Latin America
The legal source of Customs Law in Argentina is found in the Customs Code, sanctioned by National Law number 22,415, on March 2, 1981. It consists of a total of 16 sections and since its creation to the present it has been modified many times by decrees, laws, resolutions, etc. Until now, its most notable modification is Decree 1001/82 signed by Galtieri.
In Section I, Title I of the Code, which established the subjects of the customs service, a process of change began in 1996, when it was decided to merge Customs with the General Tax Directorate (DGI). Decree 618/1997 under the presidency of Menem, formally begins the merger of the General Tax Directorate (DGI) with the National Customs Administration (ANA), resulting in the current Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) in October 1996, said body that controls and supervises Customs operations in Argentine territory.
Likewise, the Federal Administration of Public Revenue distinguishes its areas into two: the General Tax Directorate (DGI) and the General Customs Directorate (DGA).
The changes were:
Continuing with Section I, Title II establishes the Commerce and Customs Service Auxiliaries: customs brokers and customs transport agents.
Title III speaks of importers and exporters and Title IV of other subjects.
In Section II we have the Control regulations, in Section III the Import, in IV the Export and in V the Common Provisions for Import and Export. In Section VIII there are the prohibitions on Import and Export, in Section IX the Taxes that govern, in Section X the Export Incentives.
Customs brokers and consignees are visible persons with a license to clear who act as auxiliary agents of trade and the customs service. They are the agents in charge of carrying out the classification of the merchandise, the corresponding customs declaration, the preparation and processing of the documents required for all foreign trade operations. The customs broker operates on behalf of the importing/exporting company or the person or entity that hires him for this purpose.
The Customs Code establishes that "Art. 36, 1. Customs brokers are persons of visible existence who, under the conditions provided for in this code, carry out on behalf of others before the customs service procedures and procedures related to import, export and other customs operations.
- Customs brokers are auxiliary agents of commerce and the customs service."
And Art. 37 tells us that "1. Persons of visible existence may only manage the clearance and destination of merchandise before customs, with the intervention of the customs broker, with the exception of the functions that this Code provides for customs transport agents and those powers inherent to the quality of ship captain, aircraft commander or, in general, driver of other means of transport.
- Notwithstanding the provisions of the first section, the intervention of the customs broker may be dispensed with when the procedure is carried out before Customs personally by the importer or exporter. (With people of ideal existence: Decree 1160/96)
- Persons of ideal existence may manage the dispatch and destination of merchandise, on their own or through an authorized person, under the conditions and requirements established by the regulations."
That is, Customs Brokers are generally used due to the number of procedures that must be carried out before the Federal Administration of Public Revenue.
The María Information System (SIM) is the official system of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue for the Argentine Customs and they deliver it completely free of charge, you just have to request it. It has a computer architecture from the 1980s because it arises from an agreement between French customs and Argentina (it is based on the French SOFIX system) and combines databases, records, visualizations and electronic declarations that customs uses to carry out the control and statistics of import declarations and exports.
The records made in the SIM are sworn or summary statements and the data included must be supported by the corresponding documentation in order to avoid large penalties and damages.
The SIM is essential to carry out both Export and Import operations within Argentina, indicating the officialization date period, registration customs, country of origin and provenance, entry route, status of the merchandise and tariff position, among other data.
Another of its functions is to be a statistical source; INDEC bases its Argentine foreign trade figures on this system.
So that everyone can access the SIM, all Customs have Public Centers to operate with the system.
Customs Law in Chile finds its legal sources in the Customs Ordinance (Decree with force of Law No. 30 of 2005) and its respective regulations, this being the fundamental legal system that regulates the supervisory function of the National Customs Service of Chile, in relation to the international traffic of goods, both for the purposes of tax collection and, equally, to ensure due compliance with the international agreements and treaties that Chile has signed with different states. In turn, it regulates institutions such as "Customs" and its organization; "customs destinations" and its various species; "customs agents", etc. Another legal body of vital importance for international trade in goods is the "Compendium of Customs Standards" established by the National Director of Customs through Resolution No. 1,300 of 2006, which constitutes an instruction manual for the application of customs legislation in Chile which instructs all those involved in Chilean foreign trade on the necessary mechanisms for the correct application of customs legislation.
