Doing Business In Argentina

3/4/2008
Goods covered by Decree 732/72 "Science, Art, Technical and Human Health",
and donations covered by Law 23.871, Article 17.
If you are interested in finding out if your product requires an import license, please
contact the U.S. Commercial Service in Buenos Aires at
Buenos.Aires.Office.Box@mail.doc.gov.
To receive customs clearance, the application form must be registered with the Under
Secretariat of Foreign Trade Management at the Secretariat of Industry, Commerce, and
Small & Medium-Size Enterprises (SMEs). As a rule, approval takes 48 hours for both
air and maritime shipments. However, for imports of sensitive products, subject to
monitoring, the procedure may take up to ten days. If the Under Secretariat does not
reply within the specified ten-day timeframe, the importation is considered automatically
approved. This procedure is considered an automatic system of authorization, and it
complies with the WTO. Neither importers nor exporters must pay a fee for this license,
which is valid for 60 days from the approval date. Only clean and complete original
copies are accepted; corrections, manual markings, edits or additions will result in nonacceptance.
If discrepancies exist between this form and other relevant customs
documentation, the Under Secretariat will not authorize the required license, and the
registration process must be restarted. Each Harmonized Schedule (HS) Code; i.e.
each distinct product, must be covered by a separate form.
Documentation Requirements and Restrictions
In 1997 the Argentine government put in place greater certificate of origin and
consularization requirements on a broad range of imports generally covering but not
limited to consumer goods, textiles, apparel and footwear, printing machines, and
machine tools.
Import/Export Documentation
Maritime Shipments
The following documents are required for all maritime shipments, regardless of value:
Commercial invoice (original and three copies)
Bill of lading (minimum of one negotiable copy for customs purposes)
Packing list (not generally required for bulk commodities or for articles that are
identical in kind, characteristics, composition, weight, etc.)
Insurance certificate (if insurance coverage is purchased by the exporter)
Air Cargo Shipments
These documents are always required for air cargo shipments, regardless of value:
Commercial invoice (original and three copies)
Airway bill (number of copies depends on requirements of the importer and of the
airline used)
Packing list.