The obstacles generated by the new import monitoring system, the SIRAhave been the subject of complaints by the chambers of commerce since it was implemented in mid-October, replacing SIMI.
At the beginning of the year, some of these bodies such as the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC) or the Industrial Union of Córdoba (UIC) carried out internal surveys among their members, with the result that only 25% or less of requests for SIRA authorization they had been approved from system inception until the end of 2022.
At the same time, this virtual bottleneck has generated a sort of parallel market which has been denounced by the Government itself: the Ministry of the Economy has denounced a body that was asking for alms for the approval of this procedure before the Federal Justice. Two fake handlers were arrested as a result of that complaint.
The truth is that the SIRA is the necessary procedure both to enter the imported material which arrived at customs enough to access the dollars that the Central Market sells, at the official price, in the Single and Free Trade Market (MULC). They are approved by the Secretary of Commerce, responsible for Matías Tombolini.
The complaints of the chambers of commerce, until now, have focused on the latter procedure, since in a context of lack of dollars, the government approves access to foreign currency at the official exchange rate with a dropper.
Now, the chamber that brings together foreign airlines, Jurca, It also requests that the government approve these procedures. In reality, these are two different requests: in one of the cases, the claim is in line with that of the other entities, since requires access to official dollars so that one of its suppliers can insert lightning detection equipment to plan flights.
But what is striking is the other statement, in which Jurca does not ask that its affiliates or its suppliers have access to official dollars.but simply that they authorize entry, since these are products and inputs that have already been paid for.
Some of these limited inputs are essentials for your daily work such as airline tickets or luggage tags. Others are more worrying: According to Jurca’s complaint, there are airlines that have not been allowed into drug and explosive materials and drug detection equipment.
The denunciation was issued on Sunday night, with the signature of the executive director of Jurca, Felipe Baravalle.
One of the claims, in which the chamber actually does it for access to the Central Bank’s MULC, refers to the importation of equipment for the “Electrical Discharge Detection and Warning Service”, whose technology obtains meteorological information through the network of 50 detector stations installed across the country and provides both ramp crews and personnel with the ability to work more safely with a simple application from their mobile phones.
According to Jurca, it is a service that is paid to an external supplier and the payments, in dollars, they were blocked by the Ministry of Commerce in November “Without any proper explanation or understanding of the impact that will have on our industry, which would mean going back five years and reverting to a more expensive, dangerous, slow and delayed commercial airline operation.”
The other affirmation is more striking, given that it is not about dollars, because according to Jurca these are materials that the parent companies send to their airlines every day, without the need for any reimbursement.
“These are inputs classified as ‘without currency transfer’that have no value,” clarified the executive director of Jurca. “For example, airline tickets, luggage tags of all kinds, communication and IT equipmentelements for catering, spare parts for aircraft and materials for ramp operations”.
In dialogue with Clarín, Baravalle underlined this the entrance of a team for the detection of narcotics and explosive substances was also blockedalso labeled “no currency transfer”, sent by an airline’s parent company to monitor its baggage checkpoints.
“They were stopped without explanation due to the non-approval of the Argentine Republic Import System (SIRA). We communicated through various means to the authorities, but without success or opening any communication channel,” added Baravalle.
Source: Clarin
