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Temporary admission, customs warehouses, processing regimes and transit in Paraguay

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Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Stable

Paraguay's Customs Code lets goods move, be stored, used temporarily or processed with customs tax suspended: transit, customs warehouses, temporary admission, active and passive processing and transformation under customs control. Almost all of them require a guarantee costing 1 percent a month on the guaranteed amount, and lapses turn the goods into taxed imports. Fines are specific: 40 to 90 monthly minimum wages for skipping agreed processing, 1 percent of FOB for passive processing goods not returned, 2 percent a month for late transformation clearances.

USD figures use PYG 5,868.31 per US dollar, the Banco Central del Paraguay reference quotation in the planilla of 28 October 2026. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Advance notice to waive re export (abandon or destroy)	20 business daysLey 2422/2004 art. 173, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Fine for re exporting without the agreed processing	40 to 90 monthly minimum wages Ley 2422/2004 art. 189, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Fine for passive processing goods not returned	1 percent of FOB value %Ley 2422/2004 art. 200, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Deadline to import transformed products	12 monthsLey 2422/2004 art. 212, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Late clearance fine, transformation regime	2 per month on customs value %Ley 2422/2004 art. 209, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Maquila raw materials maximum stay	12 months, extendable once monthsLey 7547/2025 art. 14, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Monthly minimum wage used for customs fines	3044000 PYGRes. MTESS 670/2026, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
BCP reference rate used for conversions (28 Oct 2026)	5868.31 PYGBCP planilla de cotizaciones, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Transit. Goods can move under customs control from one customs office to another with duty suspended: direct international transit (entry to exit office), inland transit (entry to an inland office) or river transit. The beneficiary must post a guarantee for taxes and accessories unless an international convention says otherwise, and the carrier and transport agent are jointly liable from release for transit until it ends. Shortages are presumed imported for consumption and taxed; excess goods are seized.
Cost to do it: Guarantee for the suspended taxes, with interest of 1 percent a month on the guaranteed amount (art. 296).Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 153 to 161, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

2. Customs warehouse regime. Foreign goods for import and national goods for export may be stored with full suspension of customs tax for the term and on the conditions set by regulation, split into lots, moved between warehouses under guarantee and sold while in storage. Storage warehouses allow only handling that keeps the nature and value; commercial warehouses allow presentation and distribution work; industrial warehouses allow transformation, assembly and repair under the active processing rules. When the term expires without re export or another regime, the goods are deemed abandoned. No guarantee is required from the beneficiary when goods enter the warehouse regime.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 137 num. 2, 163 to 165, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Temporary admission for re export in the same state. Foreign goods may stay for a specific purpose with total or partial suspension of customs tax and must be re exported unchanged within the term. A guarantee is required (except for public law entities), customs can inspect premises and stocks at any time, and if an obligation is breached the goods are deemed imported for consumption and taxed, plus sanctions. The obligation to re export can be waived by abandonment to the State, destruction or making the goods worthless, if requested at least 20 business days before the term ends; extensions are exceptional.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 166 to 175, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. Drawback. Drawback refunds all or part of the import customs tax paid on goods that are exported, on goods contained in the exported product or consumed in producing it; its formalities and requirements are left to regulation.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 177, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

5. Temporary admission for active processing. Persons established in Paraguay may import foreign goods with total or partial suspension of tax to transform, assemble, repair or pack them and re export the resulting product, including consumables that disappear in the process. Customs fixes the term, conditions and yield coefficient, treats the premises as primary customs zone for inspection, and requires computerised stock records and periodic reports. Goods may be transferred only with prior authorisation, the transferee becoming jointly liable. Exporting the goods without the processing done, in whole or in part, is fined 40 to 90 monthly minimum wages. Waste with commercial value not re exported pays import taxes.
Example: Fine for re exporting without the agreed processing: PYG 121,760,000 to PYG 273,960,000 at the PYG 3,044,000 monthly minimum wage from 1 July 2026. / About US$20,749 to US$46,685.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 178 to 190, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

6. Temporary export for passive processing. Goods in free circulation can leave for processing abroad with tax suspended and return as the resulting product, paying import tax only on the value added abroad; warranty repairs done free of charge return exempt. Not allowed for goods imported with a conditional exemption still in force. If the goods do not return in time, the beneficiary must report it and convert the operation into a definitive export; otherwise customs cancels the regime and fines 1 percent of the FOB value of the goods not returned.
Example: Machinery worth PYG 293,415,500 FOB sent abroad for repair and not returned or regularised: fine PYG 2,934,155. / US$50,000 FOB not returned: fine US$500.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 192 to 202, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

