Pharmaceutical sector calls for reversal of move hitting imports

The Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Cifar) requested the Executive Power to "keep" pharmaceutical products in list 1 of the Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi), to revert a resolution published last week.

"It is very important to keep (pharmaceutical products) in list 1," said Ángel Márquez, Cifar Executive Vice- President, in regards to change of the tariff headings as published in the Official Gazette No 39,890 on August 7.

Eighty-three percent of final pharmaceutical products and 12% of bulk materials for their domestic production were included in list 2 after the change. This decision forces application for non-production certificate (CNP) before requesting US dollars for import.

"We are very worried about this, about the change of products that now require CNP. Time to import is going to be longer," stated Márquez.

Some of the drugs in list 2 are: analgesic, anesthetic, and antiasthmatic drugs, as well as drugs for diabetes and cholesterol. In the case of bulk materials, the measure affected the tariff headings of ibuprofen, diclofenac, omeprazole, saccharin and magnesium sulfate, among others.

Translated by Karina Salas