All you need to know to EXPORT from Colombia

Exporting is easier than you think ...

From Colombia to the world 🌎

EXPORT means, send or sell a product from Colombia to a foreign country. 

To do so, you as an exporter must have or meet various requirements, here we number so that you take them into account:

1. Your product
2. The place
3. Tariff item or code HS
4. Export requirements
5. Legal documents (Chamber of commerce, RUT/ID/RUC, VUCE)
6. Price list in dollars
7. VAT / IVA
8. Power of  attorney to the customs broker and to ports (if maritime)

Keep in mind that Colombia has several agreements signed with different countries and regions, these agreements make the value of the taxes of your product at destination if the origin and departure apply are lower, take advantage of that advantage, a lower cost for your client is a competitive advantage for you.

The fact that a product originates from a country with an agreement does not mean that it has tariff preferences, your supplier must tell you whether or not a certificate of origin applies. Keep in mind that the certificate that your supplier is going to issue you must be certifying the valid tariff heading for Colombia, if these are different, in the notes of the certificate it must indicate the correct heading for Colombia.

In the world the items are 6 digits, for Colombia they are 10, your supplier must indicate the item of the product and you must validate if it applies in Colombia, if your supplier does not know, with a technical sheet and a description of the product and its use, the DIAN has a free tool to classify the products, keep in mind that the most important thing to classify is also to read the clarifying notes to be sure that what we think is if it is what the DIAN has.

Once you have the correct item, you must validate the import tax, import requirements with customs authorities, customs and border protection, if the code hs apply for free trade agreement, if you have any previous import registration or license, or reference prices or something that you should take into account in advance.

In order to import into Colombia you must be responsible for VAT, before the common regime, be enabled in the RUT as an importing customs user.

When you already know your purchase quantities, with the invoice and initial packing list we can give you an estimate of import costs, so you will know if the initial order is profitable or you should readjust it.

The importing process takes from 8 to 70 days depending on the origin of the cargo, we suggest you pre-liquidate your import with an exchange rate of COP90 to COP150 above the TRM, so that when you definitively settle the operation you have a margin that is adjusted to the real market value.

Your agent should indicate import costs, departure restrictions, if the cargo due to its classification requires any additional documents and more, always accompanying you step by step.

The weight / volume will be obtained from the packing list, with this information we will know if the cargo applies to a courier, an air, LCL loose cargo or FCL container, when you define the mode we will know the transit time.

Budget yourself with the necessary amounts of money in the times required by the operation, not having them on time can generate costs and delays in the delivery of your merchandise.

With the final documents if they had any changes, the budget must be adjusted, additionally you must indicate to your customs agent that you already have them so that they can begin to process licenses if they are needed or advance the import declarations.

You can pay with a credit card that is in the name of the company or by negotiating the exchange rate at the money table and filling out the forms with the respective codes.

So that we can represent you before the DIAN and the port, your company must authorize us by means of a power of attorney, the time of filing before the different entities varies from 24 to 48 hours, it would seem very simple, but when this process you do not have it ready before When the cargo arrives, the extra costs in port can be up to US100 or more per day of delay.

Import registration is an additional procedure that we present before a specific entity (ICA, INVIMA, SIC, SUPERVIGILANCIA,), this is filed with the VUCE (Single Window of Foreign Trade) and its processing time is 2 to 4 days .

This will facilitate payments to the different entities, and thus we can have release, selectivity and release in the estimated times without over costs for additional storage or container delays in the case of FCL imports.

Once we pass selectivity and we have lift we can proceed with the loading appointment and dispatch to your address, what's more, if you do not have unloading personnel you can also include it in your list of needs. The job of your Trusted Cargo Agent is to facilitate yours, let yourself be advised in advance so that you can make the best decision from the purchase, when you hire an agent, he takes care of almost the entire process, but you as the owner of the cargo it is important that you have clarity in the process.

This is essential to do it in the shortest possible time, the ideal is that it arrives in perfect condition, that is influenced by the packaging, the packaging and the care that was taken with the cargo throughout the entire logistics chain. If you have any news, report in time to claim before the insurer, time is not recovered, but in the event of a claim your insurer will send an expert to verify the loss or damage and the claim process will begin, this takes less than a month so that you have your resources with a good insurer.

Once the operation is finished, the real costs of the import can be taken out, this would basically be the cost of the product + the logistics cost without VAT (since this is refundable) + the financial cost in which you incurred in this operation. Take into account the payment to the provider as it was anticipated, in cash, credit or in several transfers, this will settle the operation with various exchange rates and each transfer will cost you what your bank charges; Some logistics services such as international freight and expenses at origin are also in foreign currency and finally your import declaration is with the exchange rate of the DIAN, there are the exchange variables that you must take into account to close your operation.

Diligence before the bank that you made the bank supplement to legalize the import declarations that your customs agent gave you.

It is time to turn the money around, recover your investment and return the operation from scratch, remember that from A to B, CLM Cargo with more than 14 years of experience is at your service!