Provisions of the Regulations of the General Customs Law and other rules related to tax benefits related to special import regimes are amended.
On October 24, 2024, Supreme Decree No. 198-2024-EF was published by which important amendments to the Regulations of the General Customs Law as well as to other rules related to customs and foreign trade operations were approved.
The entry into force of these amendments has been staggered.
Below, we will refer to the main amendments provided by Supreme Decree 198-2024-EF;
I. Regulation of the General Customs Law (Supreme Decree No. 010-2009-EF)
Modifications to the Customs Transit regime are established with the purpose of providing fluidity to the entry and exit of goods to and from the port areas, regulating the performance of the international freight forwarder, as well as the provision of guarantees in these operations.
Clarifications are made in relation to the transfer of goods to bonded warehouses and to premises considered as primary zone, regarding the possibility of requesting prior recognition of goods in cases of urgent and deferred clearance.
It is specified that in the case of customs declarations subject to early clearance subject to rectifications within 15 calendar days following the date of completion of unloading, the penalty of fine shall apply when the means of transport has already arrived and: ii) all supporting documents (commercial invoices and transport documentation) have not been submitted or have been submitted incorrectly; or ii) taxes or surcharges have not been paid.
It is provided that, for a period of 5 years: i) customs warehouses authorized to operate in Callao may also operate in the jurisdiction of the Chancay Customs Office without having an establishment in said jurisdiction; and ii) goods located in the jurisdiction of the Chancay Customs Office may be transferred to warehouses located in Callao and vice versa.
The entry into force of these changes has been scheduled for October 25, 2024, December 31, 2024 or June 30, 2025, as appropriate.
II. Table of Customs Penalties (Supreme Decree No. 418-2019-EF)
On the one hand, modifications are made in relation to the classification of offenses and the amount of customs fines contained in this Table; and, on the other hand, new cases of customs offenses are incorporated. The main changes are described below:
In these cases, the fine has been significantly reduced from double the amount of the taxes or antidumping, countervailing or safeguard duties not paid to the amount of such taxes or duties. In other words, in these cases there has been a 50% reduction of the applicable fines.
In these cases, the fines have been increased from 0.1 UIT to 0.25 UIT or from 0.2 UIT to 0.5 UIT, as appropriate.
New infringement assumptions have been introduced related to the non-transmission or incomplete transmission of supporting documentation for the numbering of the customs declaration in the established form and term.
The applicable fine amounts to 0.25 UIT, which may be reduced to 0.1 UIT in case the infraction is corrected before any requirement of the Customs Authority.
The offenders may be customs brokers, importers or beneficiaries of customs regimes.
These changes will come into effect 10 days after the publication of the rule under commentary or on June 30, 2025, as applicable.
III. Modification of Supreme Decree No. 15-94-EF (regulation on benefits of the Peruvian-Colombian Agreement – PECO) and Supreme Decree No. 103-99-EF (regulation of the law for the promotion of the Amazon).
Clarifications are established in relation to the indirect entry to the benefit zones, considering also the Chancay Customs Office for the purposes of these benefit regulations.
The entry into force of these changes is scheduled for October 25, 2024.
IV. Modification of Supreme Decree No. 029-2001-EF (regulation on requirements for the presentation of letter of guarantee under the provisions of the PECO and the law for the promotion of the Amazon).
It is specified that the letter of guarantee may also be presented to the Chancay Customs Office
The entry into force of this change is scheduled for October 25, 2024.
The reduction of the Drawback refund rate is postponed.
On October 23, 2024, Supreme Decree No. 197-2024-EF was published, by means of which the entry into force of the Second Transitory Complementary Provision of Supreme Decree No. 189-2024-EF, which provided for the progressive reduction of the drawback rate of customs duties, was postponed until July 31, 2025.
With this, the current 3% refund rate would be maintained until the aforementioned date.
The General Procedure “Transshipment” DESPA-PG-11 (Version 5) is approved.
On October 26, 2024, Superintendence Resolution No. 000217-2024/SUNAT was published, approving the new operating procedure of the Transshipment customs regime (regime that allows, under Customs control, the transfer of goods from the means of transport used for the arrival to the customs territory and load them on the means of transport used for the departure from the customs territory).
The main changes introduced are:
The procedure in question comes into effect on November 18, 2024.
Draft Resolution that modifies the regulations on Remittance Guides to improve the traceability of goods related to foreign trade operations.- By Resolution No. 000216-2024-SUNAT published on October 24, 2024, it was decided to publish, for a period of 15 calendar days, the draft Resolution of Superintendence that modifies certain articles of the rules that regulate the Remittance Guides, regarding the transfer of goods coming from abroad to certain places considered as primary customs zone and secondary zone. The purpose of this is to articulate the customs and tax procedures related to these aspects and to standardize the control over the transfer of goods.
