Processed food needs an ARCSA notification, fresh food an Agrocalidad permit, every pack a traffic-light label — and staples face the Andean price band. Here is the tariff, the tax stack with a worked example, the registrations, the label and what Paraguayan exporters should check.
Food entering Ecuador answers to two regulators. ARCSA, the health regulator, controls processed and packaged food through a product-by-product notificación sanitaria (sanitary notification). Agrocalidad, the plant and animal health agency, controls anything that could carry a pest or a disease through per-shipment permisos fitosanitarios and zoosanitarios (phytosanitary and animal-health import permits). Both work through Ecuador’s single foreign-trade window (VUE) inside the customs system ECUAPASS.
Three things make Ecuador different from its neighbours. Its front-of-pack label is a traffic light (semáforo nutricional), not black octagons. Rice, sugar, dairy, maize, soya and several other staples sit inside the Andean price band, which adds variable duties when world prices are low. And every importer pays the 5% ISD when paying the foreign supplier. The general tax stack is in our guide to importing into Ecuador in 2026; this article covers what is specific to food.
Ecuador’s tariff uses the Andean NANDINA nomenclature and is set by the foreign-trade committee COMEX. Food sits at the upper end of it, against a national simple average of about 13%. Raw inputs for the food industry tend to pay less. Always check the ten-digit line, because rates differ between a bulk ingredient and the same product in retail packs:
| Product (NANDINA) | Duty |
|---|---|
| Sweet biscuits, wafers, crackers, toasted bread (1905) | 20% |
| Chocolate bars, filled or not (1806.31, 1806.32) | 20% |
| Other chocolate and cocoa preparations (1806.10, 1806.20, 1806.90) | 30% |
| Fruit juices, including orange and tropical juices (2009) | 30%; juice mixtures 20% |
| Food supplements, sweeteners, infant non-dairy formulas (2106.90) | 20% |
| Compound preparations for the drinks industry (2106.90.2x) | 10% |
| Protein hydrolysates, yeast autolysates, bread improvers (2106.90) | 0% |
The Andean Price Band System (Sistema Andino de Franjas de Precios, SAFP) covers a basket of marker products and their derivatives: pork, chicken cuts, whole milk, wheat, barley, yellow and white maize, white rice, soya beans, crude soya and palm oil, and raw and white sugar. When the international reference price falls below the floor of the band, a variable duty is added on top of the fixed duty; when prices are high, the add-on can fall to zero. Reference prices are published every two weeks by the Andean Community secretariat. For a shipment of any of these products, the duty is only known close to arrival.
There are no anti-dumping duties in force on food that we are aware of; the trade-defence risk in Ecuador has been political rather than legal, as the 2026 “security fee” on Colombian goods showed.
Law and practice: COMEX Resolution 002-2023 (national tariff), chapters 18–21 as published by E-Aduana; Andean Community Decision 371 and SAFP circulars on reference prices.
On top of duty, food pays the 0.5% FODINFA levy on the CIF value and VAT. The standard VAT rate is 15%, but Ecuador’s tax law keeps a 0% rate for a long list of basic foods — unprocessed agricultural products, and some staples such as milk, bread, sugar, salt, edible oils and pasta. Highly processed and premium foods pay 15%. The classification matters for cash flow: an importer of 0%-rated food has little output VAT to offset.
Sugary soft drinks are the only food group with a special consumption tax (ICE): in 2026, US$0.18 per 100 grams of sugar for non-alcoholic drinks with more than 25 grams of sugar per litre. Finally, the ISD on the payment to the foreign supplier is 5%, and since 2025 it is a cost. The reduced 2.5% list targets raw materials and inputs; check whether your product is on it before assuming the lower rate.
Law and practice: Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno (LRTI), arts. 55 (0% VAT goods) and 82 (ICE); SRI Resolution NAC-DGERCGC25-00000040 (ICE specific rates 2026); Executive Decree 272 (ISD rates 2026).
| CIF US$100,000 of chocolate bars (1806.32, 20% duty, 15% VAT) | Non-agreement origin | Paraguayan origin, full ACE 59 preference |
|---|---|---|
| Duty 20% | 20,000 | 0 |
| FODINFA 0.5% | 500 | 500 |
| VAT 15% on CIF + duty + FODINFA | 18,075 | 15,075 |
| Total at clearance | 38,575 | 15,575 |
| ISD 5% on paying the supplier | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| Total including ISD | 43,575 | 20,575 |
| Pure cost for a VAT-registered importer (duty, FODINFA, ISD) | 25,500 | 5,500 |
The example uses unfilled chocolate bars at 20% duty and 15% VAT; for a fruit juice at 30% the gap is ten points wider. For a Paraguayan product with full preference, the landed cost above CIF is FODINFA and ISD — about 5.5%. For the same product from a country without an agreement, it is over 30%. That gap is the commercial case for ACE 59 in food; the cost of sanitary registration is the same for both.
