Past, Present and Future, on the Centenary of the Brazilian Tax and Customs Court 

1. Thinking about the past… (the origins)

Herodotus, more than two thousand years ago, established the importance of studying history: understanding the past to comprehend the present and envision the future. When we analyze the historical evolution of an institution, a branch of science, or an organization, we facilitate the visualization of the reasons that led to the current situation and the potential challenges and prospects for tomorrow.(1 *)

Ildefonso Sánchez, already in 1974, in his "Customs: Past, Present and Future" (2)«, and Hector Hugo Juarez, more recently, in “The World Customs Organization: Past, Present and Future"(3) It is evident that the fascination with the three basic verb tenses has accompanied works dealing with customs matters for some time now.

And there's nothing better than an article to analyze, in the midst of the CARF's centennial year, the Brazilian tax administrative court, and how the evolution of litigation (especially in customs matters) allows us to understand the current situation and, more importantly, the direction we're heading. Fortunately, we're not alone on this path, as other studies with a similar purpose exist.(4)^.

The CARF (Administrative Council of Fiscal Resources) is the successor to the old Taxpayer Councils, which date back to the beginning of the last century and mark the emergence of a true administrative tax and customs dispute in Brazil(5)^. Decree 16.580, of September 4, 1924(6), which approved the regulations for the collection of income tax (a tax that had been created by Article 31 of Law 4.625/1922), established in its Article 16 that there would be in each State and in the Federal District a Council of Taxpayers, appointed by the Minister of Finance, whose five members would be chosen from among taxpayers from commerce, industry, liberal professions and public officials, all of recognized integrity, appointed to serve for one financial year, with the Minister being able to keep them in their functions for more than one year.

Francisco Tito de Souza Reis, an engineer and tax specialist appointed to oversee the regulation of income tax, created the structure of the General Delegation of Income Tax and served as its first Director. The issue was so important that the Palace of Festivals, built in 1922 in Rio de Janeiro (then the nation's capital) for the Centennial Exposition of Independence, ended up housing the General Delegation of Income Tax and the Council of Taxpayers. Its first president was none other than José Leopoldo de Bulhões Jardim, a champion of income tax who had already served as Minister of Finance twice (1902-1906 and 1909-1910). The Vice President was former Minister of Agriculture João Gonçalves Pereira Lima, and the board was completed by Severiano de Andrade Cavalcanti, a respected tax expert; Levi Carneiro, jurist and essayist, first president of the OAB; and Colonel João Luiz dos Santos, who would be the rapporteur of the first trial analyzed by the Council(7).

On September 14, 1925, the five Councilors were received by Francisco Tito Reis at the headquarters of the General Delegation of Income Tax, in a room on the ground floor of the old Pavilion. After greeting them on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Tito Reis opened the inaugural session of the Income Taxpayers Council in the Federal District.

This is the initial framework for calculating the effective establishment of a Taxpayer Council in Brazil. The Council's first decision was made just eight days later, and it was favorable to the company Skoglands Linje Brasil LTDA. (8).

Following the establishment of the Income Tax "Taxpayers' Council," at the request of the taxpayers themselves, Decree 5.157 of January 12, 1927, authorized the creation of "Councils" to analyze and adjudicate appeals in tax matters—primarily regarding consumption taxes. These councils were to be composed equally of public administration officials and representatives of taxpayers/commercial/industrial associations, with the Minister of Finance or a public administration official designated by him serving as chair. The "Council" for consumption taxes (which was also responsible for tariff classification and customs valuation) was established in Rio de Janeiro in 1931, with twelve members (making it the country's first equal-representation council), and its first decision was published on November 9, 1931, upholding the collection of the Sales Tax levied against the firm Bragança e Barros. (9).

By means of Decree 24.036, of March 26, 1934, the aforementioned “Councils” were replaced by: (i) the “1st Council of Taxpayers”, in charge of judging appeals concerning income tax, stamp tax and commercial sales tax (article 160, “a”); (ii) the “2nd Council of Taxpayers”, with competence to judge appeals concerning consumption tax and other internal taxes, fees and contributions (article 160, “b”); and (iii) the “Superior Council of Tariffs”, with competence to judge appeals concerning tariff classification, customs value, smuggling and other issues arising from customs laws or regulations (article 161).

