Present to the Immigration officer the International Embarkation / Disembarkation Card (given to the traveler in the airplane or at the Immigration Stand in the border area you are coming through). Keep the card, since you will have to turn it in when you leave the country. If you lose it you will have to pay a fine equivalent to USD 4.00.

Customs officers will give you a form for you to declare any goods subject to customs duties you may be bringing in. If none, specify that you have nothing to declare. The following are exempt from duty: items and clothes for personal use, portable computers and adventure tourism gear.

Duty-Free goods

a) Clothing which are for the traveler's personal use

b) Personal hygiene items for the traveler's personal use

c) Objects for personal decoration

d) One electric hair dryer or hairbrush.

e) One electric shaver.

f) One photographic camera and up to five (5) rolls of film.

g) One film or video camera not for professional use, and up to five (5) rolls of film.

h) Records, cassettes, CDs or audio tapes up to 10

i) One portable electronic calculator.

j) Medicine for personal use

k) Books magazines and documents in general

l) Up to twenty (20) packets of cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250 gm of tobacco.

m) Up to three (3) liters of liquor

n) Up to THREE HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS (US$300.00) in various articles for the traveler's personal use or as gifts which for their quantity, type and variety can be presumed not to be for trading purposes, as long as the individual unit value does not top ONE HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS (USD 100.00).

o) One portable mechanical, electric or electronic typewriter.

p) One portable wind or stringed musical instrument.

q) One radio, radio cassette player, cassette player, record player, CD player or a set which has all these items incorporated, as long as it is PORTABLE with its own energy source.

r) Suitcases, bags and other commonly-used containers that hold the objects in the traveler's luggage.

s) Objects declared as luggage upon departure and which are listed in the TEMPORARY DEPARTURE DECLARATION.

t) One live pet animal, having complied with the corresponding sanitary regulations, as long as they are brought as accompanied luggage.

u) A portable personal computer, with its own energy source, as long as it is brought as accompanied luggage.

v) One (01) portable DVD player

w) One (01) portable home video game system

x) One (01) PDF or pocket computer

y) One (01) cell phone

In cases where travelers are handicapped or suffer some illness, auxiliary means and equipment will be considered luggage (wheelchair, stretcher, crutches, among other items)

Children aged fewer than 18 will not be allowed to bring in the items stated in clauses m) and n).

Temporary operations

The non-resident traveler can temporarily enter without having to pay import taxes on:

• Items of professional-use that foreign press correspondents and representatives of foreign news media require, as long as they are duly recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Sports equipment that is required for competitions organized by the official governmental entities or those duly recognized by the Peruvian Sports Institute.

Source: ADUANAS ( www.aduanet.gob.pe )

Adventure sports activities for which travelers can bring equipment

•  Hang-gliding
•  Mountain climbing
•  Rafting
•  Hunting
•  Underwater fishing
•  Caving
•  Water skiing
•  Snow skiing
•  Kayaking
•  Flora and fauna watching
•  Parapente
•  Fishing
•  Surfing
•  Trekking
•  Wind Surf

For more detailed information, inquire at the Peruvian diplomatic representation in your country. You can also visit the following link: www.sunat.gob.pe/orientacAduana/index.html (in Spanish).

• You must declare whether you are bringing in any vegetable or animal species. If so, you will need to have a permit from the competent sanitary authorities in your country. If you do not have the necessary sanitation documents, Peruvian sanitation authorities may order your vegetable species to be incinerated and that the animal be sacrificed.
• Upon arriving at the airport, all travelers must use the red light-green customs control system, pressing a single button. If the green light comes on, the declaration will be taken to be true and luggage may be withdraw without prior inspection.
• If the red light comes on, a bag will be chosen from the traveler's luggage and will be searched. If there is no difference between the declaration and the contests of the luggage, the traveler may withdraw his suitcase and enter the country. If the search determines that the declaration does not occur with the traveler's goods, the goods will be retained, and if the value of these articles surpasses 12,000 (approximately US $ 3,372.00), legal action will be taken.

Source: ADUANAS ( www.aduanet.gob.pe )

(SOURCE: PromPerú/Perurooms.com)