WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/LIC/Q/ARG/10 
16 March 2010 
 (10-1438) 
Committee on Import Licensing Original:   English 
  
 
 
IMPORT LICENSING SYSTEM OF ARGENTINA 
 
Questions from Canada, China, the European Union, Japan,
 
Mexico, Peru and the United States to Argentina  
 
   The following communication, dated 16 March 2010, is being circulated at the 
request of the delegations of Canada, China, th e European Union, Japan, Mexico, Peru and the 
United States. 
 
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We continue to be greatly concerned about Ar gentina’s import licensing system and how it is 
being used to restrict trade.  We are also troubled by the lack of transparen cy of the current system 
and the burdens and delays our exporters report th at it is placing on their goods at importation.   
 
We therefore request that Argentina provide detailed responses to the following questions:   
 
1. Some companies report that they have been told that their import license application will not 
be approved unless the company agrees to trade balancing requirements established by the Secretary of Domestic Trade.  These companies also tell us  that in order to obtain a license to import goods, 
they must show an increase in exports of the same  dollar value of Argentina-originating goods.  Other 
companies report that Subsecretaría de Política y Gestión Comercial  requires additional information 
in order to issue an import certificate for misce llaneous products, such as a process diagram showing 
the entire production cycle of the goods subject of the application; details of the inputs used (origin and relative share in the final production cost) and a list of the products manufactured by the 
producing/exporting company.   
(a) Could Argentina please provide an explanati on for these measures, along with copies for the 
Committee of the laws and regulations that authorize and implement these requirements? 
(b) Please indicate, in some detail, how Argentina c onsiders this policy to be consistent with its 
WTO obligations. 
 
2. We are not satisfied with the justifications provided thus far by Argentina for increasing the 
number of tariff lines subject to import licensing.  In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8 Argentina claims that the expansion of non-automatic license requirements is  necessary for certain sensitive products due to 
changes in the trade flows caused by the world economic and financial crisis.  We still question the 
specific underlying measure Argentina is implem enting through this non-automatic import license 
regime.   - Please explain specifically the measure be ing implemented through non-automatic import 
licensing and which WTO provision justifies Argentina’s imposition of that measure.   
 G/LIC/Q/ARG/10 
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  3. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina states that th e processing time at its ports of entry for non-
automatic import licenses is as stipulated in Ar ticle 3.5(f) of the Agreement on Import Licensing 
Procedures.  However, industry and press reports c ontinue to indicate that importers experience 
lengthy delays of well over 100 days to obtain a licen se.  We believe in the reliability of these reports, 
and we urge Argentina to take them seriously and help us obtain the information we are requesting. 
 
(a) Please confirm in writing that the time limits prescribed by the Agreement on Import 
Licensing Procedures are, in practice, being respected by all Argentine officials.  
(b) Please provide the specific citation to Argentina’s regulations or laws that requires that 
non-automatic import licenses be issued within 30-60 days. 
 
4. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina indicates that applications for non-automatic import licenses 
were previously examined on a first-come first served basis, but currently they are considered 
simultaneously.    
(a) What is the reason for this change in procedures? Why must applications now be considered 
simultaneously, a practice normally reserved for addressing quota allocations? 
(b) When was the new approach of simultaneous  examination adopted and in what law or 
regulation? 
 
5. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8 Argentina indicates that  the main reason for requiring non-automatic 
import licenses for the products covered by Regula tion 61/2009 is that there have been significant 
changes in trade flows for these products, coupled  with the increase in subsidies and tax refunds 
introduced to avoid bankruptcy and support prod uction in various related economic sectors.   
 
- How do these particular factors justify non-automatic import licenses under WTO rules?   
 