This tripartite structure reflected the “Aranha Reform” (of Finance Minister Oswaldo Aranha, 1931/1934), which divided the General Directorate of National Finance into three directorates: one responsible for income tax, another in charge of internal revenues, and a third that dealt with customs revenues.(10)

At that time, the Council sessions were conducted with great solemnity and ceremony, with private debates, without the presence of women, and appellants were prevented from making oral arguments or obtaining copies of the proceedings or certifications.(11)

Unlike the Income Tax Council, composed of prominent figures from the national scene, the Superior Tariff Council was, from its inception, a more specialized body, made up of highly professional technicians, primarily customs officials and representatives of the import trade. The Council's first session took place in August 1934, under the chairmanship of Antônio Eduardo Lenhoff Britto, head of the Rio de Janeiro Customs section.(12)

1.1. The Higher Council of Tariffs and the reforms in the period 1960-1980

From 1938 onward, with the tightening of Vargas's protectionist policies, a result of agreements with national businesses, tariff barriers were raised, consequently increasing the number of customs proceedings and appeals on the matter. The Superior Tariff Council, then composed of eight members and four alternates, was divided into two chambers: the first, chaired by the Council's president, to handle appeals related to the classification of goods; and the second, chaired by the vice president, for all other matters. Until the end of World War II, the Council's work was intense, as smuggling increased, especially of beverages, appliances, and textiles.(13)

In 1964, with the military coming to power, the biggest transformation in the structure of the Taxpayers' Councils since the 1930s took place. The second Council was broken up to create a third Council, mainly intended to deliberate on appeals brought against state and municipal taxes under the responsibility of the Union, and the Councilors became appointed by the Minister of Finance.(14)

The 1970s were marked in the history of the Taxpayers' Councils not only by the relocation of their headquarters to Brasília, initially in the Ministry of Finance building, on the Esplanade of Ministries; then in the Zarife building, in Block 4 of the South Commercial Sector, and in the Alvorada Building, in Block 1 of the same sector (where it has been located since 1991)(15) but also by the regulation of the tax administration process (by Decree 70.235/1972), and by the renaming of the “Superior Tariff Council” to the “Fourth Taxpayer Council” in 1972, and subsequently to the “Third Taxpayer Council” in 1977 (with the absorption of the former third council by the second), marking a reduction in specialization in customs matters. The 1970s were also a precursor to women's participation in the Councils: in 1971, Wanda Xavier de Lacerda became the first alternate councilor, and in 1979, Enila Leite de Freitas Chagas became the first vice-president of the Third Council.(16)

Even in the 1970s, another administrative customs dispute, of single instance, was regulated in Decree-Law 1.455/1976, for infractions punishable by the penalty of confiscation.(17)

By the end of the decade, the various chambers within each Council were reaching divergent conclusions on different issues, necessitating a solution to standardize jurisprudence. To that end, the Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals was created in 1979. Its mission was to adjudicate appeals arising from non-unanimous decisions of the chambers (when these decisions were contrary to the law or the evidence), as well as to deliberate on decisions in which the interpretation of tax legislation by one chamber differed from the interpretation adopted by another chamber or by the Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals itself.(18)

1.2. The new name: Administrative Council of Fiscal Resources

In the new constitutional order of 1988, Law 11.941, of May 27, 2009, in its article 49, stipulated that:”The First, Second and Third Taxpayer Councils of the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals, are unified into a single body called the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (CARF), a collegiate, equal body, part of the structure of the Ministry of Finance, with the power to judge ex officio and voluntary appeals of first instance decisions, as well as special appeals, on the application of legislation concerning taxes administered by the Secretariat of the Federal Revenue of Brazil.”

Although the provision does not specifically address customs matters, there was no doubt that the CARF (Federal Council for Customs Regulations) was responsible for assessing the issues previously addressed by the Superior Tariff Council, later transformed into the fourth and then the third council. Even though substantial doctrinal debates exist on the subject, the word "tax," in legal procedural rules, such as Decree 70.235/1972, was never intended to exclude the customs sphere, although it sometimes appears in isolation and at other times alongside "and customs."(19)

In this regard, several Internal Regulations of the CARF were issued (approved by Orders of the Ministry of Finance No. 256/2009, 343/2015 and 1.634/2023), always dealing with customs matters, in light of the legal competence of the CARF to judge the “application of tax legislation”Access to the Higher Chamber of Tax Appeals was always limited to verifying differences of interpretation regarding the tax legislationeven in processes dealing with customs matters. In support of this, CARF's institutional mission did not even contemplate such a distinction until September 2024.(20)

Customs matters are currently handled by the Third Adjudication Section of the CARF (Federal Court of Appeals), along with other tax and contribution matters unrelated to foreign trade. Recently, the CARF established a Specialized Chamber for Customs Matters, which we consider a significant step forward.

2. Understanding the present… (reforms and the new Internal Regulations of CARF)

Since the establishment of the current legal basis governing the CARF (arts. 48 to 52 of Law 11.941/2009)(21)The administrative court has had three internal regulations, approved by Ordinances MF 256/2009, 343/2015 and 1.364/2023 (currently in force).

When analyzing the evolution of these texts, comparatively(22)It is perceived that, to a large extent, the procedures have been optimized, seeking to achieve two major objectives: one related to speed (for the reduction of the procedural backlog and the decrease in the duration of the processes) and another with predictability / legal certainty (through tools that offer more uniform solutions to the issues analyzed by the different trial courts).

