PARTIAL AMENDMENT TO THE DECREE WITH THE STATUS, VALUE, AND FORCE OF ORGANIC CUSTOMS LAW

 

The National Constituent Assembly issued the Constituent Decree of Partial Amendment to the Decree with the Status, Value, and Force of Organic Customs Law (the “Decree”), dated January 29, 2020, and published in Official Gazette No. 6.507 Extraordinary of the same date.

The Decree amended the following provisions:

i) Article 1. General Provisions (scope of the law and purpose of the Tax Administration).

ii) Article 3. General Provisions (competence of the President of the Republic).

iii) Article 4. General Provisions (competence of the Minister in the area of Finance).

iv) Article 117.Customs Obligation (reduction to 15 days of the temporary efficacy of a tax provision issued under the law without establishing a period of efficacy).

v) Article 118. Customs Obligation (the Tax Unit as reference value is substituted by the official rate of exchange of the currency with the highest value).vi) Article 159. Customs-related Unlawful Acts. Common Provisions (substitution of the Tax Unit as value for conversion of fines by the official rate of exchange of the currency with the highest value).

vii) Article 159. Customs-related Unlawful Acts. Penalties for the Customs Administration Assistants (Auxiliares de la Administración Tributaria) (substitution of the Tax Unit as reference value for the imposition of fines by the official rate of exchange of the currency with the highest value).

viii) Number 3 of Article 162. Customs-related Unlawful Act. Penalties for the Customs Administration Assistants (substitution of the Tax Unit as reference value).

ix) Article 164. Customs-related Unlawful Acts. Penalties for the Customs Administration Assistants (possibility that other grounds for suspension of the authorizations to act as Customs Administration Assistant are created by regulations).

x) Articles 165, 166, 167, and 168. Customs-related Unlawful Acts. Penalties for the Customs Administration Assistants (substitution of the Tax Unit as reference value for the imposition of fines by the official rate of exchange of the currency with the highest value).

xi) Articles 177, 178, 180, and 181. Customs-related Unlawful Acts. Penalties for Customs Regimes (substitution of the Tax Unit as reference value for the imposition of fines by the official rate of exchange of the currency with the highest value).

xii) The name of Title IX is amended and a new article (194) is included, which establishes that the regulatory provisions that rule customs warehouses (in bond) will be in force up to the time when the National Executive issues the rules on the matter, and a period of 180 days is established to that end.

 

The Decree will become effective upon the elapsing of twenty “calendar” (20) days as from the day following the publication of the same in the Official Gazette of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

In order to access the Decree, please click here.

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