Today, after the pandemic, the world has launched into an increase in trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) has strengthened the need for trade facilitation. Contrary to all this, Argentina has stagnated in a process that has resulted in the current maelstrom, leading to the lack of foreign currency generating constant, almost daily changes in measures, and exposing a total lack of legal security, which leads us to place ourselves in the limitation of the exercise of international trade.
Changes upon changes
SIMI was not enough, and in October 2022 the system for filing declarations was modified, moving to the SIRA regime (Argentine Republic Import System). This measure was intended to improve the management of import license approvals. But in practice, it has only created a limitation for the universe of those who intend to import.
In addition, the number of goods included in the LNA was expanded, leading to the need for non-tariff measures for almost 90% of the universe of goods.
Then, a projection of imports and exports was required, demonstrating exportable balances and a certificate of increased exports.
All these measures, aggravated over time and sustained, some through variable provisions in short periods or by simple discretionary action of the authorities, have led the industrial sector to suffer consequences that are impossible to maintain and this is observed through the drop in approvals of import licenses, a situation referred to by the Argentine Chamber of Services and Commerce (CAC), in its annual summary.
Evidently, the requests through the Chambers, the queries through the web media of the State Secretariats and the submission of complaints to the authorities have not led to the improvement of a situation that is becoming unsustainable, given the silence of the citizens in response to these requests.
Added to this is the insertion of the BCRA, which, through its complex and difficult regulations, has imposed a system that, ultimately, prevents all payments abroad, making the achievement of crossing this invisible border and generating the payment due to the supplier an “impossible mission”.
Romanized Argentina
It is well known that every person has the ability and capacity to acquire rights and exercise them. The Romans did not recognize this capacity in a broad way, but rather regulated it strictly, subordinating it to the ambition of the people, according to the states of liberty, citizenship and family. Thus, in ancient Rome, for the exercise of these rights, norms were dictated on the acquisition and use of property and on legal relations between the inhabitants of Rome. Within a broad freedom of action, they only recognized as effective rights those that were protected by actions, that is, by the possibility of being alleged and recognized in trials in accordance with the laws of the Roman state and the jurisdiction of its officials.
In this Romanized Argentina, so many measures have been imposed that have turned the exercise of a right, such as trade, into a
international, in a capacity limited to the discretion of the decisions that can be observed depending on the space of
time and subject, despite the due fulfillment of the rites established for the achievement of the acquisition of a good from abroad.
It should only be noted that, among the variables measured, many tariff items first became conditioned with
additional licenses, then they patched exceptions and put in others, then they removed the capital goods exceptions.
Later, they set a single annual quota for advance payments (for factories, they were a little scarce) and so the
communications. They demanded MEP dollars (more expensive) but to be used in times that set a wait of 90 days, which was then
became 180 days, and in different cases, they circulated towards an indefinite state.
While some time ago, we looked at the sky after making a SIRA official, praying for it to be approved, today, and with the emergence of a flood of communications from the Central Bank, it has come to the point that the SIRA is not a sensitive situation in the channel of being able to transit through foreign trade. Indeed, even if everything is in order, inconsistencies and bank rejections will have to be overcome, serving for any denial the phrase, already part of the sector: “Right of admission or CCUCE”.
These limitations were not enough, and the impossibility of paying import freight in collect mode or to collect at destination was added, establishing that the loads should be prepaid. The measure was applied in the middle of the execution of the transfers, which caused the shipping companies to change the payment condition of negotiations closed with the merchandise on the water, with its consequent effect of uncontrolled SIRASE loads and everything that implies being unable to pay, no longer in relation to the merchandise, but to the freight itself.
All these decisions have resulted in a multiplicity of exchange rates, which could even be considered illegal if we observe the differential effects it generates in tax, commercial and social matters.
With the course of these different measures, changing in order to further worsen the situation of impediment to the exercise of international trade, it can be observed that it has not resulted in an improvement in the economy, nor made possible the safeguarding of foreign currency, nor increased the flow of reserves. As the Accountant Luis Ricardo Demarco, in his note “Foreign exchange restrictions without rules” - published in Customs News-, “As a reminder, we point out that on the Friday before the 2019 PASO, the BCRA reserves were USD 66.309 million and currently, as of 19/07/2023, they are USD 25.762 million, meaning that the exchange and para-exchange regulations are not effective in maintaining foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic. On the other hand, specialists consider that during the last year, debts for import payments amounting to almost USD 14.900 million have accumulated.”
Conclusion
The foundations that gave birth to our nation are based on free trade and this means the right to exercise it, a legacy that is maintained and the world follows. The aim is to strengthen free trade, making it possible to move towards greater and more effective international trade. These premises are based not only on the World Trade Organization, but also on the World Customs Organization itself.
Therefore, all these actions that lead from the State, through its different agencies, to limit trade (in a behavior almost identical to the scheme of that ancient Rome) are the result of administrations that have not been able to act with the commitment to generate long-term investment systems for industries, navigable waterways and communication routes, efficient ports, and transparent customs.
Soon we will be at the beginning of the path to electing new leaders, and so I ask myself: is maintaining hope for a change motivated by a new government administration perhaps comparable to the illusion of a child who awaits a promised gift?
Two hundred years have passed since the legacy left by those men and women who started our nation, and it seems like a long time to continue going through patterns that reflect the lack of maturity that the country should have. One of the bases on which every nation must be based is legal security, which cannot be abandoned even in the face of an emergency situation.
Graduate in Foreign Trade (Universidad de la Marina Mercante), customs broker and customs transport agent. She works as a professor at the University of Belgrano and CAECE.