The current Internal Regulations of the CARF (RICARF), in the aforementioned areas, present the following main measures: the creation of the Virtual Plenary (PV); the simplification of the adoption of Summala; the reformulation of the judging chambers; the increase of the total term of office of the councilors and the possibility of creating specialized chambers.(23)

2.1. Virtual Plenary and Improvement of Summary

El Virtual Plenary It is inspired by the successful experience of the Supreme Federal Court and the improvement (24) through the deposit of votes in a specific internal electronic system (which is already fully operational) and asynchronous voting for processes that are not of high value and complexity, which allows the optimization of financial resources and the activities of the councilors.

Summaries, which represent statements that summarize the prevailing position in the judging bodies(25)These, along with other figures that emerged in Brazil in the last decade, such as the systems of rgeneral impact and repetitive resources, instruments of legal certainty and, at the same time, of reducing the procedural backlog, considering that their application extends to numerous processes. In the new RICARF, the hypotheses of Súmula were expanded(26)This tends to accentuate not only the pacification of administrative jurisprudential understandings, but also the continuity in the reduction of the procedural backlog.

2.2. Measures for optimizing the staff workforce

We classify the other measures of the new RICARF, linked to the reformulation of the trial chambers, specialization, and the increase in the total term of office of the councilors, as forms of a better utilization / optimization of the staff that make up CARF, which translates into greater productivity and efficiency.

The ordinary trial courts were reorganized and each now had six judges, which increased objectivity in the proceedings and allowed for a greater number of cases to be heard per session. In addition to eight ordinary courts (grouped into four chambers), there are also, for each of the three Trial Sections, four extraordinary courts and one court for unifying jurisprudence (Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals).

Since the total term of office for councilors has generally increased from six to eight years (or from eight to twelve, in the case of presidents and vice-presidents of chambers and bodies), there is a trend towards greater stability in the composition of these chambers, which has positive effects in terms of predictability and productivity.

In customs matters, the RICARF also provided for the possibility of specialization (Art. 46), which was implemented in Order CARF 627/2024, establishing specialized jurisdiction in customs matters for two ordinary panels of the Fourth Chamber of the Third Trial Section. This measure represented a substantial and undeniable advance in the more technical handling of customs issues in the administrative court. (27)

There are two further optimization measures implemented after the new RICARF that deserve highlighting, with regard to staffing. CARF Ordinance 1.360/2023 aimed to promote gender equality by increasing female participation in CARF. And Decree 12.340/2023 provides for the possibility of holding extraordinary sessions, with a corresponding proportional increase in the workload and remuneration of the board members appointed by the taxpayers—a measure that is already showing noticeable impacts on productivity.

2.3 Transparency

Transparency is so deeply ingrained within CARF that it is no longer usually listed among its main attributes in official documents, but it is important to note that CARF makes its full rulings available on its website, in a database that already contains more than half a million decisions.(28)which can be filtered using various search criteria, something that is unfortunately not common in other administrative courts, both in Brazil and in Comparative Law.

Even on the CARF website, the trial can be followed in full virtual session, with votes and dissents, the session schedule, the agendas and trial minutes, as well as the administrative acts of CARF, there is also the possibility of using the computerized environment for sending memorials and oral presentations, and for scheduling hearings with the councilors.

In addition, CARF regularly publishes its statistical “open data”.(29)which allow for the public viewing of the case file (by procedural stage and value range), the time frame (in the ordinary/extraordinary chambers and in the Superior Chamber), the number of cases tried, and the results, by voting type. A simple reading of this report allows the reader to know, for example, that: (a) the CARF case file is the smallest in the last five years (70 cases – 58,33% of the total that existed in 2018); (b) within this case file, 73% of the cases have a value between R$ 84.720,00 and R$ 15 million, and only 133 cases have a value greater than R$ 1.000 billion; (c) the average trial time for a case in the ordinary/extraordinary chambers is 1.212 days, and in the Superior Chamber, 314 days; (d) In 2024, the CARF issued rulings in 23.147 cases, totaling R$ 691,35 billion, the highest annual value ever adjudicated in the court's history; and (e) 86,7% of the cases were decided unanimously, 9,7% by majority vote, and 3,6% by tie-breaking vote.

Any serious and scientific analysis of CARF should include an examination of this data, which mitigates beliefs and opens a clear path to accurate and technical information through transparency.

2.4. Innovation and Strategic Planning

Innovation is another constant, not only at CARF, but at the Ministry of Finance in general, which is traditionally one of the most technologically equipped institutions in the public service —and so it should be— in order to simultaneously simplify and automate the obligations of those subject to administration and optimize the control processes in charge of the administration.

