Important Ruling on Temporary Imports of Barges

The Argentine Supreme Court ruled on the “Agencia Marítima Dulce SA c/ DGA s/ Recurso directo de organismo externo” (file No. CAF 49067/2015) case that the customs transport agent had incurred in a breach of the temporary import regime according to Section 970 of the Customs Code; thus, confirmed the Customs tax claim on the import duties and taxes for the barges’ import.

Between August 30 and September 1, 2011, the transport agent had declared the temporary import of three barges. On September 2, 2011, these barges had collided with a ship, rendering one of them inoperative and forcing the others to be repaired before they were able to navigate again. The barges had been entered for an eight-month term according to Resolution No. 208/82 issued by the former Argentine Customs Administration.

The barge that was inoperative was scrapped and the other two, after they were repaired, were detained by Customs on November 1, 2012. The customs transport agent requested an extension of the temporary import term on January 2013, when the original term had already expired and Customs had already started summary proceedings seeking to apply a fine.

The customs transport agent paid the fine but challenged the tax claim before the Tax Court, which confirmed the claim from Customs. The agent later appealed to the Argentine Court of Appeals which, in turn, revoked the Tax Court ruling and construed that there was a factual impossibility of re-exporting the barges in due term and that there had been unforeseeable circumstances that exempt the agent from paying import duties on taxes on this import.

The Argentine Supreme Court, when analyzing the facts, prioritized the agent’s actions. The court considered that the agent had failed to formally inform Customs of the circumstances and that it had not requested for an extension of the temporary import in a timely fashion; thus, it could not analyze whether there had been unforeseeable circumstances or not.

In this light, the Argentine Supreme Court reversed the Argentine Court of Appeals ruling and confirmed the Customs tax claim derived from the beach of the temporary import regime for barges.