"Customs destination") is defined by the Customs Ordinance in its article 71, which reads: "Customs destination is understood as the manifestation of the will of the owner, consignor or consignees") that indicates the customs regime that must be given to merchandise entering or leaving the national territory." Customs regimes are classified into two large groups:
1) Entry of Goods: Import - Import via postal service - Temporary Admission - Temporary Admission for Active Processing - Private Warehouse - Re-entry - Transit - Transshipment - Redestination - Ranch - Supply - Cabotage.
2) Exit of Goods: Export - Temporary Exit - Temporary Exit for Active Processing - Re-export.
It is an exchange rate used for foreign trade operations in Chile; for example for the calculation of import duties and taxes.
This exchange rate is set jointly with the Central Bank and the National Customs Service, taking the dollar observed on the penultimate business day of the month and this will become the customs dollar of the following month.
The customs agent") is defined by the Customs Ordinance in its article 195, which states: "The customs agent is an auxiliary professional of the customs public function, whose license enables him before Customs to provide services to third parties as a manager in the clearance of goods. These dispatchers will have the character of ministers of faith in that Customs may be certain that the data they record in the declarations they make in the relevant clearance documents, even if it is a settlement of customs charges, are in accordance with the background that they must legally serve as a basis.". Article 200 of the Customs Ordinance also provides: "Customs Agents are civilly and administratively responsible for any action or omission willful or negligent that harms or may harm the interests of the treasury or that is contrary to the best service of the State or that which they must provide to their clients." Finally, article 201 of the Customs Ordinance establishes the duties and obligations of the Customs Agent.
Chilean customs legislation is characterized by containing modern, systematized and agreed legal rules, which has allowed Chile to be the country with the largest number of current international trade agreements signed with economic areas that represent close to 90% of the world's population, which gives it preferential access to almost the entire world market for goods and services.[6].
Customs Law in Mexico regulates the entry and exit of foreign trade merchandise to and from the country; We have its constitutional foundation in articles 31 section IV, 49, 89 section XIII, 117, 118 and 131 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; The laws applicable to the matter are: the Customs Law and its regulations, the Law of General Import and Export Taxes (which contains the tariff of said Law), and the Foreign Trade Law and its Regulations; In addition, there are other legal provisions that regulate and tax merchandise, such as the Federal Tax Code, the VAT Law, the Special Tax Law on Production and Services and the Federal Law of Rights, among other laws.
In Mexico, the General Customs Administration depends on the Head of the Tax Administration Service (SAT) and this, in turn, is a deconcentrated body of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. The head of customs is the General Customs Administrator (AGA), to whom the Central administrations and the country's 49 customs offices depend.
Mexico is currently a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
The Customs Law contains 6 different customs regimes: A. Definitive, B. Temporary, C. Fiscal Warehouse, D. Transit of Goods, E. Preparation, transformation or repair in a controlled area and, F. Strategic controlled area.[7].
The Regulations of the Customs Law were published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on April 20, 2015, during the government of former president of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto; This regulation was approved by the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union together with the General Secretariat and the Secretariat of Parliamentary Services.[8] It functions as an auxiliary for the Tax Administration Service (SAT), which is exclusively in charge of the direction, organization and operation of the customs and inspection services, to apply and ensure compliance with the legal regulations that regulate the entry and exit of goods from the national territory.[9].
In Mexican customs law, several rules and regulations converge, among which we can mention: the international trade treaties and agreements to which Mexico is a part, as well as the different provisions, among which we can mention the Rules related to foreign trade, issued by the Tax Administration Service (SAT) as well as by the Ministry of Economy and other regulations regarding Non-tariff Regulations and restrictions.
