ARGENTINA-GOVERNMENT TO OVERSEE THE GRAIN TRADE.
The Argentine state will resume oversight and issuance authority of grain and oil seed trade permits starting May 1, a government resolution appearing yesterday in the Official Gazette as General Joint Resolution 2595 said. Traditionally, the registry monitoring the grain and oil seed trade has been run by the grain exchanges.
The measure "is aimed at enhancing as well as improving the whole chain of grain trade and especially producers and hoarders," Federal Revenue Service (AFIP) head Ricardo Echegaray yesterday said.
The new trade scheme will be "free of charge, transparent and safe," Echegaray explained. He underlined the importance of the State regaining grain trade oversight functions that had been transferred to the grain exchanges in the 90s.
Echegaray vowed to implement a system to monitor the grain and oil seed trade "guaranteeing all the freedom possible, the necessary level of regulation and with over 190 customer care centers country-wide."
The new measure adds to the re-nationalization earlier this year of the issuance of the bills of lading required for the transport of grains. The bills were previously issued by the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA). "We’ve now set our sights on sales contracts, another instrument of the farm products trade," Echegaray said.
"All the functions, and their response, will be performed in real time," he said.
The AFIP, he said, is to cross-check data on grain sales to find out if the declared volumes match official production registries. Also he said the information could help the government crack down on fiscal non-compliance.
To Echegaray, the new information tracking system boasts five prominent advantages as follows: "increased customer service centers, it’s free-of-charge, uniform treatment (same guidelines for application processing or rejection and assurances of transparent trading)." The new system goes on line on May 1.
Also yesterday, the AFIP, the National Agricultural Trade Monitoring Agency and Road Transport Undersecretariat set the guidelines and operational requirements for the new Bill of Lading for The Transport of Grain by Road and Rail Transport. Regulation 6/2009 — a chapter of General Joint Resolution 2595 — includes a set of operating as well as monitoring amendments resulting from analysis of the bills of lading issuance system.
International transport has been exempted from mandatory use of bills of lading included in Decree 34, dated January 26, 2009.
In further registry news, the government has introduced the so-called "Grain Traceability Code," which was designed to cover grain transport and must be included in every bill of trading.
If someone wants to sell grain to a grain exporter or hoarder, "we must be able to trace who produced it and whether the land area sowed will allow the intended purchase to be completed successfully."