In addition to the aforementioned Virtual Plenary, CARF is currently working on the implementation of the IARA tool (Artificial Intelligence for Administrative Resources), conceived in the court and developed by SERPRO, with the aim of further contributing to the agile processing of processes, optimizing workflows.(30)

And, as reported here at Conjur(31)In September 2024, the CARF Strategic Map for the period 2024-2027 was approved, indicating as its institutional mission: “To resolve tax and customs disputes at the final administrative level with impartiality, speed and excellence, providing legal certainty to society", with a text that, in our opinion, significantly improves upon the previous mission and offers clues about what is to come.(32)

3. Idealizing the future… (CARF – witness and outcome of history)

In its 100-year history, CARF has witnessed the birth, life, and death of various taxes. The administrative tribunal, for example, oversaw the initial steps of CIDE-Combustibles Importación.(33), the beginnings of the Contribution for PIS/PASEP-import and COFINS-import (which already “have their days numbered”)(34)as well as the adult phase and the golden anniversary of the antiquated tax on industrialized products(35)And it envisions, within the national tax system, the development of the Contribution on Goods and Services (CBS) and the Selective Tax.(36)

We could also recall that CARF witnessed five Brazilian Federal Constitutions (37) And it learned, since the latter half of the last century, to live with international treaties (which, mainly in the customs area, became protagonists in issues such as classification of goods and customs valuation). (38) Or we could even recall that CARF maintained the technical quality of its decisions throughout more than twenty changes in the Presidency of the Republic, or even in the presidencies of the administrative collegiate body.

The CARF, however, is not only a witness to taxes, rules and people, but the result of their combination and maturation throughout history, and will continue to be so, for example, in the new scenario of tax reform.

To address the “future,” we can draw on everything we have learned from witnessing (and influencing) the past and present, in a prospective exercise of strategic planning, or simply rely on foresight. Given our limited experience in this second area, and its lack of scientific rigor, we will focus our efforts here on the analysis of strategic planning, which allows institutions (even centuries-old ones) to mature and modernize, preventing them from simply becoming obsolete.

This quest for modernization is present in the latest major legal restructuring of the administrative court, promoted by Law No. 11.941/2009 (Articles 25 and 48 to 52), and in the recent reform of the Internal Regulations of the CARF (through Ordinance No. 1.364/2023), which substantially improved litigation with regard to legal certainty and speed, with measures such as the creation of the Virtual Plenary, the simplification in the adoption of Summaries, the restructuring of the trial courts, the increase in the total term of office of the councilors and the possibility of creating specialized courts.

3.1. CARF Strategic Map for 2024

Remember that in September 2024, the CARF Strategic Map for the period 2024-2027 was approved.(39), with the following institutional mission: “Resolving tax and customs disputes with impartiality, speed and excellence, providing legal certainty to society, ultimately in administrative matters., undoubtedly superior in content and scope (mainly in terms of customs matters) to the mission established for the period 2020-2023. After moving to the stage of debates on the deciding vote, the court is now focusing on the quality of the vote, including, along with impartiality and speed, the attribute of excellence.

The vision outlined in the strategic map clearly provides the perspective of how CARF wishes to be perceived in the future: “To consolidate CARF as a modern and inclusive institution that promotes the excellence of the functional body and the intensive use of technological resources, to optimize judgment time and create an administrative jurisprudence that discourages litigation.”

As we have highlighted, there are already clear initiatives underway for inclusion (such as the pursuit of 40% female representation in the CARF, foreseen in Portaria MF nº 1.360/2023, and the flexibility for pregnant and breastfeeding councilors, addressed in Portaria CARF nº 1.500/2024), the intensive use of technology (for example, IARA, an artificial intelligence tool for Administrative Resources), the optimization of judging time (such as the recomposition of the judging groups, specialization and the Virtual Plenary, in the new RICARF, and the establishment of extraordinary sessions for the reduction of the collection, according to Decree 12.340/2023) and the disincentive to litigation (such as improving and simplifying the mechanism for producing sumulas).

These measures should be intensified in the coming years, positively impacting the efficiency of the administrative tribunal, always with a foundation based on the following values: impartiality, excellence, ethics, expediency, and transparency. Thus, in addition to the three values ​​explicitly stated in the institutional mission, the Strategic Map highlights ethics (it is important to remember that CARF has an ethics committee, created by Resolution MF No. 500/2018) and transparency (one of the attributes most developed at CARF today).(40)

The expected strategic results, indicated in the 2024-2027 Map, cover five axes, each linked to enabling objectives.

The first result (“to increase the speed of the litigation by guaranteeing a reasonable duration of the processo”) is related, by way of example, to the enabling objectives of “improving adjudication processes with innovative solutions” (reducing, for example, the time required for jurisprudential searches), “increasing adjudication capacity” (by grouping similar cases into batches and with specialization, for example), and “intensifying the use of new technologies” (a cross-cutting measure that positively impacts various CARF activities). Likewise, the result of “expand the standardization of administrative jurisprudence”, with the enabling objective of “expanding the production of summaries” (avoiding repeated debates on issues already established jurisprudentially), which contributes both to legal certainty and speed in the judgment, with the consequent reduction of the procedural stock.