To import to Mexico it is necessary to know the applicable tariff and the non-tariff restrictions and regulations to which the goods are subject (RyRNA). In addition, you must be previously registered in the register of importers and, where applicable, in the register of specific sectors (Annex 10 of the General Foreign Trade Rules). In almost all cases it is required to hire the services of a Customs Agent, although there is "direct dispatch" through company representatives.
Customs Law in Peru is regulated by a series of legal provisions, its axis being the General Customs Law, approved by Legislative Decree 1053, issued in order to comply with the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Another important norm is the Customs Crimes Law (Law 28008) that regulates the customs crimes of Smuggling and Income Fraud.
In Peru, although the antecedents of Customs are found in the Royal Organization of Alacabala and Almojarifazgo, created by Viceroy Amat in 1772 (as part of the Bourbon Reforms), the first General Customs Law dates from 1926 (Code of Customs Procedures) which was praised by the North American Mission Kemmerer, which evaluated Peruvian institutions during the Government of Augusto B. Leguia (1919-1930) and which was in force for almost half a century, later it was governed by Decree Law 20165 (1973), repealed by Legislative Decree 503 (1988), this in turn by Legislative Decree 722 (1992) and this by Legislative Decree 809 (1996). The General Customs Law, approved by Legislative Decree 1053, is the sixth law in Peruvian customs history and has undergone several modifications, the last of them this year with Legislative Decree 1433.[10].
The customs legal relationship is established according to article 1 of the Law between the customs administration and foreign trade operators.
Since 2003, the Customs Administration in Peru has been in charge of the National Superintendency of Tax Administration -SUNAT and since October 2010 it has been fulfilling its functions by implementing new customs clearance procedures, which from now on will be developed through advance clearance upon arrival of the merchandise, allowing the importer to guarantee their customs taxes (including anti-dumping or compensatory duties, safeguards, etc.); in order to obtain release (authorization to dispose of your merchandise) from the Port Terminal") or Air Cargo Terminal") within a period of no more than 48 hours.
Article 47 of the General Customs Law states that goods that enter or leave the customs territory through the customs of the Republic must be subject to the customs regimes indicated in said section, excepting only “Goods subject to treaties or agreements signed by Peru (which) are governed by the provisions of them.”
In our country, the previous Law defined Regimes as “treatment applicable to goods that are under customs authority and that, depending on the nature and purposes of the operation, may be definitive, suspensive, temporary or perfecting.” This Law does not define them but does not share the previous classification of the regimes, therefore, the previous definition does not fit with the current concept of regimes, however the Andean community standard - applicable in Peru - does do so in article 2 of Decision 671 of the CAN according to which Customs Regime "is the customs destination applicable to the goods, requested by the declarant", a broad concept that does cover all the regimes contemplated in the Law and that establishes the conceptual identity between Regime and destination.
Currently the classification of the regimes is contained in article 59 of the Regulation, which establishes that "the customs regimes are the following: Import (Import for consumption; Re-import in the same state and Temporary admission for re-export in the same state), Export (Definitive export; and Temporary export for re-import in the same state). Processing (Temporary admission for active processing; Temporary export for passive processing; Drawback; and Replacement of goods with tariff exemption). Warehousing (Customs warehouse) and Transit (Customs transit, Transshipment, Reshipment); and Other customs or exception regimes (such as baggage, courier, border traffic, duty free and ship ranching (article 98 of the Law).[11].
The duties, rights and responsibilities of customs agents in Peru are stipulated in the General Customs Law, customs agents are natural or legal persons authorized by the Customs Administration to provide services to third parties, in all types of customs procedures for customs destination. To access the title of Customs Agent, you must pass a one-year course at the National Customs School.
In Peru, customs brokers can be not only customs agents but also postal service and express delivery companies, transporters for transit regimes and importers themselves if they have authorization from SUNAT.
Customs dollar, Source: Ervin Hernández customs agency.