In a free zone, customs legislation is not applied or is applied in a differentiated manner to favor imports and exports.
A free zone is a specific geographical area that is intended for industrialization for export purposes . It is an area of the territory of a national State where customs legislation is applied differently or not at all , so goods of foreign origin can enter and remain or be transformed without being subject to the normal tax regime.
Before continuing with the analysis of the term that concerns us now, we must determine its etymological origin. Thus, it is established that the first word that makes it up emanates from Latin and specifically from the word zona , which in turn comes from Greek and can be translated as "belt" or "girdle." The second word, Frank, for its part, has its etymological origin in the French word Frank, which can be determined to mean "free."
In addition to all of the above, we can also establish that, sometimes, a free zone is considered synonymous with a free port . A clear allusion thus to the similarity they maintain with the well-known customs duty-free ports.
Characteristics of a free zone
The entry and exit of merchandise in a free zone is usually considered as import and export respectively. The permanence of the products within the zone can be indefinite, since there are no deadlines for their extraction or withdrawal.
Generally, storage , commercial, service and industrial activities are carried out in free zones, in the latter case only for export, with the exception of those of capital goods that do not have a history of production in the territory. general customs or in special customs areas.
One of the largest free zones in the world is located in Colón (Panama).
Some examples
In the case of Mercosur , for example, member countries apply the current tariff to third countries to goods that come from free zones. In pertinent cases, the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding safeguard clauses and subsidies are also applied to them.
The largest free zone in the West is located in Colón , in Panama . In Argentina , there are free zones in La Plata ( Buenos Aires ), Córdoba , Mendoza , Tucumán , Santa Fe , Comodoro Rivadavia ( Chubut ) and San Luis . In Spain , there are free zones in Barcelona and Cádiz .
Free zones in Spain
In the case of Cádiz , the free zone is characterized because it exists from parking lots, business centers or industrial estates and warehouses to various types of land.
However, in the case of Spain we can also talk about other cities and provinces that have their respective free zone. This would be the case, for example, of the Galician city of Vigo and also of the Canary archipelago where we find the free zone of Tenerife and also the free zone of Gran Canaria .
Specifically, that of the Tenerife island has its origin in the second half of the 19th century, in the year 1852 , when a Royal Decree was published that established the proclamation of free ports in this and other areas of Spanish territory.