Source: O Estado de S. Paulo - EDITORIAS - 22/05/2010

Everywhere, street vendors or street vendors openly sell pirated or smuggled products and there are well-known centers that specialize in this illegal trade, operate with open doors, do not issue invoices and make no secret of the illegal origin of the wide variety of goods. Governments turn a blind eye. There is an incomprehensible tolerance for theft, unfair competition, tax evasion, disrespect for the laws and international agreements to which Brazil is a signatory. This is coupled with the lack of consumer awareness. Data from Fecomércio / RJ indicate that 46% of Brazilians admitted, in 2009, to have acquired counterfeit products. In this category there are two types of products: those that enter the country via contraband and those that are downloaded on the internet by hackers and processed for sale on the black market. For thousands of people it is normal to buy a CD or DVD for a trifle at a corner newsstand in busy places, regardless of what it means for the formal economy. Public clarification campaigns can help, but inspection is mostly lacking. If drug seizures are common, which must always be conducted strictly, blitzes against the illegal commercialization of CDs, DVDs, software and other products, ranging from sunglasses to clothes and shoes made in China, are rare. Inspection should begin at land borders, at ports and airports. Brazil's borders with ten countries on the continent are long, it is true, remote and unguarded. There are points, however, that stand out for smuggling, and there is no better example than the border with Paraguay, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR). The presence of the Federal Police and the Federal Revenue Service is almost symbolic. In ports, the situation is similar. As reported by the State report, the number of inspectors from the Revenue in all Brazilian ports is equivalent to that of the Port of Hamburg, in Germany, with 3 thousand employees. The losses caused by swapping to commerce, industry and tax collection were estimated at US $ 20 billion in 2009. On the list of products that suffer most from piracy are auto parts, manufactured in Brazil by an industry that, according to statistics from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), registered a deficit of US $ 634 million in its trade balance in the first quarter of 2010 . If the values ​​of smuggled parts and components for use in imported vehicles are computed, the losses of this industry will grow by millions. As for cigarettes, fuels and cosmetics, they come from neighboring countries, especially from Paraguay, where the majority of manufacturers are clandestine. They are products of inferior quality or result from mixtures of toxic chemical substances not allowed by Brazilian legislation. For the consumer, who lets himself be seduced by low prices, the cheap can be very expensive. The smuggling of drugs draws attention. In the first quarter of this year, Brazil imported US $ 1,897 billion in medicines, according to Secex. There you can get a sense of the demand, which is reflected in the smuggling of drugs, with fake brands, which can seriously compromise the health of users. It is amazing that this occurs at a time when the real is appreciating, making imports cheaper, also favored by a low customs tariff, which, on average, is 10%. This should stimulate, as it has been stimulating, purchases abroad within the law. If, even so, piracy and smuggling flourish, it is because the government does not give these crimes the importance they deserve. It is not quite the case that the Brazilian State is not "winning this battle", as a senior Federal Revenue official said. In reality, there is no political will to stop it for real.