On September 15th, the National Tax and Customs Directorate issued the Unified Opinion on operations between International Trading Companies (“C.I.” by its acronym in Spanish) and Free Trade Zone users, in which the following main points are established:

• According to Law 67 of 1979, the obligation of C.I. is to export to foreign countries the goods for which they have issued Certificates to the Supplier within six (6) months following their issuance.
• Although the sale of goods to an Industrial Free Trade Zone by a C.I. is deemed a definitive export, this operation does not fulfill the obligation of exporting to foreign countries. Therefore, it cannot be considered for compliance with the obligations of the C.I.
• If an Industrial User of a Free Trade Zone sells a good to a C.I., and the C.I. requests that it be delivered to a user in another Free Trade Zone, the respective Merchandise Movement Form will be required for its transfer, along with (i) a shipping sheet when the transfer does not involve a change of customs jurisdiction, or (ii) a customs transit declaration in the opposite case. If the C.I. needs to export the good to the rest of the world to fulfill its commitments, it must first enter it into the Customs Territory, by submitting the Special Import Declaration if applicable.

Author: Diana Ramírez I dramirez@lloredacamacho.com I Foreign Trade, Logistics & Customs