Regarding the professional technical staff, one of CARF's greatest assets,Promoting diversity, inclusion, and excellence in the functioning body"l" is a strategic result related to enabling objectives such as "promoting the attraction and retention of talent, with incentives for diversity and inclusion," and "fostering professional growth, well-being, and an inclusive work environment for all employees." With a functional body of judges who are not appointed for life, subject to a mandate and dependent on the designation by the Ministry of Finance and Confederations/Associations of civil society, it is increasingly important to consider plurality in the appointments and reduce, as far as possible, the number of changes in the members and collaborators of the CARF, so as to guarantee the effective continuity of technical activities and legal certainty.

In the pursuit of improved services, the results of “to facilitate the taxpayers' right to defense"And"improve transparency and communication with society"They unite around objectives such as reducing the costs of taxpayer participation in the process (for example, by allowing oral arguments virtually or by sending audio/video) and expanding the services offered to society (such as broadcasting trial sessions, monitoring the virtual plenary session, and the possibility of hearings with the Councilors, in an ethical and transparent manner).

In this sense, it is perceived, when observing the CARF Strategic Plan 2024-2027, that "the future has already begun".

3.2. Opportunities and Challenges for the coming years

In the very short term, we are still in the centennial year of CARF. On September 14, CARF celebrated its 100th anniversary. The previous week, in Brasilia, was dedicated to centennial celebrations at the 11th CARF Seminar on Tax and Customs Law, which saw broad participation from Councilors and prominent jurists and authorities. They addressed topics related to the present and future of CARF, such as binding rules in administrative proceedings, the use of artificial intelligence, the new tax administrative litigation, the reform of income taxation (PL 1.087/2025), multilateral and bilateral international treaties in customs legislation, and the review of tax assessments.(41)

In internal panels, matters of interest to the three Trial Sections were also discussed, and eleven new summaries were approved last Friday.(42).

It should also be noted that the Federal Senate organized a solemn session to commemorate the centenary of the CARF on the afternoon of October 17, 2025, with the participation of Senators, officials from the Ministry of Finance, Councilors, and court staff. On this occasion, the importance of the CARF in resolving administrative tax and customs disputes, as well as the technical expertise of its judges and precedents, were highlighted.(43)

In the medium term, several issues will impact judgments before the CARF in the coming months and years. The most visible of these, on the horizon, is the tax reform promoted by Constitutional Amendment 132/2023, which will affect the universe of taxes that will be judged in the court and will bring a new challenge: the harmonization of jurisprudence between the decisions that the CARF will adopt regarding the CBS and those that will be made by the courts of other units of the federation regarding the twin tax (Tax on Goods and Services – IBS).(44)

Another issue that will have a near-term and specific impact on customs matters will be the firmness of the decision made by the STJ in Repetitive Issue 1.293 (intermediate prescription for non-tax issues), which, due to the generality of the judicial decision, along with the absence of a significant number of precedents, will require a broad jurisprudential and doctrinal effort, not to interpret what is customs-related (a topic already quite developed doctrinally and jurisprudentially, both nationally and internationally), but to determine what would be considered "non-tax" in the sense given by the judicial precedent, mainly with regard to accessory obligations (weighing the judicial decision and art. 113, §2º of the tax code).(45)

Still within the customs field, Bill No. 4.423/2024 (“General Foreign Trade Law”) is in process, which will promote substantial changes in Brazilian customs legislation, with an impact on matters that are subject to litigation (although it does not deal directly with the different customs procedures).(46)

Finally, another legislative change that will likely have a substantial impact on the administrative process, and which showed little technical concern for distinguishing tax institutions from customs institutions, is the set of unified Bills in PL No. 2.483/2022, still in process in the Federal Senate.(47)

In this complex scenario, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to outline what CARF will be like in the long term, in one hundred or two hundred years, given the exponential speed of technological and societal evolution, which is already beginning to be guided by this evolution.

In fact, more important than predicting the future is building it, with concrete and planned actions, exactly as the Brazilian Administrative Court has been doing for the past 100 years and 53 days, which we celebrate today. Long live CARF!

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1*. This text corresponds to an adaptation, with updates and complements, of the trilogy published in: TREVISAN < Rosaldo. Customs and 100 years of Carf: past, present and future. Conjur Electronic Magazine – Aug 12, 16 set. and 14 out. 2025. Available, respectively, at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-ago-12/aduana-e-os-100-anos-do-carf-passado-presente-e-futuro-parte-1/, https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-set-16/aduana-e-os-100-anos-do-carf-passado-presente-e-futuro-parte-2/ and https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-out-14/aduana-e-os-cem-anos-do-carf-passado-presente-e-futuro-parte-3/. Access on 05 Nov. 2025.

