Ports Act 16,246 (1992) abolishes the monopoly regime of the state over port activities, brings private companies into the port of Montevideo, and introduces the concept of “Free Port”.

This Act has meant a significant change for port activities in Montevideo, and has proved to be a multiplying factor of these activities.
The emergence of trade competitiveness in port operations has led to an improvement in the quality of the presentation of the services, and to the arrival of new traffic.
The infrastructure has been improved in response to the growing need for services.

The new Free Port statute, by which the movement of goods inside the port does not imply the payment of custom duties, opened new possibilities for the provision of services for goods in transit for the countries within the region.

Today, the port has changed. Its quays have been improved; obsolete warehouses have been demolished; paved and traffic wharfs have been fixed; and electricity, sanitation, water, security, and communications networks have been deployed.

By Law 17,243 (Section 20), the National Administration of Ports is authorized to participate, in partnership with private capitals, in the management, construction, preservation, and operation of a Container Terminal in the Port of Montevideo.

PORTS ACT - MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND PUBLIC WORKS - Law 16,246
The Ports Act is hereby approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay met in General Assembly.

IT IS DECREED:

CHAPTER I

Organization and port services

Section 1:
The supply of efficient and competitive port services is a priority objective for the development of the country.
If required by demand, port services shall be provided 24/7, all year round, at the commercial ports of the Republic.
The stipulations of the two previous paragraphs shall not imply, in any case, disregard of labour compensation rules in case of extraordinary hours and holidays.

Movement of goods

Section 2:
The movement of goods within the Port of Montevideo shall be free. No authorisations or formal procedures shall be required for this free movement of goods.
All activities performed in said port shall not imply modifications to the nature of the product or goods, and shall be limited to warehousing, repackaging, remarking, classification, grouping and degrouping, consolidation and deconsolidation, handling, and division operations.
The destination of goods entering the port can be freely changed.
In no case shall they be subject to previous restrictions, limitations, permits, or complaints.

Section 3:
During their permanence within the port customs facilities, goods shall be free from all taxes and surcharges applicable to imports or when an import is performed. When taken from the Port of Montevideo to the national customs territory, they shall be considered imports or clearance inwards coming from abroad to all purposes, and shall complete the corresponding formalities and payments.
In order to be introduced into the Port of Montevideo, all national or nationalized goods shall be in compliance with the rules applied to exports or clearance outwards from the country.

Section 4:
The regime established in sections 2 and 3 shall apply to all other ports, and port terminals, within the Republic, with enough capacity to receive overseas vessels, the customs and port areas of which shall be legally delimited.

Section 5:
The Executive Power shall set, within a one hundred and twenty-day period following the date in which the present law comes into effect and for it to be enforced, the limits of those customs and port areas not legally determined.

Section 6:
The Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, signed in London on April 9, 1965, its Annexes and Amendments of 1969, 1973, 1978, and 1986, is hereby approved, without prejudice to what is stipulated in Section 255 of Law 13,318, of December 28, 1964.