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2016 OAS Guidelines

2.III.2.3. The applicant can demonstrate sufficient financial capacity to meet its obligations and honor its commitments

Customs authorities can determine whether the applicant is capable of meeting his legal obligations to third parties by reviewing the complete set of financial statements for the past three years, taking into account the following:

  • When required by company law, that the accounts have been submitted within the deadlines set for this purpose. Failure to submit accounts within the required timeframe is an indicator that the company may have problems with its records or be in financial difficulty. If the deadlines have not been met, customs authorities must conduct further investigations to determine the reasons.
  • Reservations raised during audits or observations regarding the continuity of the company's activities, for example, by auditors or members of the board of directors. When internal or external auditors doubt a company's solvency, they may express reservations about the accounts or record those reservations in their reports. Likewise, members of the Board of Directors may, on an exceptional basis, make such observations. In such a case, customs authorities will investigate the reason for the comments with the auditor or board member in question and consider their relevance to the company.
  • Contingent liability elements or provisions for contingencies. The existence of a significant volume of contingent liability items is an indication of the applicant's ability to meet future debts.
  • To assess a company's financial standing, you can use any other financial document, such as the income statement or the cash flow statement.
  • Any ratio analysis available [p. e.g., the current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) that measures the company's responsibility to meet its current obligations with funds from its treasury.
  • Any other conclusions provided by financial or research institutions.
  • Other indicators that may be interesting to evaluate include whether the company has suffered major strikes, lost major projects in which it was involved, or lost important or key suppliers.

If the applicant is subject to a special procedure, such as the Union transit procedure or the customs warehousing procedure in general, they must have previously demonstrated that they have sufficient financial resources to meet their obligations under such procedures. For example, in the case of Union transit, if the applicant has already been granted an authorization to benefit from a reduced amount of the comprehensive guarantee or a guarantee waiver, the customs authorities must take such an authorization into account, as the applicant has already demonstrated that he or she has sufficient financial resources to meet any obligations that may arise during the use of the transit procedure. In such cases, and if the applicant does not carry out other customs-related activities, the customs authorities do not need to review or duplicate the controls previously carried out.