The trade in smuggled products is widely condemned by the Brazilian population. Unprecedented research commissioned by the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (ETCO) to the Datafolha Institute, with the support of the Movement in Defense of the Brazilian Legal Market, shows that 77% of respondents agree that smuggled products bring harm to the country and the population and that, for 80 %, these illegal products harm the activity of commerce and industry in Brazil.
The vast majority of Brazilians (92%) believe that if the price of products sold legally in the country were lower, Brazilians would stop buying contraband products. This expectation is mostly shared, with minimum rates of 90%, by all segments analyzed in the survey.
Most respondents also agree that smuggled products are cheaper because they do not pay due taxes (89%), do not have to comply with inspection rules (87%), and are made from poorer quality materials (77%) .
Another important fact of the survey is that 60% of respondents say they have difficulty in recognizing smuggled and counterfeit products in relation to those produced legally.
When the topic is criminality, for 86% of respondents smuggled products encourage organized crime and drug trafficking. Likewise, 83% agree that it is a crime to sell contraband products and 74% that it is a criminal act to buy contraband products.
The Federal Government is considered, by 48% of the interviewees, as the main responsible for the entrance of contraband in the country. Only 5% of respondents consider the work done by the federal authorities to be very efficient and the rest are divided between those who consider it to be somewhat efficient (50%) or not at all efficient (40%).
The solution
The efficiency of some measures to combat smuggling were also assessed in the survey. For 61% of respondents, reinforced border policing and the adoption of tougher penalties for the crime of smuggling are seen as very efficient, the highest rate among the alternatives analyzed; then there is the total blockade of borders by the federal police (53%) and employment incentive programs on both sides of the border (53%), in addition to the tax issue.
Research
It is quantitative with a personal approach. The interviews were conducted between April 22nd and 24th across the country with people over 16 years old, totaling 2.401 interviews. The national sample's margin of error is 2 points more or less.
Movement in Defense of the Brazilian Legal Market
It is a coalition created in 2014 by the Instituto de Ética Concorrencial (ETCO) and the National Forum to Combat Piracy and Illegality (FNCP). This Movement comprises more than 70 entities representing different sectors of the economy affected by illegality in Brazil (smuggling, counterfeiting, piracy and evasion)
The Movement aims to mobilize civil society and government agents around proposals and actions that will contribute to reducing these deviations.
