Key facts for Bolivia buyers, as of October 2026
— Bolivia's general 2026 tariff schedule is subject to a five-percentage-point reduction running to 31 December 2027.
— A five-year capital-goods exemption exists, but the exact machine and its used condition must qualify.
— A licensed customs representative files the declaration unless the importer is accredited to file directly.
— At Arica, ASP-B handles port-release and MIC/DTA work for Bolivian transit cargo.
— A UK seller's export VAT treatment depends on exit and valid evidence within 3 months of the time of supply.
— Road-going units have heading-specific age limits; do not apply a single age rule to every machine.
Sources are listed at the end of this guide. Confirm the tariff, exemption, importability, documents and road-vehicle restrictions with the buyer's licensed Bolivian customs representative before purchase.
Can you import used machinery into Bolivia?
The selected unit cannot be treated as automatically admitted or barred. As of October 2026, the customs regulation's used-goods provisions concern vehicles and do not decide the position for those plant headings. The decision for the selected unit belongs to Aduana Nacional through the buyer's licensed customs representative.
The useful starting details are the proposed eight-digit Bolivian tariff line, age, configuration and intended use. The importability answer and the duty answer are different decisions, even though both depend on classification. Keeping them side by side makes a stop decision much clearer.
Road-going units need a separate review. Road tractor units under 8701.20 are treated as banned when over five years old, while goods vehicles under 87.04 are treated as banned when over three years old. The texts for 87.05 and 87.06 conflict, so those headings cannot be generalised.
A right-hand-drive vehicle raises another issue. DS 2232 requires conversion to left-hand drive in a Bolivian industrial free zone and bans steering conversion carried out abroad. Whether the rule remains current and a compliant conversion route exists is machine-specific.
Plant health remains open too. The Chilean transit procedure refers to sanitary inspection where applicable, but it does not settle whether this used machine needs Bolivian action. SENASAG owns the plant-health decision for the selected unit.
One familiar machine name can hide several legal categories. Treat self-propelled plant, a road tractor, a goods vehicle, an implement and a special-purpose vehicle as separate classification questions until the buyer's representative says otherwise.
Our practical view: we'd pause the purchase if the plate details do not support a clean classification route.
Ask Aduana Nacional, SENASAG and the buyer's licensed customs representative to confirm the heading, age method, steering rule, plant-health position and any authorisation.
What should you check before choosing a machine?
A useful comparison starts with one consistent machine identity. These are the October 2026 checks. The file should record the make, model, manufacture year, serial number, configuration, current steering position, road or off-road use and proposed tariff line.
The seller's commercial description should match the plates and photographs. Attachments, loose items and transport configuration belong in the same description. A changed configuration can change the representative's earlier answer.
Our guide to buying construction plant from Europe covers seller checks, inspection and condition before any import decision. Our overseas machinery scam guide covers the seller checks that belong before payment. A pre-purchase inspection can verify the machine's identity and condition before it moves.
For road-going machinery, classification comes before any age or steering decision. For other plant, a machine-specific importability answer is more useful than an assumption that the vehicle rules either include or exclude it.
The pre-purchase note should show which answers are settled, which authority owns each open point and which documents the seller must provide. That makes a stop decision easier if the correct unit cannot be classified or the seller cannot support its description.
Our practical view: we'd check the plate photo before comparing freight, because a weak identity makes every later answer less useful.
Ask the buyer's licensed customs representative to confirm the machine identity, proposed line and road-unit treatment before accepting the seller's description as sufficient.
What duty and import tax checks apply?
A tax estimate only becomes useful once the exact line is known. As of October 2026, DS 5646 reduces AAI-2026 tariff rates by five percentage points from 6 July 2026 to 31 December 2027. An already lower temporary rate remains until its own expiry.
The exact eight-digit line and rate for a machine are not settled. DS 5646 also states a valuation base of transaction value plus loading and unloading plus 10% of transport and insurance to the Bolivian customs office of entry. Its application across the whole Chilean transit leg still needs a route-specific answer.
Law 1755 Article 9 and DS 5709 provide a five-year duty-and-IVA exemption for goods described in the decree's annex for agriculture, industry, construction, transport and mining. Eligibility turns on whether the selected used machine matches that annex and the claim procedure available to it.
The statutory general import IVA rate is 13%. Ley 843 states a base of customs CIF value plus customs duties, charges and other clearance costs, while DS 21530 excludes ICE from that base where ICE applies. The live declaration calculation remains for the buyer's customs representative.
Our Bolivia machinery import duty guide carries the detailed rate-cut, exemption and IVA checks.
