Cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products all answer to Anvisa: a licensed Brazilian importer, a notified or registered product and a Portuguese label. Here is how the classes work, what the label needs, the duties and taxes with a worked example, and how Paraguayan products enter duty-free.
Cosmetics, personal care and household cleaning products are a single regulatory family in Brazil: they fall under the health agency, Anvisa, and the 1976 law on products subject to health surveillance. Two things decide whether a product can be sold. The company that imports it must hold Anvisa’s operating authorisation (AFE) and a local health licence, with a responsible technician; and the product must be regularised with Anvisa in that company’s name — by notification for most products, by registration for the higher-risk ones.
On tax, the group faces the usual Brazilian stack, with two particularities: perfumery and personal-care products carry much higher, single-stage (monophasic) rates of PIS and COFINS at import, and IPI ranges from zero on sunscreen and toothpaste to 27.3% on perfume. The general tax mechanics are in our Brazil customs guide; this article covers what is specific to cosmetics and household products.
Under Law 6.360/1976, only companies authorised by Anvisa may manufacture, import, store or distribute cosmetics, hygiene products, perfumes and cleaning products (saneantes). The importer needs:
AFE
Autorização de Funcionamento de Empresa: Anvisa’s operating authorisation, specific to the activity (import) and the product class (cosmetics, saneantes).
Licença de funcionamento
The state or municipal health licence (also called alvará sanitário) for the premises; Anvisa tells companies to obtain it before applying for AFE.
Responsável técnico
A qualified professional registered with the relevant professional council, who signs the product filings with the legal representative and answers for the products.
Siscomex
RADAR authorisation to import, and Anvisa’s import consent (anuência) requested as an LPCO in the Portal Único, with separate LPCO models for cosmetics and for saneantes.
A foreign brand cannot hold an Anvisa notification or registration in its own name. It works through a Brazilian importer that holds it, through a regulatory holder that imports on its behalf, or through its own Brazilian subsidiary with AFE. The holder of the regularisation controls the market access, so the distribution agreement should say who owns the filings and what happens to them if the relationship ends.
Law and practice: Law 6.360/1976; Anvisa guidance on cosmetics exempt from registration (AFE required to manufacture or import cosmetics); LPCO models I00007 (cosmetics) and I00027 (saneantes) for commercial imports.
| Category | Anvisa class | Route to market |
|---|---|---|
| Personal care, cosmetics and perfumes with basic properties (perfume and cologne, ordinary soap, shampoo and conditioner, moisturisers, make-up without sun protection, non-antiperspirant deodorant) | Grade 1 | Notification (comunicação prévia) before sale |
| Products whose claims or users need proof of safety or efficacy (sunscreen, antiperspirant, anti-dandruff, children’s products, skin lighteners, hair dyes and straighteners, acne and anti-wrinkle products, insect repellents, fluoride and whitening toothpaste) | Grade 2 | Notification for most; the products listed in art. 34 of RDC 752/2022 need prior registration |
| Household cleaning products of low risk (detergents, laundry soap, general cleaners with no antimicrobial claim) | Saneante, risk 1 | Notification, automatic and checked afterwards |
| Higher-risk cleaning products (disinfectants and sanitisers, anything with an antimicrobial claim, chlorine bleach, products with pH of 2 or less or 11.5 or more, corrosives, pest control) | Saneante, risk 2 | Registration after Anvisa review |
For cosmetics, RDC 752/2022 sets the line between Grade 1 products, with basic properties that need no specific proof, and Grade 2 products, whose claims or users require safety and efficacy evidence — its Annex I lists 52 Grade 1 and 62 Grade 2 product types. Everything not listed in art. 34 of the resolution is exempt from registration and only notified: the company files the notification electronically (since April 2025 through Anvisa’s Solicita system), pays the inspection fee, and may sell once the notification is published. A notification is valid for ten years. The products in art. 34 still need prior registration, reviewed by Anvisa before sale. For notified products the evidence of safety and efficacy stays in the company’s file, signed off by the responsible technician, and Anvisa checks it afterwards.
For household cleaning products (saneantes), the risk class follows objective criteria. A risk 1 product has a pure pH between 2 and 11.5, is not corrosive, has no antimicrobial or pest-control action and contains none of the listed inorganic acids (hydrofluoric, nitric, sulphuric); it is notified, with no prior review. Anything else is risk 2 — disinfectants, sanitisers, chlorine bleach, insecticides, corrosive or strongly acid or alkaline products — and is registered after Anvisa reviews the dossier, which takes considerably longer and requires efficacy evidence.
Formulations must respect Anvisa’s lists of prohibited and restricted substances, permitted colourants and UV filters, several of which are Mercosur technical regulations. A product that is legal in the EU or the US may still need reformulation for Brazil, most often over a preservative, colourant or UV filter.
Law and practice: Anvisa RDC 752/2022 (classification of personal hygiene products, cosmetics and perfumes, Annex I; products subject to registration, art. 34); Anvisa RDC 59/2010, arts. 16–17 (risk classes of saneantes); RDC 198/2017 (notification of saneantes exempt from registration).
