REPETRO-SPED: the customs regime for oil and gas.
What it is, the modalities, the suspended taxes and what changes with the Tax Reform.

What the REPETRO regime is — and what it is for

The REPETRO is the special customs regime for the export and import of goods intended for the research and extraction activities of oil and natural gas deposits. In its current form — the REPETRO-SPED — it is, at the same time, a special customs regime and a special tax regime of economic use of goods intended for the activities of exploration, development and production (E&P) of oil and gas. This is the Federal Revenue’s official definition, and it holds the key to understanding the regime: the benefit exists because the good serves the E&P activity, not because it is imported by this or that company.

It serves to relieve the oil and gas chain of the taxes that would otherwise make platforms, rigs, vessels, subsea equipment and all the exploration and production tooling more expensive. Instead of taxing the entry of the good and then arguing over credit, the REPETRO suspends the federal taxes on import or acquisition and, once the good is destined to the petroleum activity, converts the suspension into exemption and zero rate. It is a niche regime, but a weighty one: it underpins much of the economic viability of the pre-salt projects and of the new exploratory frontiers.

Classic REPETRO and REPETRO-SPED

When one speaks of “Repetro” today, one is speaking, almost always, of the REPETRO-SPED. The original regime — the classic REPETRO — was instituted by Decree 3.161/1999 (based on art. 79 of Law 9.430/1996) and, later, consolidated in the Customs Regulation (Decree 6.759/2009). It was structured on the combination of drawback, deemed export and temporary admission. That model admits no new admissions and had a deadline until 12/31/2020 for the goods not migrated. In its place came the REPETRO-SPED, born of the 2017 normative package (PM 795 → Law 13.586), which reorganized the regime around the economic use of the goods and around the digital tax bookkeeping (SPED) — hence the name.

The legal basis of REPETRO-SPED

Like the model of the New Import Process, the REPETRO-SPED does not arise from a single, isolated rule — it is a layered construction, and knowing each piece avoids confusion (and avoids citing the wrong rule in an administrative proceeding). The backbone is this:

• Law 13.586/2017 (12/28/2017) is the governing law: it results from the conversion of Provisional Measure 795/2017 (08/17/2017) and institutes the two new treatments — the definitive import with total suspension of the federal taxes (art. 5) and the REPETRO-Industrialization (art. 6).
• Decree 9.128/2017 (08/17/2017, on the same day as PM 795) amended the Customs Regulation to incorporate the definitive import with suspension and to extend the term of the regime to 2040, with effect from 01/01/2018.
• RFB IN 1.781/2017 (12/29/2017, published in the DOU on 01/02/2018) is the rule that regulates the REPETRO-SPED: it defines the modalities, the beneficiaries, the accreditation, the admissible goods (Annexes I and II) and the term of use until 12/31/2040. Not to be confused with IN 1.415/2013 (classic Repetro) or with IN 1.600/2015 (temporary admission).
• RFB IN 2.226/2024 (09/27/2024) modernized the regime to allow its grant and application through the DUIMP (Single Import Declaration), introducing art. 39-A into IN 1.781/2017 and amending SRF IN 680/2006 on the import clearance. The DUIMP becomes the instrument of admission into the regime.
• RFB IN 2.274/2025 (08/04/2025) adjusted IN 1.781/2017 to admit into the regime pipes and ducts of a natural-gas outflow pipeline in development and production activities — removing an ambiguity that stalled gas projects.

It is worth recording two points that tend to cause noise. First: 2040 is not a “pending extension” — it is the term already in force of the regime, set since the 2017 package. Second: the number of the Tax Reform law is CL 214/2025, not “CL 215”, an error that circulated in part of the legal press — the precision of the citation matters when the content aims to be a source.

The four modalities of REPETRO-SPED

The REPETRO-SPED is not a single block: it consolidates four modalities under the same framework, each designed for a different factual situation — a good that stays in the country permanently or temporarily, imported or acquired on the domestic market. RFB IN 1.781/2017 (art. 2) names them as follows:

The thread that ties the four modalities together is destination. The suspension is always conditional: it holds while the good serves E&P and consolidates into a definitive benefit when the destination is completed. If the destination is not met within the term, the suspension ceases to shelter the operation and the taxes become due again — which is why the REPETRO is, in practice, a regime of term management and proof of destination, not merely of classification at entry.