Our practical view: we'd compare machines only after the same representative has classified each one, so the tax comparison starts on the same footing.
Ask Aduana Nacional or the buyer's licensed customs representative to confirm the live line, rate, valuation point, exemption eligibility, IVA base and any preference.
Which documents does Bolivian customs require?
The pack starts with the representative's shipment list. As of October 2026, the 12 February 2025 import regulation says an importer accredited as an importador directo may lodge the declaration without a customs agent. Otherwise, a licensed and bonded despachante handles it.
The regulation names the commercial invoice, transport document, receipt record, applicable authorisations or certificates, insurance, transport-cost invoice, importer-signed DAV where required and the ASP-B port-expense document where applicable. It lists a certificate of origin only when a treaty requires one.
Those categories are a starting point, not a complete list for every machine. The selected unit and route determine which authorisations, certificates and value papers belong in the pack. A consistent consignee and machine identity keeps the seller's invoice and carrier instructions usable.
The same regulation says customs taxes are paid in bolivianos within three working days after the import declaration is accepted. The live payment instruction and deadline are declaration-specific.
A useful document index has one owner and status for each item. Mark whether a document comes from the seller, carrier, ASP-B, insurer, importer or authority. That is practical control, not a replacement for the representative's final list.
Our practical view: we'd use one document index, because it shows quickly whether the seller and carrier are working from the same machine identity.
Ask Aduana Nacional or the buyer's licensed customs representative to confirm the importer accreditation, filing route, payment instruction and complete shipment pack.
How does machinery reach Bolivia through Arica?
The sea movement and landlocked transit work as one chain. As of October 2026, ASP-B acts for Bolivian transit cargo at Arica. It handles port-release work and registers the MIC/DTA road-transit document.
Chile's procedure for Arica, Iquique and Antofagasta separates Bolivian transit cargo. It uses the Chilean DPU and Bolivian DPUB documents together, with an electronically prepared MIC/DTA for road exit.
The 2009 procedure allows one year in transit storage followed by 90 days under general storage before possible auction. That is a dated procedural rule, not a target timetable. A later amendment could change the procedure or time limits for the planned movement.
These rules do not promise a sailing, port dwell time, border time or delivery date. A workable route still needs a named vessel, loading arrangement, Chilean release, bonded road leg, hand-off and Bolivian entry plan. The transport documents are useful only when they describe the same machine that the customs representative classified.
A port or border question may require a quick response from the importer. One hand-off note can hold the commercial, insurance, transport and authority contacts before the machine leaves Europe.
Our practical view: we'd keep the port and road hand-offs on one page so nobody treats the Arica release as the end of the journey.
Ask the forwarder and ASP-B to confirm the current transit documents, storage treatment, road hand-off and any later amendment.
How should a UK or European purchase be structured?
The invoice and export-evidence route belong in the purchase plan before collection. Here is the October 2026 position. A UK VAT-registered seller may zero-rate an export only if the goods leave the United Kingdom and the seller holds valid export evidence within three months of the time of supply.
For an indirect export, the seller may require a VAT deposit until it receives that evidence. The transaction still needs a settled invoice treatment and proof route.
For an EU purchase, Article 146 exempts goods sent outside the European Union by or on behalf of the vendor, or by or on behalf of a customer not established in that state, with a right to deduct. It does not settle exporter identity, proof requirements or margin-scheme treatment for the particular sale.
The export-side invoice decision is separate from Bolivia's import IVA and customs declaration. One concerns how the seller treats its sale; the other belongs to the buyer's Bolivian representative. The documents still need to agree on buyer, seller, machine and transport.
Our practical view: we'd settle the seller's invoice route before arranging collection, because the export evidence has to describe the deal actually made.
Ask the UK or EU seller and its tax adviser to confirm the exporter, invoice, proof and any deposit or margin-scheme treatment.
The pre-purchase checklist
For the position as of October 2026, complete these checks before you commit to a machine for Bolivia:
Our practical view: we'd keep this checklist to one page and mark every open item as a stop or go decision.
— Send the exact make, model, manufacture year, serial number and proposed line to the buyer's customs representative for a written importability answer.
— Ask for a written rate assessment covering DS 5646 and the Law 1755 and DS 5709 annex.
— Obtain the current IVA treatment and declaration base for this machine.
— Establish whether the importer will use accredited direct-import status or appoint a licensed despachante.
— Build the document pack from the customs representative's shipment-specific list.
— If the machine is road-going, have the representative settle its heading, age method, steering position and any conversion route before paying.