Law and practice: Rates depend on the tariff line; check that no price-band component applies to your line. A price-band product would add a variable duty, and a 0%-VAT food would show no VAT.
Every processed food sold in Ecuador needs a notificación sanitaria from ARCSA (Agencia Nacional de Regulación, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria). It is a product registration: one code per product, shown on the label, valid for five years and renewable. The applicant and holder must have an Ecuadorian tax number (RUC); in practice that is the importer, a distributor or the foreign brand’s own subsidiary. A third-party importer can use someone else’s notification if it proves the commercial relationship with the holder.
| ARCSA procedure | Fee (US$) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Notificación sanitaria, foreign-made processed food | 904.34 | Filed in the VUE; valid 5 years |
| Same, Ecuadorian large industry | 714.72 | For comparison |
| Certificate stating whether a product needs a notification | 37.18 | Issued in about 15 working days without objections |
Manufacturer’s authorisation
Allowing the applicant to register and sell the product in Ecuador, apostilled or consularised.
Free sale or health certificate
From the authority of the country of origin, apostilled.
Technical file
Production process, lot-code key, food-contact specifications of the packaging.
Labels
The original label and the Ecuadorian label artwork, compliant with RTE INEN 022.
Lab results and shelf life
From an accredited laboratory; may be filed within one year with a sworn undertaking.
Organic claims
An Agrocalidad organic operator certificate; logos need ARCSA approval.
Applications go through the VUE. The applicant has five working days to pay once the fee is authorised and fifteen working days to answer objections, with at most two rounds of corrections. Later changes — brand, packaging material, net content, holder — are notified and approved separately. If you are not sure whether a product needs a notification at all (borderline supplements, ingredients sold to industry), ARCSA issues a certificate saying so for US$37.18. ARCSA and SENAE also run joint port checks; in May 2026 they held over 36,000 beers that had no notification.
Law and practice: Resolution ARCSA-DE-2022-016-AKRG, arts. 33–35, as amended by ARCSA-DE-2025-007-DASP; Resolution ARCSA-DE-067-2015-GGG; fees as published on gob.ec in 2026.
| Product | Agency | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Processed and packaged food | ARCSA | Notificación sanitaria per product, held by an Ecuadorian company; label to RTE INEN 022 |
| Fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds | Agrocalidad | Permiso fitosanitario de importación (PFI) per shipment; origin certificate from the exporting country’s plant protection body |
| Meat, dairy, eggs, animal by-products | Agrocalidad | Permiso zoosanitario de importación per shipment; sanitary certificate from origin |
| Processed food of animal or plant origin | ARCSA and Agrocalidad | Both, where the product carries a plant or animal health risk |
| Sensitive farm products from third countries | Ministry of Agriculture (MAG) | Import licence in some cases, as an extra document in the Agrocalidad file |
Agrocalidad (formally the Agencia de Regulación y Control Fito y Zoosanitario) issues two import permits. The permiso fitosanitario de importación (PFI) covers plants, plant products and regulated articles; it is approved automatically in the VUE where import requirements for that product and origin already exist, and is valid 90 days plus a 30-day extension. The permiso zoosanitario de importación covers animals and products of animal origin; Agrocalidad answers within ten working days and the permit is valid 90 days. Both require the importer to be registered as an operator in Agrocalidad’s GUIA system and in ECUAPASS, and fees follow Agrocalidad’s annual tariff.
The catch is the word “exist”. If Ecuador has never set requirements for a given product from a given country, there is nothing to apply for: the exporting country’s authority usually has to request a risk analysis first, which takes months. Check Agrocalidad’s requirements database for the product and origin before quoting. On arrival, the cargo is inspected at the point of entry against the permit and the origin certificate.
Law and practice: Ley Orgánica de Sanidad Agropecuaria, art. 50; Manual General de Cuarentena Vegetal and Manual General de Cuarentena Animal.
