Over the past year, Argentine Customs has adopted a new strategy for the inspection of international trade, which has led to a marked improvement in results.
On this, the entity that directs Guillaume Michel He stated today (11.08.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX) that "the agency's investigations have moved from a selectivity based on merchandise to a risk matrix system focused on operators."
«This change has given the General Directorate of Customs greater efficiency in detecting foreign trade violations: while in the period June 2021 - May 2022 it had to analyze 73.150 import operations to apply fines for USD 358 million, in the following year a sample of only 46.728 destinations allowed it to apply fines for USD 1.324 million - that is, a 270% increase in the detection of violations, with a 32% smaller object of analysis,» the General Directorate of Customs said in a statement.
"Something similar happened with the analysis of exports: while, between June 2021 and May 2022, it investigated 9.684 shipping permits and applied fines for USD 83,5 million, in the last year the analysis of 54.746 operations resulted in the application of fines of USD 1.705 million," he added.
In other words, with a 465% larger object of analysis, the detection of violations grew more than proportionally: 1941% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the overall balance – imports and exports combined – indicates that, in the last year, an increase of only 23% in the number of operations analyzed allowed Customs to apply fines almost 6 times higher (586%).
Regarding the improvement of indicators, Guillaume Michel, says: “In addition to the results, which are really excellent, I would like to emphasize that this change is due to the merit of the organization's career staff: there was no need to bring in external consultants but to rely on in-house staff. That is what I celebrate most.”
In turn, the head of the Customs Office highlights “the structural support that was given to the new approach, with the creation of two areas: the Division of Planning and Selection of Cases and the Department of External Valuation Inspection. This allowed the organization to put into practice inspections at the operators' domiciles (thus applying a guideline of the World Customs Organization) and to apply a comprehensive vision. Along these lines, specialized Customs agents affirm that “the taxpayer who has a behavior that is far from the norms in tax matters will also have a behavior that is far from the norms in customs matters.”
"The results of the new approach are encouraging and, based on the reduction of irregularities in foreign trade, point to a more favourable balance of trade and the stabilisation of macroeconomic variables," said the entity in charge of customs services at AFIP.
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