Source: DCI, 12/02/2009

SÃO PAULO - The productive sector, concerned with the scenario of 2009, demands from the government a more efficient legislation to block the entry of illegal products in Brazil and to give guarantees regarding intellectual property to foreign investors. Both measures are considered fundamental to the survival of companies installed in the country. The Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Competitiveness (Instituto Brasil Legal - IBL) today presents, in São Paulo, figures for the loss caused by the increase in imports - most of them without registration in the Revenue Federal - in the computer and electronics sector.

According to experts in the field of foreign trade, the slowdown in large economic centers, such as the United States and the European Union, will force the Chinese to look for other markets to sell production. The most certain destination are the emerging ones, including Brazil. Given this situation, the businessmen's complaint about the approval of Bill 27/2008, better known as the sacoleiro project, gains strength. “We have made unfair competition official. This is what happened, because sacoleiro is not a commercial activity anywhere in the world ”, said Edson Vismona, president IBL. The proposal, approved by Congress in December last year, instituted the Unified Taxation Regime (RTU) on the importation, by land, of goods from Paraguay, allowing importation through unified payment of taxes and federal contributions on the operation.

“Paraguay will be institutionalized as an import corridor for finished products from Asia, more specifically from Taiwan and China, which will compete unequally and unfairly with the products manufactured here. The criteria of origin and the stimulus to production defended in Mercosur will be ignored, to the detriment of the national industry, without making viable an effective development project for Paraguay itself ”, said Vismona. “It is necessary to end the difference between the rules for imported products and for national items. This practice is harmful to the interests of those who invest in Brazil, of those who generate jobs here, of those who had the courage to put money in the country ”, he added.

Another measure, which according to the business sector, is against Brazilian competitiveness concerns the protection of intellectual property. Industrialists are against the Law Project 1.893 / 2007, by deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP). The matter is part of the Legislative Agenda of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) of 2008, with a divergent position and the entity has spared no effort in the strategy of filing it. The PL creates rules to implement the cross-retaliation mechanism in the area of ​​intellectual property rights, “provides for temporary suspension and dilution measures or extinction of the protection of intellectual property rights in Brazil in the event of non-compliance with multilateral obligations by a foreign State in World Trade Organization ”, he predicts.

According to João Sanches, president of the Intellectual Property Task Force of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham-SP), the Brazilian government sends confused signals to entrepreneurs, because at the same time that it creates the Law of Innovation, the Law of Good, the PAC of Health and implements improvements at the INPI, - actions seen as positive by Amcham - also takes initiatives as opposed to intellectual protection, such as compulsory licensing (defense mechanism against possible abuses committed by a patent holder and which is triggered by the country's government grantor of the privilege).

"These are not only legislative measures, but also those of the Executive, which reduce the protection of intellectual property and if there is no protection, there will be no investments for innovation, which delays Brazil's levels of competitiveness," he said. According to Sanches, the patent issue is important for multinationals and national companies. “How can we expect companies to invest in innovation if there is no patent respect? Venezuela, for example, announced that it will no longer respect patents and Brazilian companies installed there are concerned ”.

In the same line in defense of competitiveness, Vismona, states that the legislation is still a challenge for businessmen in Brazil and in the entity's list of demands is the defense of the breach of fiscal secrecy in the declaration of importers. The president of IBL also expects the approval of Bill 333/1999, which provides for an increase in the penalty for those who commit crimes against intellectual property and facilitates the destruction of pirated products. Among the list of measures that can help the market, Vismona mentions the installation of scanners in ports and airports. "This could change the trade balance, and help tax collection," he said.

The productive sector, concerned with the 2009 scenario, demands more efficient legislation from the government to block the entry of illegal products in Brazil and to provide guarantees regarding intellectual property to foreign investors. The Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Competitiveness (Instituto Brasil Legal - IBL) today presents, in São Paulo, figures for the loss caused by the increase in imports - most of which are not registered with the Federal Revenue Service -, mainly in the computer and electronics sector.