Language
Mandatory information in Portuguese, applied before the product is offered for sale.
Ingredients
Ingredient list in the international INCI nomenclature, with the Portuguese translations Anvisa standardises in its INCI translation panel (RDC 646/2022, amended by RDC 773/2023).
Identification
Importer’s details, country of origin, batch and expiry.
Anvisa reference
The regularisation details required for the product class.
Warnings
Mandatory warnings for specific ingredients and product types; for cleaning products, safety and first-aid statements.
Claims are where labels fail. A Grade 1 product cannot make claims that would make it Grade 2, and no cosmetic may claim a therapeutic effect. For cleaning products, Anvisa cancels risk 1 notifications whose labels use words such as antibacterial, disinfectant, sanitiser, antiviral or “kills bacteria and viruses”: an antimicrobial claim makes the product risk 2 whatever its chemistry. The “ALTO EM” front-of-pack magnifier applies to food only, not to this group.
Perfumes and cosmetics (chapter 33), soaps and detergents (chapter 34) pay the Mercosur common external tariff (TEC) as applied by Brazil, set by eight-digit NCM code. On the main finished consumer lines the TEC is 18%, and Brazil applies 16.2% after a 10% national reduction under Gecex Resolution 272/2021. Chemical inputs used to make them are generally charged less, and the duty is the one tax at the border that a reseller cannot recover.
| Product (NCM) | Mercosur TEC | Applied by Brazil |
|---|---|---|
| Perfumes, extracts (3303.00.10) | 18% | 16.2% |
| Make-up and skin-care preparations (3304.99.90) | 18% | 16.2% |
| Shampoos (3305.10.00) | 18% | 16.2% |
| Liquid deodorants and antiperspirants (3307.20.10) | 18% | 16.2% |
| Toilet soap in bars (3401.11.90) | 18% | 16.2% |
| Washing and cleaning preparations for retail sale (3402.50.00) | 18% | 16.2% |
Because duties, IPI and even the PIS/COFINS regime depend on the eight-digit NCM, the classification of a product — a perfume or a toilet water, a shampoo or a hair lotion, a toilet soap or a liquid hand wash — changes the cost. Confirm the code and the current rate with the broker before quoting: Gecex can also open temporary 0% quotas for specific products in short supply, as it did in September 2026 for an injectable hyaluronic-acid gel under heading 3304.
Law and practice: Gecex Resolution 272/2021, Annex II (rates applied by Brazil), as amended by Gecex Resolution 391/2022; Mercosur common external tariff. Rates as shown in the tariff tables updated to October 2026.
| Product (NCM) | IPI rate | PIS/COFINS-Importação |
|---|---|---|
| Perfumes, extracts (3303.00.10) | 27.3% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Toilet waters and colognes (3303.00.20) | 7.8% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Make-up, skin creams and lotions (3304) | 14.3% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Sunscreens (3304.99.90 Ex 02) | 0% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Shampoos and conditioners (3305.10, 3305.90 Ex 01) | 4.55% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Deodorants and antiperspirants (3307.20) | 4.55% | 3.52% / 16.48% |
| Toothpaste (3306.10) | 0% | 2.1% / 9.65% |
| Toilet soap in bars (3401.11.90) | 3.25% (0% for Ex 01, ordinary soap) | 3.52% / 16.48%, except Ex 01 |
| Detergents and cleaning preparations (3402) | 3.25% | 2.1% / 9.65% |
PIS and COFINS
Perfumery, toiletry and personal-hygiene products in headings 3303 to 3307 (except 3306, oral hygiene) and in codes 3401.11.90 (except Ex 01), 3401.20.10 and 9603.21.00 pay 3.52% PIS and 16.48% COFINS at import instead of the general 2.1% and 9.65%. The tax is concentrated at the importer or manufacturer (the monophasic regime), and the later resale by distributors and retailers is taxed at zero. Toothpaste and cleaning products stay at the general rates.
IPI
Set by NCM in the TIPI table and charged on CIF plus duty: from 0% on sunscreen and toothpaste to 14.3% on make-up and creams and 27.3% on perfume extracts.
ICMS
Grossed up as for any import; check whether the destination state collects it in advance through tax substitution (ICMS-ST) on the product.
From 2027
The CBS replaces PIS and COFINS. Cosmetics and cleaning products are not among the goods subject to the new selective tax (Imposto Seletivo), and hygiene and cleaning products consumed mainly by low-income families, listed by NCM in an annex, get a 60% reduction of CBS and IBS.
A reseller in the non-cumulative regime credits IPI and ICMS; on monophasic products the importer bears the higher PIS and COFINS once and resells at zero, so it must price them in. The duty is the pure cost. A small retailer in the Simples Nacional regime recovers almost none of it.
