The norm, in detail
Zero tariff on cellphone imports: electronics opens up
Decretos 333/2025 and 334/2025 (Official Gazette May 20, 2025)
in forceNATIONAL
Trade opening
Decreto 333/2025 cuts the phone tariff to 8% and to 0% from Jan 15, 2026, and leaves consoles at 20%. It hits the Ley 19.640 industry.
What changed and who it applies to
What changed
Decreto 333/2025: (1) the Extra-Zone Import Duty on cellphones (NCM 8517.13.00 'smartphones' and 8517.14.31) drops to 8% on entry into force and to 0% as of Jan 15, 2026; (2) game consoles (NCM 9504.50.00) leave Annex V of Decreto 557/23: the tariff falls from 35% to 20% of the Common External Tariff; (3) the excise tax (Art. 70, Excise Tax Law) is set at 9.5% for a range of electronics and at 0% for those manufactured by Ley 19.640 beneficiaries with Tierra del Fuego origin (through Dec 31, 2038). Decreto 334/2025: a simplified small-shipments regime from the Fuegian Special Customs Area to the mainland, exclusively for end consumers: up to 3 identical units per year per recipient, maximum FOB of USD 3,000 per shipment, with the Ley 19.640 exemptions (VAT included). The prior 16% import duty on cellphones and the previous excise rate (19%) are press/communiqué figures, not from the operative text. verif May 20, 2025 ↗
In force
2025-05-20 (0% import duty on cellphones from Jan 15, 2026) verif May 20, 2025 ↗
Are you in or out?
Importers and retailers of consumer electronics; end consumers (prices converging toward international levels); Tierra del Fuego's Ley 19.640 industry (Newsan, Mirgor, BGH and their chain), which keeps a 0% excise tax and gains a direct small-shipment channel; logistics and courier operators (TdF→mainland flow). verif May 20, 2025 ↗
The norm
Decretos 333/2025 and 334/2025 of the national Executive Branch, signed on May 19, 2025 and published in the BO on May 20, 2025. verif May 20, 2025 ↗
Our reading
The opening reaches the consumer's pocket: imported cellphones stop paying tariffs and game consoles drop from 35% to 20%. More competition and converging prices without dismantling Tierra del Fuego, which gains a brand-new direct channel to sell to the mainland (R4 · opening and deregulation). thesis
Where it lands, province by province
Applies the same nationwide
No effect lands differently in any one province: it applies the same across the country.
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