Nowadays, it is quite common to find notes with the terms SIMI, SIRA, CEF, Category A/B, LA, LNA, MULC for those who work in foreign trade.
How do these terms affect the progress of an import?
A few days ago we launched the SIRA system. It has the same structure as the former SIMI, but it does not differ much from what the latter represented.
The load in the María system (Kit Malvinas, as the AFIP likes to call it) has similar characteristics and conditions. Unchangeable fields, unalterable data and a statement of payment term forecast, or at least an indication of what type of payment we would like to assign to the opened operation.
The truth is that both the former SIMI and the SIRA and the future "SI" that come later, are nothing more than an advance declaration of a will to import what we cannot even call a "purchase", since it is only an intention.
This is where the crux of the matter lies. What is the forecast that a factory with 50, 100, 200, 300, or more than 500 employees can have, which suddenly finds itself involved in the terms, ex SIMI, SIRA, quota A, exception, MULC and the removal of the advance payment of the transfer quota for the remainder of 2022? The answer is: none.
According to statements made by Minister Sergio Massa last month, this system provides strong predictability in operations and brings calm with the certainty of the possibility of importing, ensuring that the dollar remains in our country, but ensuring that there is no industrial shortage.
What is the real situation?
The reality is different. It is enough to observe that between the publication of the SIRA regulation and its entry into force, a gap of 10 working days was observed, which revealed a kind of “abyss” in foreign trade. In addition, the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce contributed its grain of sand by changing more than 70% of the existing tariff items from automatic to non-automatic licensing.
If we add to this the removal of the 20% advance quota from the possibility of advance payment, it shows a state of impossibility to negotiate with the East on a long-term basis. In addition, the technical failures of the system lead to a slowdown in operations at a rate that represents a sharp 30% drop in imports, with repercussions that can lead, on the one hand, to a shortage of supplies in the domestic market and, on the other, to high price increases, with the effects of favoring the global inflationary process from which Argentina is not exempt today.
The lack of predictability brings into play many factors, which once destroyed will not be regenerated at the end of the crisis, at least not quickly.
If we add to this the loss of representativeness of the Comex sectors before the different government sectors, we find ourselves at a critical point that is transferred to working capital, directly affecting the fixed costs of each operator.
Customs Brokers in this context
The substantial drop in operations is worrying, starting with a settlement of exports of 150 dollars, discouraging the export channel, added to the impediment to the transfer of dollars and changing measures that only present restrictive schemes for the operational exercise, account for the reduction of imports, visualizing an almost paralysis of foreign trade.
There is no doubt that the sector is suffering in this context, affecting the activity of the customs broker, which is closely related to foreign trade operations. This is where it should be noted that the customs broker is a key player in foreign trade, his work is not limited to the mere service to his client, but rather to strengthening international trade, creating direct actions to achieve protocols, regimes, and regulatory frameworks that imply an agile, transparent, and predictable operational activity, contributing to the proper development of international trade that is visible in the rest of the countries, which the World Trade Organization itself promotes.
To achieve this, it is important to recover the role of the customs broker, in order to favor International Trade and position itself as what it really is, a vital player for the foreign trade. Without this intention as a premise, the dialogue tables with the AFIP and Customs will not enable solutions to the issues that are so necessary and foreign trade will not see any evolution.
This objective is present in the presidential candidate for the Blue List, Marcelo Moscoso Boedo, who has expressed in his campaign spot the desire to generate lost dialogue tables and to raise the intrinsic needs of the reality we are living, with the value of those who request it in their character of a fundamental actor for foreign trade, as is the case of the customs agent. A professional who praises Foreign Trade; that is how he should be seen by everyone.
In this sense, Marcelo Moscoso Boedo has decided to be a candidate, who with his extensive experience in the profession of Customs Broker and having been National Secretary of the Center, knows the needs that prevail in the environment of the Broker and in foreign trade.
We hope that the elections in November will be held democratically and that the long-awaited renewal of authorities will take place, which will undoubtedly strengthen the sector and will succeed in vindicating the beloved and complex profession of Customs Broker.
Graduate in Foreign Trade (Universidad de la Marina Mercante), customs broker and customs transport agent. She works as a professor at the University of Belgrano and CAECE.
