Drawback, technically a conditional refund of duties (devolución condicionada de tributos), returns the foreign trade taxes you paid when importing an input, provided that input ends up incorporated into a product you later export. If you bring in raw materials, pay duty on them, and those materials leave the country as a finished product, you can recover part of what you paid on the import. For exporters that rely on imported inputs (textiles, light manufacturing, processed food, packaging), this changes the real margin of the operation.

Legal basis: the regime is defined in Article 157 of the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investment (COPCI) and is implemented through ECUAPASS, the customs electronic system, under customs regime 53. Always check the current operating details in the official SENAE procedure ("Obtención de Devolución Condicionada Ordinaria de Tributos") before you file your request.

Which taxes you can recover and which you cannot

Drawback refunds 100% of the foreign trade taxes actually paid on imported inputs that were used in a transformation process, incorporated into the exported goods, or used as containers or packaging. There is an important legal cap: the refund of the ad valorem component cannot exceed 5% of the transaction value of the exported goods. VAT (IVA) used as a tax credit is not part of this mechanism and follows its own refund process.

Who qualifies

  • Legal entities registered as active exporters in ECUAPASS that export goods on a definitive basis.
  • Operations that use imported inputs, raw materials, or packaging, either imported directly or bought from a direct importer who assigns the refund right through a Local Purchase Certificate (Certificado de Compra Local).
  • Exporters who can support the input-to-product relationship with an input-output matrix registered in ECUAPASS. The export invoice alone is not enough.
  • The import declaration for the input must show release within the previous 12 months, or the corresponding Local Purchase Certificate must exist.

The ECUAPASS procedure, step by step

  1. 01You import the input and pay the applicable taxes under the import-for-consumption regime.
  2. 02You incorporate the input into the final product and generate (or update) the Drawback Coefficient in ECUAPASS, under Operating Procedures, Electronic Documents, Coefficient Generation, supported by the input-output matrix.
  3. 03You export the finished product and regularize the Export Customs Declaration (DAE).
  4. 04You file the Ordinary Drawback Declaration in ECUAPASS (same menu, Ordinary Drawback) within 12 months after the input was imported.
  5. 05SENAE first offsets any outstanding tax debt and then issues the refund as a credit note or a bank deposit, whichever you requested.

The procedure is free, and the ECUAPASS portal is available 24 hours a day. If you have questions about a specific case, SENAE answers at mesadeservicios@aduana.gob.ec.

How much you can recover in practice

The recoverable percentage depends on how much duty you paid on the specific input, so it is not a fixed percentage for every product, and the ad valorem component is capped by law at 5% of the exported transaction value. That is why it pays to calculate it case by case, using the actual tariff heading of the input, before deciding whether the refund is worth the administrative work of keeping the input-output matrix up to date.

Mistakes that get a request rejected by SENAE

  • Being unable to support the input-output matrix or the traceability between what was imported and what was exported.
  • Filing the Ordinary Drawback Declaration more than 12 months after the release of the imported input.
  • Confusing drawback with a VAT refund and filing under the wrong mechanism.
  • Failing to assign the refund right correctly when the input was bought from a direct importer (the Local Purchase Certificate is missing).
ATLAS estimates your recoverable drawback from the FOB value and the tariff heading of the imported input, together with the rest of the fees in your export operation (DAE, certificate of origin, broker), so you see the real net figure before you commit the shipment. Free, no sign-up.