Bolivia’s 2026 Import Customs Tariff: what’s in it and how to read it
Bolivia’s Ministry of Economy published the 2026 Import Customs Tariff. Here’s the official link and a guide to finding your tariff code, its duty rate and the documents it requires before you ship.
If you import into Bolivia, this is the document to keep at hand all year. The Ministry of Economy and Public Finance (MEFP), through the Vice Ministry of Tax Policy, published the 2026 Import Customs Tariff (Arancel Aduanero de Importaciones 2026), with its version updated to March 3, 2026.
Download it here: 2026 Import Customs Tariff (official PDF, about 34 MB, in Spanish). It’s also on the MEFP Customs Tariffs page.
The essentials
- In force: since January 1, 2026, approved by Ministerial Resolution No. 557 of December 31, 2025, under article 299 of the Regulation of the General Customs Law (Supreme Decree No. 25870).
- Basis: the NANDINA, the Andean Community’s common nomenclature, itself based on the Harmonized System. It includes the changes of the 7th Amendment of the Harmonized System.
- Customs duty (GA): rates range from 0% to 40% in 5-point steps (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40%), under Supreme Decree No. 29349 of 2007 and its amendments.
- VAT: every import pays import VAT (article 3 of Law 843), except those exempted by law. Exemptions are listed in Appendix II.
How it’s organized
The book runs to more than 500 pages, but its structure is simple:
- The Ministerial Resolution that approves it.
- Annex 1: general considerations, abbreviations, the General Rules of Interpretation of the nomenclature, the index by section and chapter, and the full tariff text.
- Five appendices:
- I. Vehicles subject to excise tax (ICE).
- II. Goods exempt from import VAT.
- III. The tariff’s structure: what each column means.
- IV. Basic information on import regulations: which agency issues each permit (for example, SENASAG or AGEMED), which document it requires and where to apply.
- V. The binding classification rulings issued by the Andean Community.
How to read a tariff line
Each subheading shows, from left to right:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Code | The subheading: the first two digits are the chapter, four the heading, six the Harmonized System subheading and eight the NANDINA subheading. Bolivia’s tariff adds a national breakdown. |
| Description | The official description of the goods. |
| GA % | The customs duty you pay on the taxable base. |
| ICE – IEHD | Flags, for reference, whether the goods pay excise tax (ICE) or the special hydrocarbons tax (IEHD). |
| Physical unit | The unit of measure: kilogram, liter, unit, etc. |
| Border clearance | Whether the goods must be cleared at the border (Supreme Decree No. 2295 of 2015). |
| Additional document | Whether you need a prior authorization, certificate, technical-regulation compliance or sworn statement, which agency issues it and under which rule. Prohibited goods are flagged here too. |
| Tariff preferences | Reductions on the duty under trade agreements: Andean Community, Mercosur (ACE 36), Chile (ACE 22), Cuba (ACE 47), Mexico and Venezuela. |
Five things to check before you ship
- Classify the goods correctly. The wrong code changes the duty, the permits and even whether you can import at all. Use the General Rules of Interpretation and check whether the Andean Community has already issued a binding ruling for your product (Appendix V).
- Sort out additional documents early. If your heading requires a prior authorization or certificate, get it before the cargo arrives: without it, clearance stops.
- Check whether your origin gets a preference. If you buy from a country with an agreement, the duty may drop, as long as you meet the agreement’s rules of origin and hold the matching certificate.
- Don’t forget the other taxes. Besides the duty there is import VAT and, depending on the goods, ICE or IEHD.
- Confirm with your customs broker. The tariff is the official reference, but final classification and the tax assessment happen at clearance.
Bringing it into a system
If you import often, the import declaration (DIM) and customs charges shouldn’t live in a separate spreadsheet. An ERP like MKA can group the orders, the shipment, the charges and the DIM in one import file and carry that cost into inventory; that’s how the imports module handles it.