Food labels are governed by technical regulation RTE INEN 022 (second revision), which applies the national standards NTE INEN 1334-1 (general labelling), 1334-2 (nutrition labelling) and 1334-3 (claims). Labels must be in Spanish; a Spanish sticker over the original label is accepted. They must show the product name, ingredients and additives, net content, the manufacturer and the importer, country of origin, lot, expiry date, storage conditions, the ARCSA notification number, and a declaration where ingredients are genetically modified.
The front-of-pack semáforo nutricional has been mandatory since 2014. It shows three horizontal bars — fat, sugars and salt — coloured red, yellow or green, and appears on every processed food, even one that is low in all three. It goes in the upper-left corner of the main or secondary panel and must be at least 15–20% of the panel, depending on its size.
| Per 100 g | Low (green) | Medium (yellow) | High (red) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total fat | ≤ 3 g | 3–20 g | ≥ 20 g |
| Sugars | ≤ 5 g | 5–15 g | ≥ 15 g |
| Salt (as sodium) | ≤ 120 mg | 120–600 mg | ≥ 600 mg |
Ecuador has discussed replacing the traffic light with warning octagons since 2022, but no reform is in force. A label printed for Peru, Colombia or Chile with octagons does not comply in Ecuador, and vice versa. INEN and ARCSA check labels in the market rather than at the border, but a non-compliant label also blocks the notification.
Law and practice: RTE INEN 022 (2R); Reglamento de Etiquetado de Alimentos Procesados para el Consumo Humano (Official Register Supplement 318, 25 August 2014).
Under ACE 59, Ecuador grants Paraguayan goods preferences on about 98% of tariff lines, most at 100%, but some food lines keep partial preferences and sugar is excluded. Products in the price band are the area to check most carefully: the fixed duty may be removed while the variable component still applies. Ask your broker to confirm both elements for the exact line before you quote a delivered price.
Certificate of origin
Paper certificate issued by Paraguay’s authorised bodies, valid 180 days.
Agrocalidad requirements
Confirm they exist for the product from Paraguay; if not, SENAVE or SENACSA must start the process.
ARCSA
A Paraguayan free-sale certificate, apostilled, supports the notification.
Label
Paraguayan labels do not carry the traffic light; budget a Spanish sticker or an Ecuador-specific print run.
There is no sanitary equivalence agreement that lets a Paraguayan registration substitute for ARCSA’s. Food is a small part of the current Paraguay–Ecuador trade, which is dominated by pharmaceuticals, so most Ecuadorian buyers will be handling a Paraguayan food file for the first time.
Law and practice: ALADI fact sheet for ACE 59; see our ACE 59 guide.
Ten-digit NANDINA line, duty, price band, VAT rate (0% or 15%), any ICE.
Requirements for the product and origin; PFI or zoosanitary permit per shipment.
Notificación sanitaria in the holder’s name; apostilled documents ready.
Spanish, RTE INEN 022, traffic light, notification number.
ACE 59 certificate for Paraguayan goods; check partial preferences.
5% ISD on paying the supplier, as a cost.
ARCSA — notificación sanitaria for processed food · ARCSA — certificate of requirement · Agrocalidad — phytosanitary import permit · Agrocalidad — zoosanitary import permit · Ecuador national tariff, chapters 18–19 (E-Aduana) · Andean Community — price band circular · Argentina INV — Ecuador market requirements · Envapack — Ecuador food labelling 2026 · NMS Law — ICE 2026 resolutions · El Diario — ARCSA and SENAE port seizure, May 2026
A person or company with an Ecuadorian tax number (RUC) — usually the importer, a distributor or the brand’s local subsidiary. Other importers can use the notification with proof of their relationship with the holder.
US$904.34 per notification in the 2026 fee schedule; the notification is valid for five years.
No. Ecuador uses the traffic-light system (semáforo nutricional) for fat, sugars and salt under RTE INEN 022. A reform has been discussed since 2022 but is not in force.
Generally no; fresh plant and animal products are controlled by Agrocalidad through phytosanitary and zoosanitary import permits issued for each shipment.
A system of variable duties on rice, sugar, dairy, maize, wheat, barley, soya, vegetable oils, pork and chicken and their derivatives, which rise when world reference prices are low.
Many basic foods are VAT 0%; processed and premium foods pay the standard 15%. Check the product against the 0% list.
Most lines have full preference under ACE 59, but some food lines have only partial preferences, sugar is excluded, and price-band duties may still apply.
Tariff, FODINFA, VAT, ISD and ACE 59 in one guide.
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador compared.
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