The possibility that customs now gives to bring in tax-free larger televisions and more alcoholic beverages or perfumes from abroad aims to improve control when entering through the airport and focus on the most expensive goods – above 1000 dollars – or those that, due to their volume, can be commercial use and consequently affect collection.

This was explained by the director of the National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae), Ralph Suástegui. Control also focuses on those who ‘buy’ places from passengers to bring goods and who move between 2,000 and 3,000 kilograms per arrival hall.

A TV up to 60 inches and five liters of liquor, which is allowed to enter Ecuador by plane without paying taxes

On September 15, Senae updated the list of passengers’ personal belongings by issuing a decision noting the change in quantities and products considered as goods accompanying a passenger or family group.

For example:

After six years, there is a change in the list of things that passengers can bring by plane. “What we are doing is a regulatory update, this regulation was not updated six years ago, the measures were not significantly revised for some time,” Suástegui said this Wednesday, September 20, in Teleamazonas.

According to the official, with the update, they are prioritizing resources so that control focuses on what significantly affects collection: “those goods above $1,000 or in quantities that can be considered commercial.”

He cited the case of vitamin supplements as an example. If a person exceeded the permissible weight, the record of arrest and settlement was made for minimal values, due to which “the traveler wasted time, and the customs officers spent valuable time that should be used to control other types of crime in the same room. “Arrivals.”

“If someone brings another bottle of pills, it has no real impact on customs collection; However, this obviously happens when someone brings in 30 bottles of pills, but if we have limited staff to control each bottle and are not focused on controlling those people who are really causing problems in the arrivals hall, these results cannot be achieved. achieve,” he explained.

Suástegui pointed out that this approach, which is complemented by this legal reform, is already applied by customs and that it has enabled them to collect more or it is predicted to be the highest collection in the last three years per incoming hall, carrying out controls on items such as electronic cigarettes, technology, etc., not including passengers’ personal belongings such as televisions, cell phones, among others.

“We have the highest values ​​of controls and calculations carried out this year, precisely because resources are a priority,” he assured.

The scanners will be operational in all Guayaquil ports by the first half of next November, said Ralph Suástegui, director of Senaa.

Senae also focused on controlling the “fake”. couriers“, because they consider people who promote their services through social media accounts and are not the ones who travel, but buy within the travel quota. Guayaquil and Quito would be the cities where they work the most. “More or less” they detected that there are people, most of them natural, who transfer 2000, 3000 kilos per month in the arrivals hall. “We will act on them, because there is already an organization that is structured to commit a crime and all the weight of the law will have to fall on them,” he assured.

In these cases, Senae works hand in hand with the Tax Administration (SRI) and the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE) to identify not only customs offenses but also related offences.