Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Info provided by the
American Chamber of Commerce of Peru (AmCham Peru)

In effect, a businessman who is ready to export nowadays, must present seven different documents to customs: commercial invoice, certificate of origin, a standard custom declaration, packing list, bill of lading, technical or sanitary certificate and document for handling the cargo. If we consider that each and every one of these papers has to be issued by different authorities in our country, it is quite easy to understand why certain individuals are certainly scared to immerse themselves in this process.

It is not casual that the latest version of the World’s Bank Doing Business ranking placed our country at number 58, evertheless our country goes back to number 71, when considering the commercial exchange component which measures the effectiveness of exports and imports. It is also observed that while in Peru you are required to go through seven different steps which require 24 days before being able to export, in competitor countries like Panama, they require only 3 documents which translate into 9 days until approval of process is ready to go. It is quite evident then, that our businessmen lose competitive edge due to the immense burocracy they have to face.

Due to all this, the only one window, proposed by Mincetur for external commerce, is not only right but urgent in its need to make our external commerce easier and stimulate commercial development. In Colombia, for instance, a similar initiative activated in the year 2004, was able to unify in one single document, the information required in 35 transactions before that, and it also allowed the electronic payment as well as the transfer of pertinent digital information, which reduced the preparation of such paperwork in 20 days, hence increasing competitiveness to the top.

This initiative will also simplify and unify administrative procedures and establish in only window of operations, all the necessary transactions that an operator for external commerce requires. The exporter will only have to go to one place to get all the documents he needs, reducing not only the time invested in this procedure but also the money.

Therefore dear reader, thanks to the commercial agreements that are being negotiated by our country, the exporters will have the benefits of preferential advantages to better access the market and thanks to initiatives like the one window only, the exporting process will be much simpler and easier for everyone.


*Translated by Joceline Frank

Frankly Speaking Inc.