By means of the dictation of the General Instruction No. 19/23, The General Directorate of Customs has expanded this Friday (03.11.2023) the guidelines of General Instruction No. 7/2023, regarding the control of the entry and settlement of foreign currency for exports, venturing into the issue of the treatment of the application of disciplinary sanctions to subjects who are found to be in the condition of lack of settlement of foreign currency involving a value of USD 150.000 or more.
General Instruction No. 7
It should be remembered that by General Instruction No. 7 of 16/11/2022, the following provisions were established: working guidelines that the competent areas of this General Directorate of Customs must follow when detecting export destinations for which the lack of entry of foreign currency to the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic by the exporters is verified. Establishing the appropriateness of applying, in such cases - by means of a reasoned resolution and based on the particularities of each case - the preventive suspension provided for in article 97 of the Customs Code, in the understanding that such non-compliance is likely to affect the control of the respective registration, as well as to favor the conditions that allow the violation of the economic order.
In order to do so, when determining the lack of foreign currency inflows from exports, exporters should prove due compliance or, failing that, guarantee the corresponding amount, in order not to be suspended from the registry of Importers/Exporters of the General Directorate of Customs.
Extension of measures
In this line, the new rule has provided that, in the face of such non-compliance, that is, lack of foreign currency income with respect to exports made, the following is added: summary measure to exporters in order to suppress and prevent conduct that threatens the security of the customs service and the fiscal interest involved in foreign trade activities.
The basis is that the General Directorate of Customs is the only State body that has, within its powers, the analysis of the disciplinary responsibility of importers and exporters, with a view to mitigating and/or interrupting unfair conduct that affects or may affect the correct execution of the regulations that structure the national economic order.
The regulations consider that it will be applicable to those cases that are not open (summary) at the beginning of the validity of this General Instruction, in which, having made an export, the corresponding income of foreign currency will not be recorded.
Law 22.415 -Customs Code-
It should be remembered that Article 100 of the Customs Code establishes that the National Customs Administrator (Director General of Customs), depending on the nature of the offense committed, the damage caused or that could have been caused and the background of the interested party, may apply the following: sanctions: a) warning; b) suspension of up to two (2) years; c) elimination from the Register of Importers and Exporters. Likewise, article 103 of the same legal complex determines that, In the cases of suspension and elimination from the Register of Importers and Exporters that are not those provided for in articles 97, section 1, and 98, section 1, the National Customs Administration (General Directorate of Customs) must instruct the pertinent administrative summary in which, once the investigation procedures deemed necessary have been carried out, the interested party will be given notice for a period of ten (10) days, within which he must exercise his defense and offer the evidence that supports his right.
Areas of control and application
The areas of control and application according to General Instruction neo 19 are the following:
a) The General Subdirectorate of Metropolitan Customs Operations and its dependent areas.
b) The General Subdirectorate of Customs Operations of the Interior and its dependent areas.
c) The General Technical Legal Customs Subdirectorate and its dependent areas.
d) The General Subdirectorate of Customs Control and its dependent areas.
Conditions and methodologies for the application
For the purposes of applying this General Instruction No. 19, the areas involved must take into account the following parameters:
1. Taking into account the particularities of each case under analysis, the disciplinary summary process will be initiated before the competent Customs for those operators (CUIT) that involve an amount of unsettled foreign currency greater than or equal to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars (U $ S 150.000.-). However, the impact that the amount of unsettled foreign currency represents in the general operation of the exporter in question may be analyzed, as well as whether it is making deposits, in order to evaluate the impetus for the summary process and, if appropriate, considering reasons of opportunity, merit or convenience, the application of the preventive suspension. In such event, the General Subdirectorate of Customs Control will refer to the General Subdirectorates of Metropolitan and Interior Customs Operations, for the processing of the corresponding summary, those non-compliances that exceed said amount.
Cases that have already been reported and do not reach the amount stated in the first paragraph may be sent to temporary custody in the area where they are located. In the event of new breaches that - accumulated - reach the amount referred to for the operator (CUIT) in question, the disciplinary investigation will be initiated again and, where appropriate, the application of preventive suspension.
2. In order to avoid the simultaneous processing of two or more administrative summaries, a prior consultation will be carried out in the Registry of Importers and Exporters in order to verify in the Malvinas system (SIM FORMS WEB CENPRI) if the operator involved is subject to a preventive suspension (IG Code 7/22). If the existence of a measure applied by another authority is confirmed, the proceedings will be sent to that jurisdiction for the incorporation of the reported non-compliance into that file, if applicable.
3. The Sub-directorates responsible for the application of disciplinary measures must keep a unified and updated registry of the sanctions imposed in their respective jurisdictions. Also included in the same are those cases that are sent to temporary custody because they do not reach the amount expressed herein.
Validity
The validity of these measures will begin to apply from the day they are issued (1.11.2023).
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