— Ask SENASAG in writing whether plant-health action or particular cleaning evidence is required.
— Ask the seller to state its UK or EU export-VAT treatment and required evidence before invoice.
Put a named owner and stop condition beside each open item. A seller answer cannot replace an Aduana Nacional decision, and a freight booking cannot make an unresolved importability point disappear.
Before releasing the purchase, have the buyer's licensed customs representative confirm that the importability, classification, tax and document questions have been answered for the selected machine.
Working with a buying agent who already does this
Euro Plant Finder works on the sourcing and export side. We find machinery in the UK and Europe, check the seller, arrange inspection and coordinate the seller-side document hand-off.
The buyer's accredited importer or licensed Bolivian customs representative classifies, declares and clears the machine. We coordinate with that representative so the inspected unit and export documents match what they request.
Our practical view: we'd bring the Bolivian representative into the conversation before the seller and carrier finalise their paperwork.
Before purchase, ask the buyer's licensed Bolivian customs representative to confirm the classification, importability and shipment-specific document list for the selected machine.
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Can I import a used excavator into Bolivia?
The answer is not settled for a used excavator simply because it is construction plant. As of October 2026, Bolivia's used-goods provisions concern vehicles and do not decide the position for excavators or other plant families. Give the exact unit, proposed eight-digit line, age and intended use to Aduana Nacional through the buyer's licensed customs representative, and obtain a written importability and authorisation answer before purchase.
What documents are needed to import machinery into Bolivia?
As of October 2026, the supporting categories named by Aduana Nacional include the commercial invoice, transport document, receipt record, applicable authorisations or certificates, insurance, transport-cost invoice, importer-signed DAV where required and the ASP-B port-expense document where applicable. A certificate of origin is listed only when a treaty requires it. That is not a promise that every shipment uses the same pack. The buyer's customs representative must issue the final machine- and route-specific list.
Does used machinery enter Bolivia duty free?
Do not assume so. As of October 2026, DS 5646 reduces AAI-2026 tariff rates by five percentage points for a stated period, while Law 1755 and DS 5709 create a five-year duty-and-IVA exemption for goods described in an annex. The exact eight-digit line and a used machine's eligibility are not settled. Ask the buyer's customs representative for a written rate and annex assessment. See our Bolivia machinery import-duty guide for the detailed checks.
Can right-hand-drive machinery be imported into Bolivia?
It depends on whether the unit is treated as a road vehicle. As of October 2026, DS 2232 says a right-hand-drive vehicle must be converted to left-hand drive in a Bolivian industrial free zone and bans conversion carried out abroad. Before buying, ask the buyer's licensed customs representative to confirm whether the rule remains current, how the unit is classified and whether a compliant conversion route is available for that machine.
How is heavy machinery shipped to Bolivia?
The import is commonly planned through Chilean transit, with Arica one gateway. As of October 2026, ASP-B handles port-release work for Bolivian transit cargo and registers the MIC/DTA road-transit document. The Chilean procedure uses DPU and DPUB documents together and an electronic MIC/DTA for road exit. Do not treat that as a sailing or delivery promise. Ask the forwarder and ASP-B to confirm the planned route, current procedure, storage terms and hand-off into Bolivia.
Can Euro Plant Finder handle the Bolivia customs side?
No. Euro Plant Finder works on the sourcing and export side: finding machinery in the UK and Europe, checking the seller, arranging inspection and coordinating seller-side documents. The buyer's accredited direct importer or licensed Bolivian customs representative must classify, declare and clear the machine. We coordinate with that representative so the inspected machine, invoice and transport information match the shipment-specific requirements, but we do not lodge the Bolivian import declaration or act as importer.
Sources and last check
This guide was last checked on 26 October 2026 against the official sources below. It is general guidance, not a quotation or legal advice: rates and rules change, so confirm anything that affects your machine with your customs representative or the authority named.
— Aduana Nacional: Aduana Nacional import regulation RD 01-006-25 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: DS 5646 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: Law 1755 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: DS 5709 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: Law 1314 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: Ley 843 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: DS 21530 (checked 23 October 2026)
— Administración de Servicios Portuarios – Bolivia: ASP-B (checked 23 October 2026)
— Servicio Nacional de Aduanas de Chile: Chile customs Res. 6153 (checked 23 October 2026)
— HM Revenue & Customs: Notice 703 (checked 7 October 2026)
— European Commission: European Commission (checked 23 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: DS 4687 (checked 7 October 2026)
— Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia: DS 2232 (checked 23 October 2026)