Brazil Opens the Export Door: ANVISA Authorizes Medicinal Cannabis IFA Exports Under RDC 1.023/2026

What does Brazil’s new cannabis export rule mean for producers?

Brazil has opened its first legal pathway to export domestically produced medicinal cannabis. On 13 May 2026, ANVISA published RDC 1.023/2026, authorizing the export of active pharmaceutical ingredients (IFAs) and derived cannabis products manufactured in Brazil, and on 7 June 2026 it aligned the national controlled-substances list to match. For Brazilian producers, that converts a domestic-only market into a genuine export opportunity.

What Happened

Brazil’s health regulator, ANVISA, has published RDC 1.023/2026, a resolution that for the first time authorizes the export of active pharmaceutical ingredients (IFAs) and derived products of medicinal cannabis manufactured in Brazil. The resolution, published on 13 May 2026, also sets rules for labelling, dispensation, and product classification. At its 7th Collegiate Board meeting on 7 June 2026, ANVISA approved a complementary update to Annex I of Portaria SVS/MS nº 344/1998, the controlled-substances list, aligning it with the framework approved earlier this year.

This caps a rapid regulatory overhaul. In early 2026, ANVISA approved RDC 1.015/2026, which replaced the long-standing RDC 327/2019 that had governed manufacture and import of cannabis products since 2019. The new rules modernise the entire chain, from production through to international trade.

Brazil’s 2026 Cannabis Regulatory Updates at a Glance

Why It Matters to You

Until now, Brazil was structurally an import market: RDC 327/2019 allowed manufacture and import, but offered no clear path to export domestically produced cannabis ingredients. RDC 1.023/2026 changes the commercial logic. Brazilian producers and manufacturers can now position themselves as suppliers to the international pharmaceutical market, not just servicers of domestic patient demand.

ANVISA frames this explicitly as industrial policy: strengthening the IFA production chain to support Brazil’s international insertion and improve the trade balance and competitiveness of the national pharmaceutical sector. For operators with cultivation and processing capacity in Brazil, that is a direct invitation to build export-grade quality systems and pursue overseas contracts.

What You Should Do

1. Read RDC 1.023/2026 and RDC 1.015/2026 in full, and confirm where your licence and product classifications fall under the new framework.
2. Map the labelling, dispensation, and classification requirements to your current SOPs, and close any gaps before they affect a shipment.
3. If export is on your roadmap, begin building the batch records, certificates of analysis, and traceability documentation that destination markets (for example EU-GMP buyers) will demand.
4. Reconcile your controlled-substances handling against the updated Annex I of Portaria SVS/MS nº 344/1998.

How GrowerIQ Can Help

GrowerIQ’s seed-to-sale platform captures the cultivation, processing, and quality data that export compliance depends on, from batch-level traceability to the certificates and records international buyers expect. As Brazil’s producers move from a domestic footing to an export footing, having a single source of truth for every plant, batch, and IFA lot is what turns a new regulation into a shippable opportunity.

Sources

• ANVISA: Anvisa alinha normas a regras de cannabis aprovada em janeiro
• Congresso em Foco: Anvisa aprova exportação de cannabis medicinal produzida no Brasil
• Medicina S/A: Novo marco regulatório da Anvisa para cannabis medicinal

Last updated: June 2026