BRASILIA: The Brazilian border is set to see the opening of duty-free shops on the Brazilian side by the end of June 2015, it was revealed at the second annual Border Shop Meeting held in Rivera, Uruguay earlier this week.
Regional MP for Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil Frederico Antunes addressed Latin American border shop operators, suppliers and government authorities at the meeting at the Hotel Rivera Casino & Resort advising them that the rules on the operation of Free Shops in the Brazilian territory were almost finalised. The government announced 29 approved cities on Brazil’s borders for the new possible concessions in March.
Antunes stated he expected that the new stores would be able to open by the end of June 2015.
He added that the legislation would allow Brazilian travellers to make purchases in the stores, but they would be restricted to a $300 dollar per month allowance, which will be controlled by a special software programme linking the stores to a database controlled by La Receita Federal, the Brazilian Customs Authority.
The meeting was hosted jointly by the South American Duty Free Shops Association (ASUTIL) and the Uruguayan Chamber of Free Shops (CEFSU).
Earlier this month, Dufry Group CEO Julian Diaz stated during a discussion of the company’s nine month performance, that Dufry Group is hoping to overcome stiff competition for the contracts. He said competition would be “very healthy but tough” adding “my guess is that Dufry is in a very good position regarding the new possible border duty-free shop concessions”.