2.SÁNCHEZ, Ildefonso. Customs: Past, Present and Future. In: Customs StudiesMadrid: Institute of Fiscal Studies, 1974.

3.ALLENDE, Hector Hugo Juarez. The World Customs Organization: Past, Present and Future. Tirant lo Blanch, 2020. Text published in English and French.

4.OLIVEIRA, Ludmila Mara Monteiro de. Reflections on a centenary: or Carf, past and present – ​​Revista Eletrônica Conjur, 3 sets. 2025, available in: https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-set-03/reflexoes-sobre-um-centenario-o-carf-passado-e-presente/.. As the same scope, several two articles from one year to the next two commemorative collections, initially organized by ACONCARF (OLIVEIRA, Ana Cláudia Borges de; and PURETZ, Tadeu (coord.). Coletânea 100 anos do CARF. São Paulo: NSM, 2024); ea second by group of Rio tax members (FARIA, Aline Cardoso de; ROTHSCHILD, Bianca; PRADA, Júlia Velho; BORGES, Laura Baptista; and CASANOVA, Vivian. 100 years of CARF: Tribute to Elas. Rio de Janeiro. Lumen Juris,2025).

5.It is not correct to consider that there is a truly Brazilian Customs or Tributary Direito before the Proclamation of Independence, since there are Customs and tax records since the 16th century, and it is not unknown that, in 1808, with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil, it is one “Regular Letter – opening two ports to friendly nations”, with the discipline of import tax, complemented by regulations on other taxes, as mentioned by: TREVISAN, Rosaldo. Customs Direito and Tributário Direito – Basic Distinctions. In: TREVISAN, Rosaldo (org.). Customs Direito Issues. São Paulo: Lex, 2008, p. 25-26; BALTHAZAR, Ubaldo Cesar. Tribute History in Brazil. Florianópolis: Fundação Boiteux, 2005, p. 70-73; e COSTA, Alcides Jorge. History of Tax Direito. In: FERRAZ, Roberto Catalano Botelho (coord.). Principles and Limits of Taxation. São Paulo: Quartier Latin, 2005, p. 58-59. Likewise, it would be incorrect to designate as truly Brazilian or administrative litigation raised by the Marquis of Pombal, in the Law of December 22, 1761, which dealt with simple application of Portuguese legislation in Brazil, as it was considered a colony (in colonial times, for the most part two taxes were not levied). directly, but through the intermediary of “contractors” or “arrematantes”, and, in general, the divergences between these intermediaries and the taxpayers that become the object of dispute over the suppliers, and, later, they fight together, according to: MARTINS, Ana Luísa. Fiscal Resources Administrative Council: 85 years of impartiality in the solution of fiscal litigation. Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2010, p. 41).

6.Daí have a commemorative book of 100 years of CARF dated 2024, counting the centenary of the data of creation (and not of effective installation) of the administrative tribunal (OLIVEIRA, Ana Claudia Borges de; PURETZ, Tadeu. Coletânea 100 anos do CARF. São Paulo: NSM, 2024)

7.MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 28-34.

8.MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 34.

9.MARTINS, Ana Luisa. Fiscal Resources Administrative Council: 85 years of impartiality in the solution of fiscal litigation. Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2010, p. 44.

10.MARTINS, Ana Luisa. Fiscal Resources Administrative Council: 85 years of impartiality in the solution of fiscal litigation. Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2010, p. 44.

11. MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 34.

12.MARTINS, Ana Luisa. Fiscal Resources Administrative Council: 85 years of impartiality in the solution of fiscal litigation. Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2010, p. 44.

13.MARTINS, Ana Luisa. Fiscal Resources Administrative Council: 85 years of impartiality in the solution of fiscal litigation. Rio de Janeiro: Capivara, 2010, p. 55-56.

14. In protest at the possibility of the Minister of Fazenda nomear councillors, who have collectively resigned two representatives and two contributors (MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 59-60).

15.MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 60.

16.MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 63.

17.Some decades later, in 2003, a third customs administrative procedural rite came into existence, provided for in art. 76 of Law 10.833/2003, for the application of administrative sanctions to those involved in foreign trade operations.

18.MARTINS, Ana Luísa; OLIVEIRA, Francisco Marconi de. CARF – 95 years: increasingly transparent, effective and connected. São Paulo: ALM Comunicação, 2020, p. 62.

19.The invisibility of two customs issues, hidden behind the word “tributário”, is a gradual evolution, but even hesitantly, at times, in the distinction between tributary and customs institutes is not in the Brazilian context, and cannot be drawn solely on non-contentious matters. do CARF. This is a dense topic, and one that deserves, in itself, specific articles, such as: TREVISAN, Rosaldo. Customs Direito e Tributário Direito – Basic Distinctions. In: TREVISAN, Rosaldo (org.). Current Customs Direito issues. São Paulo: Lex, 2008, p. 11-55.

