On July 27, 2020, by means of Resolution No. 366/2020 (which will become effective on August 3, 2020), the Argentine Ministry of Production abrogated Resolution No. 494/2017 issued in September of 2017 by the former administration, which regulated the customs treatment applicable to products originating from countries subject to antidumping measures.
As a result of the aforementioned abrogation, products of any origin will now be subject to the so-called red channel customs review process if any of the following conditions are met: (i) definitive antidumping measures or countervailing duties have been imposed with regard to such product (regardless of their origin); or (ii) an antidumping or subsidy investigation is underway which involves the products at hand, and a preliminary dumping, subsidy or injury determination has been reached pursuant to Chapter III of Decree No. 1393/2008, regardless of whether provisional measures have been imposed- and of their origin.
In the past, imported products (even those originating from a country subject to antidumping measures) were randomly assigned any of the three existing channels (green, orange or red), which dictate the degree of scrutiny that any given import will face, with the green channel being the most lenient and the red channel the most stringent.
The red channel customs review process entails that the Argentine Customs Authority will: (i) review the documents relating to the import; (ii) carry out a physical inspection of the goods; and (iii) analyze the value of the goods after the import process has been finalized. Furthermore, the aforementioned resolution states that the authority will physically inspect the goods in order to assess whether the correct tariff codes have been informed by the importer.
