up for free here. Vacancies are limited.

Urban violence and ballot boxes, article by ETCO's president published in Jornal do Commercio

Jornal do Commercio - PE, 04/08/2018

The issue of violence is now a central topic of public debate in Brazil and should be decisively present in this year's election campaign. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazil has the ninth highest homicide rate in the world with 30,5 cases for every 100 thousand people - and of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 25 are in the country.

In 2014, the Movement for the Defense of the Brazilian Legal Market was established, coordinated by the National Forum Against Piracy and Illegality (FNCP) and by the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (ETCO).

This initiative was supported by more than 70 entities in Brazil, which are directly harmed by illegal immigration (smuggling, counterfeiting, piracy. Fraud, evasion and cargo theft). The numbers are impressive. The report of the Brazilian Federal Revenue presented a report on the seizures of goods carried out in 0, which totaled approximately R $ 2017 billion. Cigarette leads the ranking of illegality, corresponding to 1,7% of the seized goods.

In the first quarter of this year alone in Recife, the illegal market grew 18 pp (percentage points) and reached 106% growth (from R $ 99 million to R $ 204 million) in tax evasion in the last three years.

These resources are used to finance criminal organizations. Drug trafficking is intertwined with smuggling, piracy, counterfeiting, arms and ammunition trafficking, and fuels corruption, generating profits and power.

Public power cannot continue to act as if it were something isolated. Systemic initiatives from borders to cities, planning the occupation of dominated areas with social and educational actions, urgent improvement of legislation are some clues that deserve to be evaluated.

This year it is necessary that the topic is on the agenda of all candidates and that feasible proposals are discussed to advance in solving the problem. This must be the route to achieve the economic and social development that we so desire for our country and that, certainly, the Brazilian deserves.

Edson Vismona he is president of ETCO - Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition and FNCP - National Forum Against Piracy and Illegality, he was secretary of Justice and Defense of Citizenship of the State of São Paulo (2000/2002).

Most cigarettes sold in Paraná are smuggled

The tobacco production chain in Brazil generates thousands of jobs and income. The country is the largest exporter in the world. In 2016, 538 thousand tons of tobacco were produced and 483 thousand tons were exported.

144 thousand families produce tobacco with a gross production value of R $ 5,2 billion. But this market is under threat due to the significant growth, in the last 3 years, of illegal cigarette sales.

In an interview with Rádio CBN de Curitiba, the president of ETCO talks about the main port of entry for smuggled cigarettes in the country, which is the state of Paraná.

Click here and access the full article.

Fantastic investigates the cigarette smuggling route in Brazil. Watch

In Brazil, illegal cigarettes represent 48% of the market

In Rio, where the number reaches 44%, they moved R $ 1 billion in 2017. Income that caught the attention of militias that work in communities.

 

Any stall on the street has to sell, even the corn vendor completes the day's income with cigarettes. The pack, offered in downtown Rio de Janeiro, comes from another country and is much cheaper than competitors made in Brazil. The package of ten packs is still on sale: R $ 25. It's all Paraguayan cigarettes and arrives here illegally.

From the border, the illegal product travels on important highways until it reaches commerce. Gift packaging indicates that the product cannot be marketed outside Paraguay. Even so, it is already the best seller in the state of RJ.

In the country, four of the ten best-selling brands are clandestine. Paraguayan cigarettes are cheaper because taxes in the neighboring country are lower than here. The profit margin is large. When it leaves the factory, each packet costs about 20 cents and reaches the final consumer at a price of R $ 2,50 to R $ 3.

In Brazil, illegal cigarettes already represent 48% of the market. In Rio alone, where that number reaches 44%, they moved R $ 1 billion in 2017, a source of income that caught the attention of militias that work in communities. See in the report of FANTASTIC.

Illegality reaches unprecedented levels and wreaks havoc on the Brazilian economy

VEJA magazine brought in its latest editions a detailed picture of the harm caused by smuggling to Brazil. In the 15/06 issue, the article points to the effects of smuggling on our economy, bringing testimonies from ETCO president Edson Vismona, Souza Cruz, Liel Miranda, and Raízen legal vice president, Antonio Ferreira Martins.

See the full text below:

Finance Committee debates smuggling and counterfeiting of products

Representatives from various government and civil society bodies have demonstrated how they are combating smuggling and counterfeiting of products. In a public hearing held by the Finance and Taxation Commission, held yesterday (21/06), they presented figures on the losses to the Brazilian economy and the difficulties in this work, which extend from the country's land border, of almost 17 thousand kilometers, to e-commerce, via the internet, which sends thousands of goods from abroad by post.

Andrei Rodrigues, general coordinator of the Federal Police's Farm Police, recalls that there is also a culture of acceptance of smuggling and piracy as “less serious crimes”. This makes it even more difficult to face the problem, which is already part of the daily life of the population.

“Don't you think that the contraband product goes only to the street vendor's stool, goes to the sidewalk vendor, but unfortunately it arrives, sometimes camouflaged by an unseemly invoice, anyway, but it arrives in big stores, in large retailers and ends, between quotes, entering into legality from that trade ”.

In addition to smuggling, counterfeiting is also difficult to end. And they are not only goods already famous for piracy, such as DVDs, electronics and cigarettes. According to Claudenir Pereira, president of the National Council to Combat Piracy, even seeds, pesticides, and dental material are falsified.

"The nature of the products matters little for counterfeiting, what really matters for the realization of the crime is economic viability".

Edson Vismona, president of ETCO and the National Forum Against Piracy and Illegality, says that the high tax burden on some Brazilian products encourages smuggling and counterfeiting. He gives some examples:

“On average, cigarettes are 80% tax, gasoline 56%, beer 55%, soda 46%. So, due to this expression of the tax burden, we clearly perceive that any illegality committed in these sectors will have a great competitive advantage: it does not pay taxes and this increasingly encourages illegal action ”.

For the chairman of the Finance and Taxation Commission, deputy Renato Molling, of the Rio Grande do Sul PP, who asked for a public hearing, there is room for reducing the tax burden, as long as everyone pays taxes.

"If we have almost R $ 150 billion in evading contraband, piracy, one of these ways is precisely to improve this issue, which greatly inhibits the productive sector, Brazilian industries suffer very unequal competition, this causes a lot of insecurity".

The panelists recalled that smuggling and counterfeiting encourage other crimes, such as car theft and homicides in border towns. Everyone emphasized that these actions come from major criminal organizations.

Report: Claudio Ferreira - Agência Câmara