Argentina – Creation of the Unit for the Follow-up and Traceability of Foreign Trade Operations

On November 17th, Decree 2103/2014 was published in the Official Bulletin to establish the creation of a Unit for the Follow-up and Traceability of Foreign Trade Operations (Unidad de Seguimiento y Trazabilidad de las Operaciones de Comercio Exterior)( the Unit).

The creation of the Unit was due to: (i) the increase of foreign trade, which has been increasing systematically in the period 2003-2013, reaching an approximate amount of one hundred and fifty billion dollars (US$ 150.000.000.000) in 2011, according to the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Census; (ii) the multinational corporations participate in approximately the sixty eight percent (68%) of the Argentine foreign trade; and (iii) the discovery of different cases by the Federal Administration of Public Revenues, of over-invoicing of imports, under-invoicing of exports and transfer prices, that reduce the amount of taxes to be paid in Argentina.

The aim of the Unit will be to verify the price and the amount of the goods and services exported and imported together with the entry and exit of foreign currency.

The head of the Unit will be the Chief of the Cabinet Office, or the officer he might appoint to replace him, and the representatives of the following areas: Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, the Federal Administration of Public Revenues with the participation of the Customs Department, the Tax Administration Department and the General Department of Social Security, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, the Argentine Insurance Superintendence; the National Securities Commission, the Financial Information Unit and the Economic Crime and Money-Laundering Prevention Office.

The Unit will develop the following tasks:

• Monitor the foreign exchange operations, by being in charge of their follow-up and traceability.
• Coordinate the access, on behalf of the pertinent offices, to the reports of the foreign trade operations so as to verify the fulfilment of the formal and substantial requirements that are demanded by the regulations in force.
• Make the follow-up of the adjustments and claims made by the corresponding offices as regards the foreign trade operations.
• Require and submit information to other jurisdictions in relation to the issues that are relevant to the Unit.

Up to now, the creation of the Unit has not established new duties to taxpayers.

For further information please contact Martín Barreiro, Esteban Rópolo, Gabriel Gómez Giglio or Perla Torres Guerrero of our Buenos Aires office. [The substantive contents of this article originally appeared in a Client Alert issued by the Buenos Aires office.]