The Chilean government has adopted new measures to facilitate foreign trade to secure the logistics chain and protect the health of the institution's officials and workers who must intervene in person in customs processes, the National Customs Service reported in a statement.
The measure, taken within the framework of the contingency to face the advance of coronavirus or Covid-19 in that country, allows the preferential processing, much more expeditious and without a limit on amounts, of critical medical supplies that are imported for the prevention and control of this disease.
This determination by Customs, coordinated with the Public Health Institute (ISP), applies both to imports made or coordinated directly by the Ministry of Health to supply the country's public healthcare networks, as well as to Donations made to the Government of Chile by charitable institutions, foreign government agencies or universities, among others.
The National Director of Customs, José Ignacio Palma, explained that this instruction "It is part of the foreign trade facilitation measures implemented by the Service in the context of this health emergency, with the aim of releasing as quickly as possible all shipments that are urgent and related to the health contingency.".
The customs authority also noted "This will be applicable to all Customs controls in the country, but we certainly hope that it will be in the reception of cargo at the Santiago International Airport where we will have a greater demand for this type of medical imports, which today are essential to be able to continue to face the pandemic."
This new rule, which is temporary and is contained in Exempt Resolution No. 1.313, is Effective from this Thursday (25.03.2020) throughout the country and for the entire duration of the health emergency. It is important to note that until now critical supplies could only be imported by air and through express courier companies, but with the new regulation this type of operation can now be carried out by any means of transport and shipping company.
The procedure
Imports of medical supplies related to the combating Covid-19 are processed directly before 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.
It should be noted that this rule also applies to goods donated or that are covered by one of the exemptions of section zero 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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