On January, 31st Communication “A” 5274 issued by the Central Bank of Argentina was published in the Official Gazette. The regulation sets forth the requirements to allow the access to the local exchange market in order to perform payments abroad for Argentinean imports of goods; it also amends several points of the Communication “A” 5134 of November 1st, 2010.
The regulation provides that it will be possible to access the local exchange market to cancel debt from import of goods with an anticipation of up to five (5) business days before the deadline to comply with the foreign obligation; while those payments which anticipate to the term in more than five (5) days, will need prior Central Bank’s approval. The requirement of the customs revenue register is replaced by the Advance Information Sworn Statement (AISS), which is provided by General Resolution No 3252/12 of Tax Authorities, the AISS shall be in “Exit” state. This new condition is applied to the purchase of foreign currency for payments, advanced payments, debt payments between the local importer and the foreign exporter, and to the cancellation of commercial guarantees to import goods granted by local institutions. The AISS won’t be required in operations whose shipment date is prior to the enactment of Resolution No 3252/12 of AFIP, which means, February 1st, 2012.
In order to allow the access to the local exchange market to perform payments abroad for domestic imports, documentation to determine the existence of a goods’ purchase is also required. In those documents, the advance payment of the funds prior to the good’s delivery date shall be demanded. This documentation must specify details of the goods to be imported, the condition of purchase agreed, delivery deadlines and terms of payment. It is set that the beneficiary of the payment shall be the foreign supplier, the foreign financial entity or the official credit agency that financed the advance payment to the foreign supplier. Regarding currency sale, the Communication establishes that it shall be performed by applicant’s check or by debit to his/her account in local currency.
Finally the regulation sets that, at the moment of entrance to the local exchange market, the importer shall not present delays in the formalization of import clearance demonstration or, where applicable, of the re-entry of foreign currency operations performed with access to the exchange local market prior to the registration of customs revenue. The latter condition will not be applied to the public sector, the enterprises under the control of the National Government, even if they are incorporated as legal persons, and to the trust funds formed with contributions from the national public sector.