20.Não é à toa que no sitio website CARF still feels like a miss “Ensure the society's impartiality and speed in the resolution of tax disputes”, and as vision “Being reconfirmed by excellence in the judgment of two tax litigationsAvailable at: https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/institucional/mapa-estrategico, where the CARF Strategic Map 2020-2023 also appears. It should be noted that in September 2024, CARF approved a new institutional miss, within the Strategic Plan 2024-2027: “Resolve tax and customs disputes in the last administrative instance with impartiality, speed and excellence, providing legal security to society.”

21.The new CARF is also the fruit of the possible balance between the tensions that have arisen between 2020 and 2023, found in the final text of Law 14.689/2023. About such law, we discuss: TREVISAN, Rosaldo. Lei nº 14.689/2023: what do we want? (customs version) – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, 26 set. 2023, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2023-set-26/territorio-aduaneiro-lei-146892023-queremos-versao-aduaneira/

22.In order to compare these three regiments, we recommend two files that appear on the site website do CARF, first comparing the regiments of 2009 and 2015 (available in https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/institucional/regimento-interno/tabela-de-para_ricarf-2015-x-2023_atualizada-ate-portaria-mf__2_04_2024-1.pdf), the second, comparing the regiment of 2015 or current year, of 2023 (https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/consultas/competencia-para-julgamento-arquivos/tabela-de-para_ricarf-2015-x-2023_atualizada-ate-portaria-mf__2_04_2024-1.pdf/view).

23.As officially announced in .

24. Contrary to the STF, which julgou very relevant and high-impact and repercussing matters in the Virtual Plenary (such as ADI 2.446, which treats the constitutionality of the sole paragraph of article 116 of the National Tax Code), or CARF does not appreciate the PV processes that deal with the requirement of tax credit of high value and complexity. These processes must be played in synchronous, in-person or hybrid sessions.

25.How we deal with: TREVISAN, Rosaldo, Seminário Carf eo papel das súmulas no Direito Aduaneiro – Revista Eletrônica Conjur, 01 out. 2024, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-out-01/seminario-carf-eo-papel-das-sumulas-no-direito-aduaneiro/

26.As highlighted in: PINTO, Fernando Brasil Oliveira de; CARDOSO, Jorge Cláudio Duarte. New Ricarf and Súmulas: news and expectations – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, Feb 07 2024, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-fev-07/novo-ricarf-e-sumulas-novidades-e-expectativas/

27. We discuss the advantages of specialization in: TREVISAN, Rosaldo, MEIRA, Liziane Angelotti; MACEDO, Leonado Correa Lima. By a specialized customs dispute, in the Customs Territory – Revista Eletrônica Conjur. 9 Jul. 2024 (available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-jul-09/por-um-contencioso-aduaneiro-especializado/). Learn about the importance of specialized jurisdiction in customs matters: BASALDÚA, Ricardo Xavier. Importance of Specialized Jurisdiction in Customs Matters: Situation in Argentina. In: TREVISAN, Rosaldo (org.). Subjects Atuais de Direito Aduaneiro II. São Paulo, Lex, 2015, p. 66-67; e LEONARDO, Fernando Pieri. Now is the time for customs specialization – Revista Eletrônica Conjur, Apr 30 2024, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-abr-30/a-hora-ea-vez-da-especializacao-aduaneira/

28.Disponível em: https://acordaos.economia.gov.br/solr/acordaos2/browse/

29.The last one, referring to August 2025, is available in: https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/dados-abertos/dados-abertos-2025/dados-abertos-gerenciais202508_v2.pdf.

30.Disponível em: https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/carf-e-fgv-assinam-contrato-de-encomenda-tecnologica-para-aprimoramento-de-ia-em-julgamentos-administrativos-fiscais

31.TREVISAN, Rosaldo, Seminário Carf eo papel das súmulas no Direito Aduaneiro – Revista Eletrônica Conjur, 01 out. 2024, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-out-01/seminario-carf-eo-papel-das-sumulas-no-direito-aduaneiro/

32.The previous miss (2020-2023), remember, was: “Ensure the society's impartiality and speed in the resolution of tax disputes".

33.Nascida na Lei n^o 10.336, dated 12/19/2001.

34. Born in Provisional Measure n^o 164/2004, converted into Law n^o 10.865, of 04/30/2004, and in the process of extinction, as provided in art. 126, II, of Constitutional Amendment No.^o 132, dated 12/20/2023.

35.Nascido na Lei n^o 4.502, of 11/30/1964, as the de facto name of “consumption tax”, and maintained, in Constitutional Amendment No.^o 132/2023 only for products that have industrialization encouraged in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, with its rate zero in other cases (art. 126, III, “a”).

36.Filhos da Amenda Constitucional n^o 132/2023, packed with Lei Complement n^o 214, dated 01/16/2025.

