Federal Registry of Non-Manufactured Capital Goods

On March 1, 2012, the Federal Secretary of Industry published Resolution N° 9/2012 in the Official Gazette. This Resolution creates the Federal Registry of Capital Goods Not Manufactured in Argentina (the “Registry”), and instrumented the first public consult to determine the existence of a national production of the goods detailed in Schedule I of the Resolution (the “Public Consult”).

This decision was taken in accordance with the rules of the Mercosur.

Through Decision No. 34/2003 (1) of the Mercosur’s Common Market Council a “Common Regime for the Import of Capital Goods Not Manufactured within Mercosur” was created (the “Regime”). The goods included in this Regime have a reduced import tariff, provided that several requisites and procedures are met.

Any member State that intends to include any goods under the Regime shall file an application with Mercosur’s Trade Commission following a pre-established procedure. Other member States may object to such request, for example, due to the existence of national production of those goods.

By Decision No. 56/2010, the Mercosur’s Common Market Council requested the “ad-hoc Group for Capital Goods” to revise the Regime looking towards its application as from January 1, 2013.

Those interested in claiming the non-existence of national production of the goods included in Schedule I of the Resolution in order to incorporate those goods to the Registry will have to follow a procedure that includes filling an affidavit with information about the goods, their description, technical specifications, usage, import information and technical literature.

Within the framework of the Public Consult, the affidavits must be submitted both in written and electronic format with the Undersecretary of Industry before March 30, 2012.

Before including the goods in the Registry, the Undersecretary of Industry may conduct inquiries, as it sees fit, to confirm that the information stated in the affidavits is correct.

In the future, the Undersecretary of Industry may conduct public consultations in order to update the Registry.