6. Article 5.2(h) of the Agreement indicates th at Members should include in their notifications 
the expected duration of the licensing procedure if th is can be estimated with  some probability, and if 
not, the reason why this information cannot be pr ovided.  Argentina responds to this question, 
however, by referencing either Article 2 or Article  3.5(f) of the Agreement, depending on whether the 
import licenses are automatic or non-automatic.  It is  our understanding that Article 2.2(a)(iii) and 
Article 3.5(f) deal with the time period for processi ng an application, not the expected duration of the 
procedure.     
- Please provide estimates of the expected duration of the import license procedures that 
Argentina has imposed.  If this information ca nnot be estimated with some probability, please 
provide reasons why it cannot be provided. 
 7. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina indicates that , even if import licensing procedures established 
by Argentinean regulations are referred to as "provi sional", the continuation, and extension, of the 
non-automatic import licensing requirements over time is  dictated by market conditions and the need 
to control compliance with the applicable techni cal standards and regulati ons, and environmental, 
safety and consumer protection regulations, and that  non-automatic licenses will be applied as long as 
the reasons for having to submit certain goods to pr e-release verification and monitoring mechanisms 
still exist. 
 (a) What are those reasons when referring to comp liance with applicable technical standards and 
regulations? 
(b)  In which circumstances would Argentina cons ider that it is no longer necessary to control 
such compliance through n on-automatic import licences? 
  G/LIC/Q/ARG/10 
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  8. Please provide the following statistics:  
 (a) Indication of the number of import licen ses granted from October 2008- October 2009; 
(b) Information on the distribution of licenses among supplying countries; and   (c) The number of applications that are currently pending, and the average number of days those 
applications have been pending. 
 9. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina explains th at non-automatic import licences are a mechanism 
for the pre-release verification of goods that requir es the importer to submit an application to the 
competent body, which verifies that the product complies with all of the technical standards and other 
requirements under the national regulations in force (the same ones that apply to domestic products) 
as well as the accuracy of the importer's data.  If th e product complies with these requirements, the 
competent body issues the corresponding licence within th e stipulated time-frame.  The data that must 
be provided by the importers are set out in  each one of the corresponding resolutions. 
 
(a) When were those referred technical standa rds and other requirements adopted? Please provide 
references to the relevant regulations.  
(b) On which basis did Argentina determine th at non-automatic import licence requirements were 
necessary to verify compliance with those regulations?  
  10. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina explains that where non-automatic import licences are 
required for certain tariff items, they are exempted  from the automatic licensing requirement if they 
have been subjected to it.  Please explain the r eason for the decision to require non-automatic import 
licences to products for which only automatic import licences were required.  11. In G/LIC/Q/ARG/8, Argentina claims that th e justification for requiring non-automatic import 
licence requirements in the tyre sector lies in the need to establish, for these products, a pre-release 
verification mechanism to monitor and control imports  of such goods, checking that they comply with 
the environmental, safety and consumer protecti on regulations governing their placement on the 
market, and controlling the accuracy of the data declared by the importer.  When were those 
environmental, safety and consumer protection re gulations adopted?  Please provide copies of the 
relevant regulations.  On which basis did Argent ina determine that non-automatic import licence 
requirements were necessary to verify compliance with these regulations?  
 12. Resolution 11/2008 of 25 January 2008 (a mending measures establishing import certificates) 
prohibits the introduction of any rectification in the applications for, or in the licences already issued, 
and requires importers to make a new application.  
 
- Please explain the reason for this prohibition and how this is consistent with Articles 1:7 and 
1:8 of the Import Licensing Agreement.  
13. Following the replies by Argentina menti oned above, Argentina adopted still another 
Resolution (Resolution 337/2009 of 21 August 2009) extending import licensing procedures to certain 
auto parts and related products.  
 (a) Has Argentina already notified this measure to the WTO? (b) Please confirm whether the licensing procedures for importation of these products are 
automatic or non-automatic and the conditions for issuing import licences.  
(c) Please provide a detailed explanation for the extension of these procedures to these products 
in particular.  
(d) Please explain why import certificates (Certificado de Importacion de Autopartes y Afines) 
are only required for those goods destined  for final consumption (Article 2). 
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