7. Transformation under customs control. Foreign goods may be transformed in Paraguay with full tax suspension and then imported definitively as the transformed product, where the foreign inputs are identifiable and cannot economically be restored. Definitive import of the transformed products must happen within 12 months (extendable for cause); a late request for consumption clearance triggers an automatic fine of 2 percent a month on the customs value, and goods not transformed in time are deemed abandoned.
Example: Transformed goods with a PYG 293,415,500 customs value cleared two months late: PYG 11,736,620. / US$50,000 customs value two months late: US$2,000.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 203 to 214, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

8. Export with reserve of return and returned goods. Customs may authorise exports with reserve of return, suspending export taxes and possibly requiring a bond, and may convert them into definitive exports. Definitively exported goods that come back pay no import duty if they were sent on consignment and not sold, were technically defective, failed the importing country's technical or sanitary rules, were affected by a change in its trade rules, or by war or catastrophe. Goods sent free of charge under a warranty may replace imported or exported goods tax free.Ley Nº 2422/2004 Código Aduanero, Art. 131, 151 and 241, 2004-07-30 official text · verified 2026-10-28

9. Maquila temporary imports. Approved maquila programmes import raw materials and inputs temporarily for 12 months from import, extendable once by joint ministerial resolution for no longer than the original term, while machinery and other capital goods may stay while the programme is in force. Containers and trailer boxes may stay 12 months from the arrival declaration.Ley Nº 7547/2025 Del régimen de maquila, Art. 14, 2025-09-08 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Regime	What it allows	Term	Guarantee	Main sanction	Articles
Transit	Moving goods between customs offices with tax suspended	Per regulation	Yes, unless a convention exempts	Shortage taxed; excess seized	153 to 161
Customs warehouse	Storage, commercial or industrial operations with tax suspended	Per regulation	Not for entry into the regime; yes for moves	Abandonment at expiry	163 to 165
Temporary admission	Use in Paraguay and re export unchanged	Set by customs, exceptional extensions	Yes	Deemed import plus sanctions	166 to 175
Active processing	Import inputs, process, re export	Set by customs	Yes	40 to 90 monthly minimum wages	178 to 190
Passive processing	Export for processing abroad and return	Set by customs	Yes	1 percent of FOB if not returned	192 to 202
Transformation under control	Transform, then import the product	12 months to import, extendable	Yes	2 percent a month late fine	203 to 214

Suspensive and special customs regimes in the Customs Code

Worked example

A contractor brings a US$50,000 crane for a 10 month project under temporary admission: it posts a guarantee for the suspended taxes (interest 1 percent a month on the guaranteed amount, art. 296), re exports it unchanged before the term ends, and the guarantee is released. If it decides to sell the crane locally instead, the import taxes in force when the new declaration is registered apply (art. 168).
An assembler imports US$50,000 of parts under active processing but exports them unprocessed: fine of 40 to 90 monthly minimum wages, PYG 121,760,000 to PYG 273,960,000 (about US$20,749 to US$46,685).

Step by step

1. Choose the regime by business purpose: transit, warehouse, temporary admission, active or passive processing, transformation, or maquila for contract manufacturing for a foreign parent.
2. Apply through the broker with a description, technical data and the planned term; for processing regimes agree the yield coefficient with customs (art. 184 and 213).
3. Post the guarantee in an accepted form (cash, bank guarantee, insurance bond, pledge or mortgage, warrant) (art. 293).
4. Keep computerised stock records that match imports and exports (art. 187).
5. Diary the expiry; ask to waive re export at least 20 business days before the end (art. 173) or request a justified extension in time.

Common traps

A suspensive regime that lapses becomes a definitive import taxed at the rules in force on the new declaration date, plus sanctions (art. 168 and 174).
The active processing fine is fixed in minimum wages (40 to 90), so it can exceed the duty at stake on small consignments (art. 189).
Transfers of goods under active processing need prior customs approval and make the transferee jointly liable (art. 188).
Goods imported duty free for a specific use stay under customs control after release and cannot be transferred without authorisation (art. 130); transfer within five years without paying the exempted taxes is smuggling (art. 336 k as amended by Ley 6417/2019).
Drawback exists in the Code only as a concept; its procedure depends on regulations not reviewed here (art. 177).

Sources

Related: Paraguay country profile · live dashboard · central bank and release calendar · our posts on X · where Argentina is involved, see The Argentine Thread guide

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