Which taxes the REPETRO suspends — and when they become exemption

The question every tax decision-maker in the sector asks is direct: which taxes does the REPETRO suspend? The answer has two stages, because the regime operates in two times — first the suspension, then the conversion into a definitive benefit. On the definitive import (Repetro-Permanent), the goods enter with suspension of Import Tax (II), IPI, PIS/Pasep-Import and Cofins-Import. Once the temporal requirement is met — five years from the registration of the import declaration, with the destination of the good to E&P activity —, the suspension converts into exemption of II and IPI and into a zero rate of PIS/Pasep, Cofins, PIS/Pasep-Import and Cofins-Import.

On the temporary admission for economic use (Repetro-Temporary without payment), the total suspension holds while the good remains in the country for economic use. The alternative modality — Repetro-Temporary with payment — collects the taxes proportionally to the time of stay, based on art. 79 of Law 9.430/1996 and on RFB IN 1.600/2015. The amount of the taxes suspended on the import is consubstantiated in a Term of Responsibility — the guarantee that, if the destination is not met, the tax credit is preserved.

A topical alert that the TaxUp team makes a point of recording, to dismantle alarmism: CL 224/2025, which imposed a linear 10% reduction of federal tax benefits, does not reach the REPETRO. The Federal Revenue itself clarified, in its Questions and Answers of January 2026, that the regime does not appear in the Statement of Tax Expenditures nor in the roll of CL 224 — and therefore is not subject to the cut. And provisional measures 1.309/2025 (Sovereign Brazil Plan) and 1.303/2025 (taxation of financial investments), which circulated in the news of 2025, do not deal with the REPETRO and, moreover, lapsed — none of them altered the legal basis of the regime, which remains Law 13.586/2017.

The ICMS in the REPETRO — Agreement 03/2018 and the 3% burden

The federal relief is only half the story. The REPETRO has a state layer — the ICMS — that most federal guides ignore, but which decides the real cost of the project. The instrument is ICMS Agreement 03/2018, approved by CONFAZ on 01/16/2018, which authorizes the States and the Federal District to grant two benefits: exemption of the ICMS on the import and acquisition of goods of temporary stay; and reduction of the calculation base on the import and acquisition of goods of definitive stay, so that the effective tax burden results in 3%, without appropriation of the corresponding credit.

There are two conditions that tend to surprise those coming to the regime. The first: the Agreement is authorizing, not mandatory — it does not apply automatically. Each State must internalize it by its own decree or law, and adherence is optional. The second: the enjoyment of the benefit is conditioned on the waiver of administrative and judicial disputes over the matter, in addition to the adoption of the SPED. Agreement 03/2018 was, further, amended by ICMS Agreement 220/2019, which dealt with the reach over the Repetro-Industrialization.

How to become accredited to REPETRO-SPED — step by step

Access to the regime is not automatic: it depends on the accreditation of the legal entity with the Federal Revenue, formalized by an Executive Declaratory Act (ADE). Before the step-by-step, two framings that define everything. First, who may become accredited: the operator (holder of a concession, authorization, assignment or production-sharing contract with the ANP), the contracted party (a legal entity based in the country, engaged by the operator in a time charter or the rendering of services, and designated by it) and the subcontracted party (also designated). A foreign company does not import directly — it needs an accredited Brazilian subsidiary. Second, the type of accreditation:

• Full accreditation: for the legal entity that performs the digital tax bookkeeping of ICMS/IPI (EFD-ICMS/IPI) in the SPED and issues NF-e — it allows the Repetro-Temporary, Repetro-Permanent and Repetro-National modalities.
• Partial accreditation: for the legal entity that does not perform EFD-ICMS/IPI nor issues NF-e — restricted to Repetro-Temporary.

