Brazil occupies the last positions in number of servers in customs when compared to countries that operate in the international market with more strength.
Weighted by factors such as the extent of borders, for example, or the country’s population, the proportional number of Brazilian servers is lower, both in relation to countries with great weight in global trade, such as China, the USA, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. United and in relation to emerging countries, which seek to expand their participation, such as South Korea, Mexico, Chile and India.
In the comparison by financial volume of the foreign trade chain, for example, Brazil has a Brazilian employee to inspect the equivalent of US$ 117 million in products. In the US, there are around 1.5 servers for this same amount (1 for $79M), over 2 in China (1 for $55M) and nearly 5 in the UK (1 for $24M ).
The comparisons were carried out by Sindifisco Nacional, based on data from the OMA (World Customs Organization), which monitors cross-border flows in 184 countries. The union used the population as a cut-off line, consolidating data from countries with more than 10 million inhabitants.
The category has been carrying out standard customs operations since the turn of the year, claiming, among other items, the replacement of personnel, and has been seeking information to support the claim.
According to the union of the category, Brazil had 4,468 civil servants acting in the control of customs in 2013. In 2020, the number dropped to 2,650, a retraction of 40% in the period.
In the weighting by the extension of territorial border, Brazil has 119 employees per 1,000 thousand km of border. This is a far cry from, for example, the 4,889 registered in the US and the 6,136 registered in China.
Considering the number of civil servants per population, Brazil has, on average, 12 customs officers per million inhabitants. It is 1/75th of the rate in Great Britain (942/million) and one-eighth of that of Chile (109/million).
Inspection, in practice, takes place by sampling, but the greater the volume per capita, the greater the risk of letting irregular goods pass.
Among the selected countries, the per capita volume is higher than that of Brazil in the Netherlands (US$ 278 million), where some of the largest ports in the world and a large volume of cargo are located, and in South Korea (US$ 208 million), which transacts products with high added value, such as electronics.
There is no consensus among international trade experts on the reasonable number of employees to monitor the trade flow at customs, especially as the sector enjoys increasing computerization of processes.
Victor do Prado, from the Center for International Trade at Cebri (Brazilian Center for International Relations), recalls that shopping over the internet created a new and growing flow of small orders, which was accentuated after the pandemic.
“Inspecting a container from a large company is different from monitoring thousands of packages with scattered origins and destinations”, he says. “More technology does not always mean a reduction in people; it may even increase the demand for professionals, but with new skills.”
Arno Gleisner, director of Foreign Trade at Cisbra (Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services) says that computerization reduces the need for workers in customs”, he says.
He questions the mobilization of servers. “It’s a mobilization with no deadline to finish that is harming the country’s international trade,” he says.
According to the president of Sindifisco Nacional, Isac Falcão, it is an illusion to believe that the human factor can be completely replaced by technology: “We have technological solutions in the sorting of goods, artificial intelligence support in a computer program for monitoring and registering carriers, but IT is support for the work and you can’t do it efficiently without people”.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, a decree authorizing the holding of a public contest for the appointment of 699 positions in the institution, published on the 13th, confirms “that the Internal Revenue Service always works with the possibility of holding new competitions”.
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