DUIMP and Brazil’s New Import Process (NPI): the compliance guide

The importer who still treats imports as a sequence of isolated documents will feel Brazil’s New Import Process (Novo Processo de Importação, NPI) as a shock. The NPI isn’t a screen update in Siscomex. It’s a change of logic: product information is registered only once, before the operation, and reused in every shipment. Whoever arrives at this model with spreadsheets and manual control discovers, in the first batch, that compliance isn’t about filling in the DUIMP. It’s about having the right data, structured and traceable, before the cargo arrives.

This guide explains the NPI and the DUIMP from the point of view of those who need to operate, not just understand the theory: what changes compared with the DI, what the Product Catalog is and why it’s at the center of everything, the role of the Single Window (Portal Único), LPCO and CCT, the transition timeline and the most common mistakes during the change. And how a platform like FollowNet One supports this operation without depending on spreadsheets.

What the NPI (New Import Process) is

The New Import Process is the complete overhaul of Brazil’s import flow, led by the Federal Revenue and the Foreign Trade Single Window (Portal Único de Comércio Exterior). The stated goal is to replace a process built in layers over decades with a single, digital model based on structured data.

In practice, the NPI changes three fundamental things. First, product information is no longer retyped for each import and starts to live in a reusable register, the Product Catalog. Second, the import declaration is no longer a text document and becomes a set of structured data, the DUIMP. Third, licensing and cargo control get their own integrated flows, through LPCO and CCT, instead of scattered approvals.

For the importer, the right reading is this: the NPI moves the work forward. The effort that used to happen at the time of clearance now happens in the register, before the operation. Those who organize the data up front operate predictably. Those who leave it for later turn every shipment into a rush.

What the DUIMP is

The DUIMP (Declaração Única de Importação, the Single Import Declaration) is the declaration that replaces the DI and the DSI in the New Import Process. It brings together, in a single structured record, the customs, commercial, tax and administrative information of the import.

The essential difference isn’t the name. The DI was a document filled in for each import, with the data retyped every time. The DUIMP is built from information already registered: it pulls the product’s attributes from the Catalog, links the administrative treatments through LPCO and references the cargo through CCT. This means the quality of the DUIMP depends entirely on the quality of what was registered beforehand.

That’s why treating the DUIMP as “the new declaration screen” is a misreading. The DUIMP is the output of a data process that starts much earlier, in the Product Catalog.

DI vs. DUIMP: what changes in practice

The table below summarizes the operational difference between the old model and the NPI, from the point of view of whoever runs imports day to day.

The point that changes the operation is in the last row. In the NPI, errors move from clearance to the register. A poorly structured Catalog doesn’t cause a one-off problem in a DI: it causes a systemic problem that repeats in every DUIMP that pulls that product.

The Product Catalog: the heart of the NPI

The Product Catalog is the central register of every product the company imports, with its technical, tax and commercial attributes standardized according to the Federal Revenue’s requirements. It’s the asset that supports everything else in the NPI.

Each product in the Catalog gets a set of mandatory attributes, defined by NCM code, plus the importer’s own attributes. When a DUIMP is built, it pulls these attributes from the Catalog instead of requiring them to be typed again. This reduces errors, speeds up registration and creates consistency across operations. But it reverses the workload: the effort of classification, gathering attributes and standardization happens in the register, before the first import of that item.

For importers with few products, this is manageable by hand. For importers and manufacturers with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, the Catalog becomes a project in itself. The operational question is no longer “how do I fill in the DUIMP?” but “how do I keep a catalog of thousands of items consistent, up to date and linked to my operations?”. That’s exactly where an order-to-delivery visibility platform stops being a convenience and becomes infrastructure.

Single Window, LPCO and CCT

The New Import Process relies on three pieces of the Foreign Trade Single Window (Portal Único de Comércio Exterior, PUComex). Understanding the role of each one avoids confusing symptoms with causes during the transition.

The Single Window (PUComex) is the environment that centralizes foreign trade flows, where the DUIMP is registered and where the importer interacts with the consenting agencies. It’s the integration layer between the importer, the Federal Revenue and the other parties involved.

LPCO (Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other documents) is the module that handles licensing and approvals. In the NPI, the LPCO is linked to the DUIMP in a structured way, replacing the previous model of scattered licenses and approvals. Each administrative treatment required for a product gets a predictable flow within the process.

