The Chilean government reported an increase in the import of medical supplies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released this Friday (17.04.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX).
On March 26, the National Customs Service and the Public Health Institute (ISP) of Chile implemented a series of measures to collaborate with the national and global contingency caused by the advance of Covid-19.
This involved the issuance of Resolution No. 1.313, which allows preferential processing and without a limit on the amounts of critical medical supplies that are imported for the prevention and control of Coronavirus, for which a list of specific tariff codes was drawn up and they were even given a special code to be able to identify them more quickly.
Three weeks after implementing these measures, the institutions and companies accredited by the ISP to carry out this type of imports have More than US$12 worth of products have entered Chile –until April 101.274.361– corresponding to almost 100 tariff codes (unique number used to identify goods throughout the world).
For the January-March period, the figure exceeded US$439 million.
Within Critical supplies entered Chile which showed a more significant increase from March 26 to April 12 (compared to the same period in 2019), are the masks, whose import grew by 3384%; blood collection bags increased by 703%; cardiac monitors by 329,6%; vaccines for use in medicine by 292,4%; mercury and other liquid-filled clinical thermometers for direct reading by 198%; and protective clothing made of plastic sheets by 125,2%.
Imports of digital or infrared thermometers also increased by 111,2%; alcohol gel and other disinfectants by 29,9%; Covid-19 diagnostic tests and other immunological products by 25,1%; tubular metal and suture needles by 22,9%; and diagnostic reagents based on the nucleic acid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and other reagents by 14,1%. (See below for a list with details of the 12 products whose imports increased).
The Undersecretary of Finance, Francisco Moreno, highlighted that "The joint work of Customs and the Public Health Institute is an example of timely and collaborative work that all State institutions must have, in order to be able to face this pandemic with all the available tools and with the greatest possible effectiveness”.
For his part, the National Director of Customs, José Ignacio Palma, explained that “The Service will continue to contribute from its role and experience with trade facilitation measures which allow, in this case, to protect the health of Chileans, in addition to safeguarding the country's economic development and continuing to monitor."
The preferential import of critical supplies to control Covid-19 applies both to imports made or coordinated directly by the Ministry of Health to supply the country's public healthcare networks, and to donations made to the Government of Chile by charitable institutions, foreign government agencies or universities, among others.
This regulation, which will be in force for the entire duration of the health emergency, allows these operations to be carried out through any means of transport and shipping or postal company.
How to import
Imports of these critical medical supplies must be processed directly with Customs or through Customs Agents, using a simplified import declaration, normal or advance procedure, regardless of the amount of the operation (until now the limit was US$ 3.000).
Before taking advantage of this simplified procedure, the importer must have a declaration of critical supplies from the ISP or the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (Seremi) of Health, a document that must be sent to Customs as quickly as possible, including by email.
In the event that the import is carried out by a private institution or company in the sector that does not have a declaration of critical inputs, they may benefit from the trade facilitation measures announced last week by Customs, by processing an Import Declaration or a Simplified Import Declaration through a Customs Agent.
In addition, in order to safeguard the safety of the population, this measure also requires the presentation of the customs destination certificate, authorizations or approvals granted by the corresponding public services, unless these same services indicate that it is not necessary in the context of the pandemic. This rule also applies to those goods donated or that are covered by one of the exemptions of the zero section of the customs office, on the occasion of this contingency and that meet the corresponding requirements.
Finally, the National Customs Service decided to give a special coding to critical medical supplies related to this emergency, both to identify the cargo and give it the corresponding priority, as well as for the subsequent traceability of the operations that entered under this modality and the inspection processes.
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