37.A Constitution of the Republic of the United States of Brazil, dated 07/16/1934; to the Constitution of the United States of Brazil, dated 07/16/1934; to the Constitution of the United States of Brazil, dated 09/18/1946; to the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, dated 01/24/1967 (totally altered by Constitutional Amendment No.^o 1/1969), the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, dated 05/10/1988 (current, and which already has 136 Amendments).

38.The classification of merchandisers is standardized internationally, by the World Customs Organization, recently in the International Convention on the Harmonized System of Designation and Codification of Merchandises, promulgated, in Brazil, by Decree No.^o 97.409/1988. The customs valuation, treated in a binding manner by the World Trade Organization, has not been approved by Brazil, by Decree No.^o 1.355/1994. The regional and national discipline, nesses themes, is barely residual.

39. Available in: https://www.gov.br/carf/pt-br/acesso-a-informacao/institucional/mapa-estrategico.

40. In comparison with the other six administrative tributary and customs tribunals of AITFA member countries (Ibero-American Association of Courts of Fiscal or Administrative Justice) – Argentina, Bolívia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica. Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguai, Peru, Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay – Brazil is the most complete collection of precedent searches, based on more than a thousand records. The recent customs specialization is the subject of laudatory comments in the international community, as seen in the interview of the president of the Academia Internacional de Direito Aduaneiro, Andrés Rohde Ponce, with Dr. Nora Elizabeth Urby Genel, Executive Secretary of the Council of Directors of AITFA, available at: https://aitfa.org/uncategorized/conversatorios/05-dr-andres-rohde-ponce/.

41.Estanão disponíveis no Youtube– CARF the institutional videos of the entire lectures two days 1^o e 2 de setembro, respectivamente, em: https://www.google.com/search?q=XI+Semin%C3%A1rio+CARF+de+Direito+Tribut%C3%A1rio+e+Aduaneiro&rlz=1C1GCFN_enBR1128BR1130&oq=XI+Semin%C3%A1rio+CARF+de+Direito+Tribut%C3%A1rio+e+Aduaneiro&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg80gEJMTQ4N2owajE1qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e375abb3,vid:AN6UrSM3HFg,st:0> e <https://www.google.com/search?q=XI+Semin%C3%A1rio+CARF+de+Direito+Tribut%C3%A1rio+e+Aduaneiro&rlz=1C1GCFN_enBR1128BR1130&oq=XI+Semin%C3%A1rio+CARF+de+Direito+Tribut%C3%A1rio+e+Aduaneiro&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg80gEJMTQ4N2owajE1qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a4534245,vid:cKdf4E6Ud8c,st:0

42. Among the eleven approved sums, the 3rd Seção de Julgamento competes, highlighting two that intersect the customs universe, both unanimously approved: “Each two components of the market described as “kit or concentrate for refrigerants” must be classified in its own code of TIPI, when the kit is concentrate for constituted by different raw materials and intermediate products, which as soon as the new stage of industrialization is not established by the acquirer, it becomes a compost preparation for the production of beverages” (which will receive Súmula number 236); e “A corresponding fine gives a penalty of loss, prescribed in §3º of art. 07/28/2010” (to be received or summary number 238).

43.The entire session of the tribute ceremony can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJGtDtHxpcM.

44.ALENCAR, Carlos Higino Ribeiro de; PINTO, Fernando Brasil de Oliveira; e CARDOSO, Jorge Cláudio Duarte. The new RICARF is the approval of sums: impacts and perspectives in non-contentious administrative tax. In: Tax and Customs Studies – X CARF SeminárioBrasília/DF, 2025, p. 44.

45.Theme of several columns in Conjur, as most recent: MEIRA, Liziane Angelotti. STJ topic 1.293: bom para quem? Cronos' odysseia continues… – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, June 3 2005, available in: https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-jun-03/tema-stj-1-293-bom-para-quem-a-odisseia-de-cronos-continua/; e VALLE, Maurício Timm do; TREVISAN, Rosaldo. Topic STJ 1.293 — bom para quem? – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, Apr 22 2025, available in: https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-abr-22/tema-stj-1-293-bom-para-quem/.

46.Theme of several columns in Conjur, more recently: TREVISAN, Rosaldo. Foreign Trade Law: where are you? – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, May 27 2025, available in: https://www.conjur.com.br/2025-mai-27/lei-geral-de-comercio-exterior-onde-anda-voce/.

 47. Available in: https://www25.senado.leg.br/web/atividade/materias/-/materia/154738.As highlighted in: PINTO, Fernando Brasil Oliveira de; CARDOSO, Jorge Cláudio Duarte. New Ricarf and Súmulas: news and expectations – Eletrônica Conjur Magazine, Feb 07 2024, available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2024-fev-07/novo-ricarf-e-sumulas-novidades-e-expectativas