Travelers shall pay surtaxes for some shopping at the frontier
President Rafael Correa met with entrepreneurs in the province of Carchi, in order to economically revitalize the area. The president announced that the Customs authorities and the ministries of Foreign Trade and Production will develop, in the next 15 days, an efficient system that permits the collection of surcharges for televisions and appliances at land borders.
This measure will be imposed to ordinary citizens purchasing items for personal use or traders. The Coordinating Ministry of Production clarified it: “Regular imports already pay surcharges, ie importers have always paid safeguards, even if the import from Colombia. What happens here is that there is a simplified declaration for travelers that, when they brought a television or appliance, they only had to declare the good and then pay a tariff. Now they will pay safeguards.”
Source: http://expreso.ec/expreso/plantillas/nota.aspx?idart=8373937&idcat=38229&tipo=2