Tax regularity is a strict prerequisite: a negative certificate (or a positive one with the effect of a negative) of federal taxes, FGTS current, EFD compliant, accreditation in the Radar/Siscomex, opting into the Electronic Tax Domicile (DTE) and taxation under the actual profit method (the Simples Nacional and the presumed/arbitrated profit being barred). The path is this:

1. Gather the tax-regularity and registration requirements. Secure tax certificates, FGTS, EFD compliant, NF-e issuance (for full accreditation), an active Radar, opting into the DTE and framing under the actual profit method.
2. Define the accreditation modality — full or partial. The choice depends on whether the legal entity keeps EFD-ICMS/IPI bookkeeping and issues NF-e; it delimits which modalities of the regime the company may use.
3. File the Accreditation Request by digital dossier. The process is 100% digital, paperless. Contracted and subcontracted parties require distinct dossiers and requests; the subcontracted party is only accredited if it is engaged by an already-accredited legal entity.
4. Await the analysis and the ADE. The analysis by the tax authority observes a term of 30 days; once granted, the regime is formalized by an Executive Declaratory Act, indicating the full or partial modality, valid throughout the customs territory until 12/31/2040.
5. Classify the goods of Annexes I and II. Admit only the principal goods listed in Annexes I and II of IN 1.781/2017 (plus parts/pieces and maintenance tools). Observe the minimum unit value rule (goods of value above US$ 25,000 in the admission control), from which the pipes listed in Annex II are excepted.
6. Admit the goods into the regime — today, via DUIMP. With RFB IN 2.226/2024 (art. 39-A), the admission came to be made through the DUIMP; the extension/change of the term may be made by rectification of an attribute of the declaration itself, granted automatically after registration.

What the REPETRO-Industrialization is

The REPETRO-Industrialization is the regime that allows the domestic industry to import or acquire on the domestic market, with suspension of the taxes, the raw materials, intermediate products and packaging materials used in the manufacture of final products intended for the oil and gas chain. While the REPETRO-SPED looks at the economic use of the final goods by the E&P operator and its contracted parties, the REPETRO-Industrialization looks one link earlier: at the domestic manufacturer that produces those goods. It is the instrument that relieves the Brazilian production of the sector’s equipment and inputs — and connects the domestic industry to the operator’s regime.

The legal basis is its own: art. 6 of Law 13.586/2017, Decree 9.537/2018 and RFB IN 1.901/2019 (published in the DOU on 07/19/2019). On the taxes, the design mirrors that of the main regime: on the domestic market, suspension of IPI, PIS/Pasep and Cofins; on the import, suspension of II, IPI, PIS/Pasep-Import and Cofins-Import. The suspension is in force for 1 (one) year, automatically extendable for an equal period, with the extension admitted for companies of a long manufacturing cycle, without exceeding a total of 5 (five) years. Once the destination of the final product to E&P activities is effected, the suspension converts into exemption (II/IPI) and zero rate (PIS/Cofins).

A caveat on classification is warranted, because the Federal Revenue itself oscillates on the point: the “Introduction to the Repetro-Sped” sometimes lists the REPETRO-Industrialization among the modalities of the consolidated framework, and sometimes the official material treats it as a regime of its own, of a distinct legal basis (Decree 9.537/2018 and IN 1.901/2019, and not IN 1.781/2017). Both framings appear in official documents — so the most precise course is to describe it as a complementary link of the same chain, without categorically asserting that it “is” or “is not” a modality of the Repetro-Sped. What does not change is the function: REPETRO-SPED, REPETRO-Industrialization and REPETRO-National are complementary pieces — not competing regimes — of one and the same relief mechanism.

The REPETRO in the Tax Reform — art. 93 of CL 214/2025

The question that most drives searches by tax decision-makers in 2026 is short: does the Tax Reform end the REPETRO? The answer is no. Complementary Law 214/2025 (01/16/2025), which regulates the Reform (Constitutional Amendment 132/2023), chose to preserve the logic of the special regimes during the transition — and created, in its art. 93, a new special customs regime for oil and gas under the new taxes. The mechanics are the same the sector already knows: suspension of the IBS and the CBS on the imports and domestic acquisitions of goods linked to the E&P chain, which converts into a zero rate once the destination requirements are met.