CCT (Cargo and Transit Control) is the layer that structures cargo events: arrival, storage, movement and release. In the previous model, this follow-up was fragmented and manual. In the NPI, the CCT generates structured events that can be monitored and cross-checked with the rest of the operation.

The importer who sees these three pieces as separate obligations will operate by reacting to each one. Whoever sees them as a single flow (registration in the Catalog, licensing through LPCO, declaration through the DUIMP, cargo through CCT) can anticipate bottlenecks before they become costs.

Transition timeline and deadlines

The NPI is being rolled out in phases, with the DUIMP progressively replacing the DI by NCM code and by type of operation. Since the official calendar is adjusted periodically by the Federal Revenue and the Single Window, importers should confirm the current dates through the official channels before planning.

What doesn’t change, regardless of the dates, is the logic of preparation. The transition has a natural order that applies to any timeline:

1. Map the imported products and prioritize them by volume and criticality. You don’t need to catalog everything at once; you need to start with the items that come in most.
2. Build the Product Catalog for those items, with the attributes per NCM code gathered and standardized.
3. Identify the applicable LPCO for each product, anticipating the approvals that have historically held up clearance.
4. Test DUIMP registration with the first items, before it becomes mandatory, to find registration gaps while there’s still time to fix them.
5. Integrate cargo control through CCT into operational follow-up, so the cargo event talks to the rest of the process.

The most expensive timeline mistake isn’t missing a date. It’s reaching the date with an incomplete Catalog and discovering the inconsistencies at the moment every import depends on them.

Impact by profile: importer, manufacturer, automaker and customs brokerage firm

The NPI affects each type of operation differently. Understanding your own impact avoids copying the transition strategy of someone with a different reality.

Direct importer. The impact is in registration discipline. Those who import a stable portfolio of products gain a lot from reusing the Catalog, as long as they invest in the initial setup. The risk is treating the DUIMP as a clearance task and leaving the register for the last minute.

Manufacturer. The impact is in the volume and the link with production. Manufacturers import inputs and components in high volume, with varied NCM codes and dense technical attributes. The Catalog becomes a data project, and imports need to talk to production planning, because a release delay in the NPI becomes a line stoppage.

Automaker. The impact is in the scale and the global supplier chain: hundreds of part numbers, multiple suppliers, long lead times and a tight production window. Moving to the NPI without structured cargo visibility turns any registration inconsistency into a direct risk to the line.

Customs brokerage firm. The impact is multiplied. The brokerage firm runs the NPI for several customers at the same time, each with its own Catalog, approvals and deadlines. Without a platform that centralizes and standardizes this control, the transition becomes a manual effort that doesn’t scale.

How FollowNet One handles the transition

FollowNet One is e.Mix’s foreign trade software for importers, manufacturers and automakers. In the context of the NPI, it solves the core problem of the transition: keeping the data structured, traceable and visible throughout the process, from the Catalog to the CCT, without depending on spreadsheets.

Instead of treating the Catalog, LPCO, DUIMP and cargo as separate controls, FollowNet One centralizes these events in a single dashboard, with management by exception. The analyst doesn’t check each stage item by item: the dashboard shows by traffic light what is on time, what has a pending approval and what needs a decision before it becomes a cost. It’s the e.Mix Model applied to the NPI: System + Methodology + Team that lives your operation, with customers who have worked with us for more than 18 years.

Video (in Portuguese): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Sup_J6jPk&t=548s

Common mistakes in the transition to the DUIMP

The most expensive mistakes in the NPI transition aren’t technical filling errors. They’re mistakes of sequence and of reading the process.

• Treating the DUIMP as a new DI. Those who see the DUIMP as just a different declaration screen leave the Catalog for later and discover, at the first registration, that without a structured register there’s no declaration.
• Cataloging everything at once. Trying to structure the entire catalog before operating paralyzes the team. The way forward is to prioritize by volume and criticality and expand progressively.
• Ignoring the LPCO until clearance. Discovering a pending approval when the cargo is already at the port repeats, in the NPI, the worst of the old model. Approvals need to be mapped in the register, not at shipment.
• Controlling the NPI in spreadsheets. Catalog, LPCO, DUIMP and CCT in separate tabs, with no alerts and no standardization, is the scenario that generates the most rework and blind spots in the transition.
• Not testing before it’s mandatory. Waiting for the deadline to make the first registration eliminates the margin for correction. Testing early is what turns a registration gap into a calm adjustment instead of an emergency.