Bill of Supreme Executive Order amending the Regulation of the General Customs Act is published. On June 13, 2019, Ministerial Order No. 231-2019-EF was published, whereby it provided that the bill of Supreme Executive Order amending the Regulation of the General Customs Act shall be published.
As is remembered, some months ago important amendments to the General Customs Act were included. These amendments mean a new comprehensive reform of the Peruvian Customs system, including, among others, new standards in which—on one hand—Customs Authority will relate to operators and—on the other hand—operators will relate themselves.
All this involves the creation of a new obligation scheme, as well as the establishment of a new violation and sanction schedule. These may significantly impact on both operating and logistics cost level related to foreign trade operations, and the creation of contingencies that shall be avoided or mitigated by monitoring and timely alert systems duly updated.
Among the important amendments proposed at a regulatory level, the following are of particular interest:
– Clarifications are provided with regard to obligations to be comply with different operators (importers, exporters, customs agents, customs warehouses, port and airport operators, etc.)
– Clarifications are provided with regard to foreign trade operator classification (classes A, B and C) being determined by virtue of its obligation compliance level and the service rendering quality. For this, the number of violations to be determined is taken into consideration, as well as indicators such as the number of rectifications submitted to, complaints and claims registered on the webpage of the Customs Authority, etc.
Additionally, it is set forth that operators to be qualified under Class C shall not being entitled to renewal of authorization to operate.
– Clarifications are provided with regard to the use of customs guarantees (general and specific), as well as obligations being covered under these guarantees, the sum being granted thereunder, etc. Moreover, it is provided that the surety bond (issued by insurance companies) as a type of guarantee for foreign trade operators shall be struck therefrom.
– It is proposed to establish as an obligation of the Customs Representative and the Customs Clearance Assistant (in the event of Customs Agents) to hold a “certification of university studies”. Likewise, it is proposed to insert the requirement to renew the Customs Representative Authorization every 5 years.
– Clarifications are provided with regard to export shipments, as well as regularization of export declarations that are even extended so such regularization would be approved (good with no definite value), and control actions based on risk management applied to such operations.
– Clarifications are provided with regard to sample collection, especially of those goods that, by their nature, require a greater identification to determine their custom tariff classification or value.
– Guidelines are established in order to impose sanctions considering aspects such as severity of damage or caused economic loss, existence or non-existence of violator’s intention, voluntary infringing conduct rectification, recidivism, etc.
– It is confirmed the derogation of Incentives Schedule for penalty payment in compliance with the General Customs Act.
– It is proposed to set aside the Good Taxpayer Schedule for beneficiaries of the Temporary Admission for Re-Export in the Same Estate and Temporary Admission of Goods for Active Inward Processing.
On this basis, the Supreme Executive Order amending the Regulation of the General Customs Act is expected to be finally enacted within the next weeks.
Amendment to the scope of the discretionary power to not determine nor sanction violations set forth in the General Customs Act applicable to foreign trade operators is approved. On June 29, 2019, Deputy National Customs Superintendency’s Order No. 013-2019/SUNAT/300000 was published. This Order provides for amending the Deputy National Customs Superintendency’s Order No. 003-2019/SUNAT/300000, whereby the exercise of the discretionary power that the Customs Authority is entitled to not determine nor sanction certain violations committed from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 by foreign trade operators and international port, airport or bus terminal managers or concessionaires was authorized thereby.
This measure is justified taking into consideration the fact that the proper customs systems have had to be revised and updated in terms of data handling of security seals, transmission of goods receipt, etc. Thus, it is understood that inconsistencies in customs systems cannot cause damage to foreign trade operators.
Therefore, on this basis, the Customs Authority shall exercise its discretionary power to not determine nor sanction the following violations below set forth in the General Customs Act, Section 192 being committed from January 1, 2019 to December 30, 2019:
Amendment to the General Procedure “Replacement of Duty-Free Goods”. The customs scheme of “Replacement of Duty-Free Goods” constitutes a mechanism to benefit producers/exporters, which the replacement of their stocks (inputs and raw materials) may be exempted from payment of import taxes and, consequently, reduce costs thereof. This mechanism is based on the use of Certificates of Replacement issued by the Customs Authority.
On the basis of the above, the Superintendency’s Order No. 128-2019/SUNAT was published on June 22, 2019, whereby the General Procedure “Replacement of Duty-Free Goods” DESPA-PG.10 (version 4) is amended.
These amendments are related basically to the administrative simplification of the Certificate of Replacement of duty-free goods, and registration improvement of the current account when the quantity of goods to be replace varies after a physical inspection.
Approval of discretionary power to not determine nor sanction violations set forth in the General Customs Act applicable to operators of materials for aeronautical use. On June 24, 2019, Deputy National Customs Superintendency’s Order No. 011-2019/SUNAT/300000 was published. This Order authorizes, for a term of five (5) months, the exercise of the discretionary power to not determine nor sanction violations committed by the beneficiary of materials for aeronautical use set forth in the General Customs Act, Section 192, Subsection 1(j): “Do not keep or communicate to the Customs Administration the automated input/output registry of goods from warehouse of materials for aeronautical use.”
For the execution of such discretional power, this regulation being matters of comments hereon provides that the following conditions must be comply therewith:
This measure is based on the fact that as of June 28, 2019, and as a consequence of the implementation of the new delivery process of materials for aeronautical use within the frame of the Project component of FAST Program Output Processes, communications of Aeronautical Material Deposit (DMA) Input Statement are recorded in the platform of the Customs Clearance System (SDA), while DMA Output operations will keep being recorded in the Integrated Customs Management System (SIGAD) up to the last semester of this year.
This situation is, precisely, such that may create inconsistencies in DMA goods input/output operations reports resulting, therefore, no imposition of sanctions derived from inconsistencies in customs systems being justified.
By virtue of Supreme Executive Order No. 018-2018-EF published on February 6, 2018, it is provided that “Frequent Importer” category is set aside as of July 1, 2019.
As we know, being qualified under this category having been widely used by import sector, observations (“reasonable doubts”) by different import clearance offices—main cause of delays and generation of cost overruns in these operations—were avoided.
Thus, declared value reviews were being performed based on later oversight processes in a more programmatic and organized manner both for importers and the Customs Authority itself.
Considering that, to date, “Frequent Importer” category has been set aside and; therefore, importers who were qualified as such would have already lost the aforementioned benefits. It would be advisable for import sector in general to evaluate the access to the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certification. Importers holding AEO certification will not only keep enjoying the same benefits as a “Frequent Importer”, but will also access to another kind of benefits like the use of global nominal guarantees, shorter formalities terms, etc. that will impact directly on the efficiency of their import operations and cost reductions.