Art. 93 organizes the regime into six modalities: Repetro-Temporary (item I); GNL-Temporary, for regasification (item II); Repetro-Permanent, with conversion into a zero rate after five years (item III); Repetro-Industrialization, for intermediate and final goods (items IV-V); and Repetro-Warehouse, for conversions and constructions ordered abroad (item VI). The goods must fulfill the destination within 3 (three) years, under penalty of the suspended taxes becoming due with a fine and interest. And the horizon is the same as that of the classic regime: §8 of art. 93 limits the IBS/CBS suspensions until 12/31/2040.

There is, further, a horizon ahead: Bill 4.423/2024, the so-called new General Customs Law, proposes to treat the REPETRO systematically (art. 151), with six named modalities, and confirms its validity until 12/31/2040. It is a bill — not yet converted —, so it serves as a trend to follow, never as a rule in force. The firm monitors its progress to anticipate impacts, but the content that guides decision-making today is anchored in what is in force: Law 13.586/2017, IN 1.781/2017 and art. 93 of CL 214/2025.

Irregularity in the regime: forfeiture goes to the CEJUL, not the CARF

A point of high legal value, and frequently overlooked, separates two disputes that many people confuse. Tax divergences in the REPETRO — over classification, valuation, framing of a modality — proceed to the tax administrative litigation, with an outcome at the CARF. But the irregularities that give rise to forfeiture of the good (a customs infraction, not a tax one) proceed along another track.

Since Law 14.651/2023 (08/24/2023), the litigation of customs forfeiture gained a two-tier appeal and came to be judged by the CEJUL — Center for the Judgment of Customs Penalties (instituted by MF Ordinance 1.005/2023), and not by the CARF. The term for an appeal to the second instance is 20 days. The change aligns Brazil with the Revised Kyoto Convention (WCO) and the Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO). For the REPETRO, the consequence is practical: an irregularity in the admission or in the application of the regime that results in a forfeiture proposal is defended at the CEJUL — and the technical defense must know this rite, distinct from the tax one.

How the firm acts — from classification to the Reform

Eligibility diagnosis and choice of modality

The TaxUp team’s starting point is the classification: is the good permanent or temporary? imported or national? From that reading comes the correct modality (Repetro-Permanent, Temporary or National) and the tax design of each operation — because the wrong choice at entry costs dearly at exit, when the destination must be proven. The diagnosis cross-checks the nature of the good, the charter/services contract, Annexes I and II of IN 1.781/2017 and the unit-value rule.

Accreditation and ICMS relief

The executive front is the accreditation — full or partial —, from the survey of tax regularity to the digital dossier and the ADE, with attention to the distinct requests of the contracted and subcontracted parties. In parallel, the ICMS relief: verification of the internalization of Agreement 03/2018 in the State of the operation (in RJ, Law 8.890/2020), of the conditions of enjoyment and of the required waiver — the state layer that defines the real cost of the project.

Regime management and litigation

In the day-to-day, the work is one of governance of terms and proof of destination: monitoring the conversion of the suspension into exemption/zero rate, managing the extensions tied to the contract and to the 2040 limit, and the hypotheses of termination (re-export, export, clearance for consumption, destruction or reversion of the goods to the Union at the end of the concession/sharing). When a divergence arises — tax, at the CARF, or forfeiture, at the CEJUL —, the firm conducts the technical defense in the rite proper to each.

The Reform layer and customs valuation

The structural decision of this window is to cross the transition without losing a benefit in any layer: to align the classic REPETRO-SPED (II/IPI/PIS/Cofins) with the new IBS/CBS regime of art. 93 of CL 214/2025, and to monitor the infra-legal regulation and the progress of the new General Customs Law. In operations with related parties, add the interface with customs valuation and transfer pricing in defining the calculation base. The Customs Law pillar gathers the neighboring pieces of this mechanism — from RECOF to the bonded warehouse, from drawback to the special customs regimes — all relevant to those operating in the oil and gas chain.