A tariff safeguard is a temporary surcharge that COMEX (Comite de Comercio Exterior, Ecuador's Foreign Trade Committee) applies to certain categories of imported products. The stated goal is to protect the trade balance or domestic industry when a category comes under outside pressure. For the importer, a safeguard works like an extra ad valorem duty stacked on the regular one, and it can raise your landed cost within a few weeks.
How the safeguard works
COMEX applies it through a resolution published in the Registro Oficial, the official gazette. It is usually announced 30 to 90 days ahead so supply chains can adjust. The percentage varies by category and period, and it usually ranges from 5% to 45% of CIF. The safeguard is calculated after the regular ad valorem duty and before FODINFA (the 0.5% child development contribution) and IVA, the value added tax.
Categories affected in the past
- Footwear and leather accessories
- Ready to wear clothing
- Some white goods home appliances
- Imported alcoholic beverages
- Some specific textile products
- Imported mass market cosmetics
- Tires in certain sizes
The list changes with every COMEX resolution. There may be a safeguard on athletic footwear today that gets lifted tomorrow. Working with current data is the difference between pricing correctly and handing SENAE, the customs service, a surprise cut of your margin.
A worked safeguard example
An order of athletic footwear with a CIF value of USD 8,000, 15% ad valorem duty and a hypothetical 25% safeguard.
| Item | Without safeguard | With 25% safeguard |
|---|---|---|
| CIF | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| Ad valorem 15% | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| Safeguard 25% | 0 | 2,000 |
| FODINFA 0.5% | 40 | 40 |
| VAT base | 9,240 | 11,240 |
| VAT 15% | 1,386 | 1,686 |
| Total taxes | 2,626 | 4,926 |
The safeguard added USD 2,300 to the order. Across 100 pairs of shoes, that is USD 23 per pair. If your target margin was 30% on a USD 60 selling price, the safeguard eats half of it.
A real case: how fast a tariff surcharge can escalate
Safeguards are not the only surcharge Ecuador can put on imports overnight. The 2026 Ecuador-Colombia episode is the clearest example of how fast the ground can shift, although technically it was a security surcharge issued by SENAE and not a COMEX safeguard. It started at 30% on February 1, 2026 (the resolution was issued on January 24), rose to 50% during February, and escalated to 100% from May 1, 2026 (Resolution SENAE-SENAE-2026-0031-RE, signed on April 9). It applied to practically all final imports from Colombia, citing the bilateral trade deficit and a lack of border cooperation.
The surcharge dropped to 0% from June 1, 2026 (Resolution SENAE-SENAE-2026-0051-RE, signed on May 31), and Colombia reciprocated by repealing its own stepped tariff of 35%, 50% and 75% on 191 Ecuadorian products through Decree 0583 of 2026. Bilateral trade recovered to about 75% of its pre-conflict volume by July 2026.
How to get ahead of COMEX changes
- Follow the COMEX and SENAE resolutions published in the Registro Oficial (a monthly read).
- Sign up for COMEX alerts, and run your products through ATLAS, which checks for active safeguards in every calculation.
- When you know a safeguard is coming, move your shipment up so it enters before the effective date.
- Diversify origins: if the problem is a category from one specific origin, open up alternatives.
- Negotiate discounts with your supplier to absorb part of the surcharge on recurring orders.
ATLAS checks for active safeguards in every calculation. If your product is affected, it tells you before you close the numbers, so you make the decision with the right figure.
