SENAE extends the deadline for customs scanners until December 2026

The National Customs Service of Ecuador (SENAE) has extended the deadline for land temporary warehouses to acquire and implement non-intrusive inspection equipment (EINI). This was done through Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2026-0077-RE, signed in Guayaquil on September 29, 2026, and published in the Official Registry, Second Supplement No. 396, on Friday, October 23, 2026. The new deadline is no longer a fixed date: it is contingent upon the reform of Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE, which must be issued by December 31, 2026.

Article 1 of the resolution provides to “EXTEND the deadline” for the acquisition and implementation of EINI “in accordance with the provisions issued in the reform to be made to Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE, among other aspects, regarding the requirements, quantities, and conditions that said foreign trade operators must meet.” Therefore, the extension does not set an autonomous compliance date, but rather shifts the milestone to the moment the customs administration issues the new technical regulation.

The Director General’s authority is based on Article 216, literals j) and l), of the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investment (COPCI), and Articles 144 and 144.1 of the same legal body, which order the review of goods, cargo units, and means of transport profiled as risky using non-intrusive inspection equipment. The Book V regulation, in Articles 54.1 and 103.1, obliges temporary warehouses located in airports, ports, border crossings, and other primary zones to implement this equipment. The document is signed by engineer Luis Eduardo Vascones Boloña, appointed Director General of SENAE via Executive Decree No. 483, dated August 26, 2026.

Fourth consecutive extension for land warehouses

The 2026 extension is the fourth granted to the same group of operators, always with Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE as the reference norm:

• Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2024-0103-RE, of September 12, 2024: deadline until September 30, 2025.
• Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2025-0101-RE, of September 30, 2025: deadline until June 30, 2026.
• Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2026-0057-RE, of June 30, 2026: deadline until September 30, 2026.
• Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2026-0077-RE, of September 29, 2026: contingent upon the reform to be issued by December 31, 2026.

The original deadline was established in the first transitory provision of Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE, which granted one year from its publication in the Official Registry. The new extension was signed one day before the previous deadline expired, on September 30, 2026, although its official publication occurred three weeks later.

Scanners, technical requirements, and fees

The resolution does not modify the current technical requirements or fees: it expressly refers to the pending reform. The types of equipment provided for in Article 6 of Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE are:

• ALL-IN-ONE SCANNER
• FIXED PORTAL
• RELOCATABLE SYSTEM (MOBILE)
• DUAL VIEW PALLET SCANNER

Obligated operators may present operational, technical, or legal justifications to the Deputy General Director of Operations for not acquiring or maintaining more than one piece of equipment, with a prior report from the National Directorate of Intervention or the National Legal Directorate, as applicable. Even with justification, they maintain the obligation to have at least one piece of equipment of that nature for as long as their authorization to operate lasts. The maximum fees for the use of NIIEs (Non-Intrusive Inspection Equipment) were issued in Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2022-0086-RE and determined in Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0039-RE; the general guidelines for use and implementation are contained in Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0048-RE.

Working groups and notifications

The preamble of the resolution justifies the extension on the grounds that various actors are involved in the use of NIIEs, each with their own technical and operational needs, therefore “it is necessary to hold inter-institutional working groups that allow for the articulation of said requirements,” in order to comprehensively address the State’s needs regarding control, security, and the facilitation of foreign trade.

Article 2 charges the General Secretariat Directorate with notifying the content of the resolution to land temporary warehouses, verifying the notification method indicated by the administered parties, and also to:

• the National Directorates of Legal, Intervention, Continuous Improvement and Information Technologies, and Planning and Institutional Management Control;
• the Directorate of Authorizations and OCES Files;
• the District Directorates of SENAE;
• the Deputy Directorate of the Air Cargo Zone.

The resolution takes effect from its signing, without prejudice to its publication in the Official Registry, and copies are sent to the Deputy General Directors of Customs Regulations and Operations, the Deputy Director of the Air Cargo Zone, and the National Directors of Risk Management and Customs Technique, Intervention, and Customs Policy.

The practical effect is that land temporary deposits do not currently face a deadline for scanners: the obligation to acquire and implement NIIs (Non-Intrusive Inspection equipment) will be activated with the reform of Resolution No. SENAE-SENAE-2023-0057-RE, which will define requirements, quantities, and conditions per operator. For logistics operators, the extension clears the risk of non-compliance in the short term, but keeps the investment in high-technology scanning equipment open; for foreign trade control, on the other hand, it postpones the operationalization of a key link in the non-intrusive physical inspection channel in the land primary zone.

Source: Official Registry, Second Supplement No. 396, Friday, October 23, 2026, Section I (Executive Branch), p. 38 (official reference: SENAE-SENAE-2026-0077-RE).