Importing mining equipment duty-free: the list and the procedure

Section 21 of Law 24,196 exempts capital goods, special equipment, parts, spares, accessories and inputs bound for mining from import duties. This resolution says, for the first time since 2019, how that exemption is used and on which goods. 1) The list (Annex II). It approves the list of Mercosur Common Nomenclature tariff positions that may be imported under the regime. It is a bare list, with no descriptions: we counted 1,447 positions, all distinct, and they are not evenly spread — 660 are machinery (358 from chapter 84, mechanical, and 302 from chapter 85, electrical), 103 are measuring and control instruments, 93 iron or steel articles, 70 plastics and 63 vehicles and tractors. And if the position you need is not there, you can ask for it to be added: s. 3 of Annex I requires «a certificate issued by an independent engineer attesting to the technical essentiality and exclusive mining use» of the goods, and the National Mining Investment Directorate has 60 business days to report. 2) The procedure (Annex I). A sworn declaration of mining destination is filed through TAD, one per import operation and up to thirty items; once admitted it travels to ARCA's Customs through the Single Window (VUCEA) to be validated in the Malvina computer system, and only then is the import cleared. The sworn declaration remains valid as long as the beneficiary stays registered under Law 24,196 and is not suspended. 3) Used and reconditioned equipment, yes — with rules. Used goods enter with a certificate of fitness for mining use issued before the sworn declaration (or within 60 calendar days of clearance, exceptionally). And s. 14 defines what «reconditioned» means through three requirements that must all be met: full dismantling down to main systems, component-by-component testing against the original manufacturer's specifications, and documented performance tests. If all three are not met, the good is treated as used for every purpose. 4) When the equipment is released. Section 24 presumes the useful life exhausted, and with it releases the good from the regime, after 15 years (locomotives, generators, mobile cranes, large-scale drilling), 10 years (surface equipment, capital goods of processing plants, aircraft) and 8 years (underground mining, pick-ups, light utility vehicles and everything else). 5) It does not stack with the RIGI: anyone in that regime must declare the goods are not covered by its customs incentives, and if the positions already appear on the RIGI list the declaration is rejected. The resolution also repeals Resolutions 89/2019 and 15/2020, which were the previous procedure. verif · Sep 1, 2026 ↗

⚠️ The rule has been in force since 1 September 2026, but the procedure still cannot be started, and that is written into the text itself. Section 5 sets entry into force on publication. Section 4 says something else: the procedure «shall apply to filings started from the date this resolution enters into force and once the Trámites a Distancia (TAD) platform is adapted … and the Customs Directorate General of ARCA issues the complementary rules needed to plug the sworn declarations into the Malvina computer system. Neither of those two conditions has a date in the rule. Filings made earlier are resolved under the previous rules. verif · Sep 1, 2026 ↗

⭐ To the mining service provider — and this is the part you do not see from the headline. Section 2 of Annex I places inside the benefit not only the company that works the mine but the «service provider beneficiary» registered in the Mining Investment Registry, for goods assigned «to the provision of the services declared… linked to a specific mining project». In other words: a drilling, assembly, maintenance or laboratory firm can import its own equipment duty-free, if it is registered and if the equipment goes to an identified project. And it can hold stock, with a clock running. Section 10 lets it declare a warehouse of its own as a provisional storage destination — only for parts, components, spares, accessories and inputs, not for machinery — stating the exact location with geographic coordinates and reporting every three months through TAD. But if three months pass from clearance without those goods being effectively assigned to a service for a specific project, they must be released from the regime and the duties paid. To the owner of a mining project it changes the procedure, not the benefit: prior authorisation is out, an automatically validated sworn declaration is in. To anyone in the RIGI it changes a reporting duty: they must state that the goods are not covered by RIGI customs incentives, and declare the tariff position to eleven digits. To the importer of used equipment, it sets out what Customs will say yes to, and on what paperwork. verif · Sep 1, 2026 ↗