Law and practice: TIPI (Decree 11.158/2022, as updated to January 2026); Law 10.865/2004, art. 8, § 2 (PIS/COFINS-Importação on perfumery and toiletries); Complementary Law 214/2025, arts. 136 and 409 (reduced CBS/IBS on hygiene and cleaning products; Imposto Seletivo).
| CIF US$100,000 of perfume (3303.00.10), ICMS 18% (illustrative) | Non-Mercosur origin | Paraguayan origin (II 0%) |
|---|---|---|
| Import duty 16.2% | 16,200 | 0 |
| IPI 27.3% (on CIF + II) | 31,723 | 27,300 |
| PIS-Importação 3.52% | 3,520 | 3,520 |
| COFINS-Importação 16.48% | 16,480 | 16,480 |
| ICMS 18%, grossed up | 36,861 | 32,334 |
| Total taxes at clearance | 104,784 (105% of CIF) | 79,634 (80% of CIF) |
The example uses the same method as our Brazil customs guide: duty on the customs value, IPI on value plus duty, PIS and COFINS on the customs value only, and ICMS grossed up so that it forms part of its own base. Perfume is the extreme case because of its 27.3% IPI; for make-up (IPI 14.3%) or shampoo (4.55%) the same CIF value gives a much lower total. The 18% ICMS is a simplification: the real rate, any tax-substitution charge, freight surcharges and customs fees depend on the state, the port and the buyer, and the additional COFINS-Importação that applies to some listed lines is not included.
Two things stand out. Taxes paid at clearance exceed the value of the goods for a non-Mercosur perfume, so the importer needs working capital well beyond the purchase price. And for Paraguayan origin the saving is not only the 16.2% duty: IPI and ICMS fall too, because the duty is part of their base.
Law and practice: Illustrative calculation; rates: II 16.2% (Gecex Resolution 272/2021, Annex II), IPI 27.3% (TIPI as updated to January 2026), PIS/COFINS-Importação 3.52% and 16.48% (Law 10.865/2004, art. 8, § 2).
Cosmetics and cleaning products of Paraguayan origin enter Brazil at 0% duty with a Mercosur certificate of origin, under the same 60% non-Mercosur content allowance until 2038 that applies to other goods. All internal taxes still apply, and so does Anvisa: the product must be notified or registered in Brazil by a Brazilian holder, even if it is already authorised in Paraguay. Several of Brazil’s ingredient lists are Mercosur technical regulations, which makes reformulation less likely, but a Paraguayan authorisation does not replace the Brazilian notification or registration.
For a manufacturer filling or packing in Paraguay for the Brazilian market, the practical sequence is: confirm the product-specific origin rule, set up or appoint the Brazilian holder with AFE, notify or register the products, print Brazilian labels at the plant, and only then ship.
Law and practice: Decrees 12.058 and 12.059/2024 (Mercosur origin regime).
No AFE
An importer without Anvisa’s authorisation for the class cannot clear the goods.
Grade misclassification
A product notified as Grade 1 with Grade 2 claims is irregular.
Restricted ingredient
A preservative, colourant or UV filter outside Brazilian limits.
Holder dispute
Filings held by a former distributor block a new importer.
Antimicrobial claims
Cleaning products with germ-kill claims filed as risk 1.
Exact NCM; Grade 1 or 2; saneante risk 1 or 2.
Brazilian importer with AFE, sanitary licence and responsible technician.
Prohibited and restricted substance lists.
Notification or registration in the holder’s name.
Portuguese label, INCI list, warnings, Anvisa reference.
Duty, IPI, monophasic PIS/COFINS, ICMS-ST.
Anvisa: Grade 1 and Grade 2 product types (RDC 752/2022) · Anvisa: cosmetics exempt from registration · Anvisa: notification of saneantes and risk classes · Anvisa: LPCO for imports of cosmetics and saneantes · Anvisa: INCI translation panel · Anvisa: lists of cosmetic substances · Receita Federal: TIPI (IPI table) · NCM 3303.00.10 (perfume): TEC and applied duty · Law 10.865/2004, consolidated text · Complementary Law 214/2025
Anvisa, under Law 6.360/1976, together with state and municipal health surveillance for the importer’s premises.
Most are notified electronically and can be sold once the notification is published; it is valid for ten years. Only the products listed in art. 34 of RDC 752/2022 need prior registration.
Grade 1 products have basic properties needing no specific proof; Grade 2 products, such as sunscreens, antiperspirants, hair dyes or children’s products, need safety and efficacy evidence. Annex I of RDC 752/2022 lists both.
Yes. Risk 1 saneantes are notified; risk 2 products such as disinfectants, bleach and insecticides, or anything with an antimicrobial claim, are registered.
Perfumery and personal-care products in headings 3303 to 3307 (except oral hygiene) pay 3.52% PIS and 16.48% COFINS at import, under the monophasic regime; resale is then taxed at zero.
No. A Brazilian company with AFE must hold it; foreign brands use an importer, a regulatory holder or their own subsidiary.
For the main finished products — perfume, make-up, shampoo, deodorant, toilet soap and retail detergents — Brazil applies 16.2%, against a Mercosur common external tariff of 18%. Check the exact eight-digit NCM.
No, with Mercosur origin. They still need Brazilian notification or registration and pay internal taxes.
The full tax stack, RADAR, DUIMP and Paraguayan origin.
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador compared.
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