In brief
The National Executive issued Decree No. 5,198 (“Decree”)1 on 31 December 2025.
The Decree partially reforms the Customs Tariff Schedule enacted on 25 April 2024.2 The Decree modifies 1,371 tariff subheadings and two preexisting technical annexes of the Customs Tariff Schedule, corresponding to tariff rates and legal regimes, amendments to the nomenclature of subheadings, and requirements applicable to importers.
The Decree entered into force on 5 January 2026, five days after it was published in the official gazette.
In more detail
The most relevant aspects of the Decree are as follows:
1. Capital goods and information and telecommunications goods
a. The Decree provides that the exemption benefit set forth in Article 65 of the Constituent Decree for the Partial Reform of the VAT Law may be applied jointly with the Certificate of Exoneration of the Common External Tariff granted by the Foreign Trade Committee (“COMEX”)3 for goods identified as capital goods and information and telecommunications goods. This consolidates the process into a single procedure.
2. Legal regimes
The Decree modifies the following legal regimes:
a. Legal Regime 9 has been amended from “Import License administered by the Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Trade and International Investment” to “COMEX Permit.”
b. Legal Regime 11 has been amended from “Permit issued by the Ministry of the Popular Power for Petroleum” to “Permit issued by the Ministry of Popular Power for Petroleum.”
3. Tariff modifications
a. The Decree establishes the preferential and immediate application of 753 tariff subheadings that include goods such as edible meat and offal, fish, vegetable juices and extracts, cane sugar and sucrose, petroleum oils, and upholstery articles. To see the modifications, click here.
b. The Decree modifies the Legal Regime 636 subheadings that include goods such as fish, olive oil and medicines. To see the modifications, click here.
c. To see an overview of the modifications, click here.
d. In general, the tariff modifications tend to favor domestic industry over the importation of finished products, returning to the protectionist approach toward goods produced in Venezuela.
4. Requirements
a. Legal Regime 9 is established as a prerequisite for the issuance of the qualifications of Imported Assembly Material for Vehicles4 by the Ministry of Popular Power for Industries and National Production.
b. The issuance of (i) Legal Regime 6, “Sanitary Permit from the Ministry of Popular Power with authority over productive agriculture and land”; (ii) Legal Regime 13, “Sanitary Registration Certificate issued by the Ministry of the Popular Power for Productive Agriculture and Lands”; and (iii) Legal Regime 3, “Sanitary Permit from the Ministry of the Popular Power for Health” must be requested through the Automated COMEX System. In this way, the required permits are centralized in a single body, without overlapping with the purpose of the Single Window for Foreign Trade, whose practical effectiveness has not been as expected.
c. The Sanitary Registration Certificate issued by the National Institute of Hygiene “Rafael Rangel” shall be a prerequisite for the issuance of Legal Regime 3, with the exception of therapeutic or prophylactic medicines, which may obtain a temporary 180‑day permit without the need for this initial registration.
A 30‑day grace period is granted from the effective date of the Decree (i.e., until 3 February 2026) for enforcing legal regimes 9, 11 and 20. However, this is only applicable to tariff codes that were not previously subject to these legal regimes before the Decree entered into force.
We remain at your disposal should you require further detail or explanation regarding the general aspects of the Decree highlighted in this alert, or for any related inquiries.
Download the Spanish version of "Venezuela: New partial amendment to the Customs Tariff Schedule."
1 Official gazette No. 6,952 Ext of 31 December 2025.
2 Official gazette No. 6,804 of 25 April 2024.
3 Official gazette No. 6,507 of 29 January 2020.
4 “Partial Reform of the Regulation of the Organic Customs Law on the Regimes of Release, Suspension, and other Special Customs Regimes, published in official gazette No. 5,129 on 30 December 1996, which defines ‘Imported Assembly Material for Vehicles’ as a customs regime in Venezuela for vehicle parts and components intended for importation without assembly, to be produced locally.”