The norm, in detail
Imports without prior permit: from SIRA to a reporting SEDI
Res. 1/2023 Trade Secretariat + Joint GR AFIP-Trade 5466/2023 (Official Gazette Dec 26, 2023)
in forceNATIONAL
Trade opening
Res. 1/2023 and RG 5466/2023 repeal non-automatic licenses: the discretionary SIRA gives way to the SEDI, which only reports the transaction.
What changed and who it applies to
What changed
Two rules signed on 12/22/2023 (published in the Official Gazette on 12/26/2023) dismantle the discretionary prior-approval regime for importing. (1) Resolución 1/2023 of the Trade Secretariat (notice 301300) abrogates Resolución 523/2017 and all its amendments; the recitals describe that regime as the obligation to process Automatic and Non-Automatic Import Licenses by NCM tariff position, so the abrogation eliminates that obligation. (2) Joint General Resolution AFIP-Trade Secretariat 5466/2023 (notice 301303) repeals (art. 15) GR 5271 that governed the SIRA/SIRASE (a prior-approval system with FX quotas) and replaces it with the Import Statistical System (SEDI): an anticipated informational sworn statement, with no discretionary approval. Result: the 'last frontier' of a prior permit to import is eliminated; the importer declares for statistical purposes instead of requesting authorization. The opening was not reversed but deepened: the SEDI itself was later voided by Joint GR ARCA-Secretariat of Industry and Trade 5651/2025 (Official Gazette 02/25/2025), removing the anticipated information. verif Dec 22, 2023 ↗
In force
Both rules are in force from 12/27/2023 (Res. 1/2023: 'the day after its publication'; Joint GR 5466/2023: 'the business day following its publication', the publication being 12/26/2023). The SEDI was in force until 02/26/2025, when Joint GR 5651/2025 voided the anticipated import information. The import opening (no licenses or prior approval) remains in force today. verif Dec 27, 2023 ↗
Are you in or out?
All importers defined in section 1 of art. 91 of the Customs Code, regardless of size or sector. It especially benefits industry and SMEs that import inputs, parts and capital goods and that previously were at the mercy of the SIRA's discretionary approval and of the Non-Automatic Licenses (whose delay could stall an operation indefinitely). It also reaches parties with commercial debt for imports from foreign suppliers, who had to register in the Commercial Debt Registry. Import-intensive satellite chains —oil & gas, mining, metalworking— are the most sensitive to the liberalization. verif Dec 22, 2023 ↗
The norm
Two federal instruments signed on Dec 22, 2023 and published in the Boletín Oficial on Dec 26, 2023. (1) Resolución 1/2023 of the Secretaría de Comercio (Trade Secretariat) of the Ministry of Economy (RSOLU-2023-1-APN-SC#MEC), signed by Pablo Agustín Lavigne — repeals Resolución 523/2017 and its amendments (the Automatic and Non-Automatic Import License regime); in force the day after publication (Dec 27, 2023). (2) Resolución General Conjunta AFIP-Secretaría de Comercio 5466/2023, signed by Florencia Lucila Misrahi (AFIP) and Pablo Agustín Lavigne (Trade) — creates the Sistema Estadístico de Importaciones (SEDI, the import statistics system) and the Padrón de Deuda Comercial por Importaciones con Proveedores del Exterior (register of trade debt for imports from foreign suppliers), and repeals (art. 15) RGC 5271 (SIRA/SIRASE); in force the first business day after publication (Dec 27, 2023). A later rule takes the opening further: RGC ARCA-Secretaría de Industria y Comercio 5651/2025 (BO Feb 25, 2025, notice 321841, in force Feb 26, 2025), which voids the SEDI declarations and repeals arts. 1-9 and 13-14 of RGC 5466/2023. verif Dec 22, 2023 ↗
Our reading
Importing stopped requiring a permit: the SIRA (discretionary prior approval with an FX quota) and the Non-Automatic Licenses —the last great control lever over who bought abroad— fell and were replaced by a simple informational statement, the SEDI, which was later lifted too. It is pure deregulation (R4 · opening and deregulation): it takes the decision of who imports off an official desk and returns it to the company, frees up inputs, parts and capital goods without an authorization procedure and reduces the working capital that used to be immobilized waiting for a yes. The direction is unequivocal: from the last frontier of discretion to a statistical procedure, and then not even that. What is worth watching is that FX access to pay for those imports keeps pace with the permit liberalization —the bottleneck today is FX, not the license paperwork—, but the dismantling of prior administrative control is firm and had no reversal. thesis
Where it lands, province by province1
Neuquén The elimination of the SIRA and the Non-Automatic Licenses frees up the import of upstream equipment, parts and inputs without discretionary prior approval, which relieves the Vaca Muerta service companies and satellite SMEs (oil & gas, metalworking) that depend on imported components (frac pumps, special pipe, sensors, critical parts): before, a delayed Non-Automatic License or SIRA could stall equipment at customs indefinitely; now the administrative barrier falls and only FX management remains. It improves supply predictability and reduces the immobilized working capital of the satellite suppliers, exactly the segment where the local ecosystem plugs in. The benefit for the large operator is smaller (it usually has the muscle to manage permits); the relief concentrates in the satellite SME chain. favorable opening and deregulation thesis
The other rules on this subject19
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Argentina and the US sign their first trade and investment agreementBilateral agreement signed Feb 5, 2026 (no number; submitted to Congress)pending
Industrial export taxes to zero: chemicals, metals and autos export duty-freeDecreto 566/2026 (Official Gazette Jul 1, 2026)in force
Congress approved MERCOSUR's first free trade agreement with an Asian countryMERCOSUR-Singapore treaty · final passage Aug 27, 2026in execution
The RAF stops being an automotive privilege: tax-suspended inputs for all of industryDNU 252/2026 (Official Gazette Apr 17, 2026)in force
Ignacio Aredez· Chief analyst
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