It is not necessary to explain the role that Customs dispatcher meets today in Argentine foreign trade. Any person linked to imports and exports knows it: it is the key gear that keeps an increasingly dynamic, complex and changing structure in motion.
With the arrival of the current government, and under the conduct of the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, foreign trade is constantly crossed by regulatory changes. Customs, port terminals and technical organizations in merchandise begin to align with the aim of building a “simpler trade”. Although, in many cases, that supposed simplification is nothing more than a theoretical slogan.
Sturzenegger was put with the president’s thumb and with a clear mission: to erase the above and design from scratch a new regulatory scheme. But the big question is: are these changes optimal? Do they arise from the deep knowledge of matter, from technical ignorance, or from a dangerous improvisation of ignorance?
From my experience as a professional of international trade, I can affirm with conviction that a large part of the new standards seem to respond to a diffuse logic, closer to the test and error method than to a solid strategy. Some standards are launched without evaluating their concrete applicability, generating more bureaucracy than that they supposedly try to eliminate.
Paradoxically, this stage of transformation has further strengthened the figure of customs dispatcher. Precisely because of complexity and normative uncertainty, his intervention is today essential to act. In a notorious contradiction, the same DNU that sought to underestimate the profession, ended up revaluing it. The result: Customs dispatcher is today at its most prominent point.
The so -mentioned “simplification” is heard in conferences and headlines. But inside doors, those who work every day know that operating deviations, normative gray, and the increase in values by importing an appliance of the white line, as well as bureaucratic obstacles are still as present as ever. Therefore, more than ever, foreign trade needs professionals with criteria, conviction and commitment.
In addition, the service of the Customs dispatcher has evolved. Today it is no longer limited to the office or the study of official newsletters. Today the dispatcher participates in the entire cycle of an operation: from the initial advice, the registration of the importer/exporter, the international logistics coordination, the payments, the documentary operation, to the nationalization and final delivery of the merchandise in the domestic market. It is present throughout the process. While other system actors such as customs officials are limited to their administrative or operational section (without underestimating the important work they fulfill and with the respect they have), the dispatcher follows the complete route.
Is the figure of the customs dispatcher disappear?
No. personal I answer and say that it will not disappear. It is true that he suffered a shake with 70/2023 DNU. But we are in the 21st century, and professional conversion is part of this new era. The dispatcher who does not adapt will lose prominence. But those who evolve, form and reinvent themselves, will have more weight than ever.
To disappear our figure, as some sectors wish, restrictions should be eliminated, bring tariffs to zero and allow each importer to operate without technical assistance. That is unimaginable to a short and I doubt also in the long term, thinking would be naive. In addition, there is no government with solid continuity, sufficient political strategy and will to carry it out in the long term.
Meanwhile, the opposite happens: the more improvised standards the architect of deregulation dictates, the more necessary the professional who understands, orders them and makes them work in practice becomes. The Customs Dispatcher Change: Today, more than ever, he leads and is the protagonist in the total film of each import and export.
This is also reflected on the client side. While some seek to delegitimize our function, current or potential importers and exporters need us more than ever. It is a logical issue: the greater the normative stir, greater need for interpretation, of coordination, of precision by us. And there, the customs dispatcher takes prominence and leads the operation. Because when everything changes endlessly, the only thing that cannot be missing is someone who knows how to act.
Agustin Paez Romairone
Customs dispatcher
Partner 6851 of the Historic Customs Center of Customs, an institution that supports our work since 1912.
[email protected]
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