Uruguay — agent-bev Library

Market status

Registered. Private operators may import, manufacture, distribute and sell beverage alcohol subject to customs, tax, food, product and sector controls. The former monopoly of the Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland (ANCAP) over alcohols and distilled alcoholic beverages has been repealed; ANCAP may continue to make, market, import and export those products in competition with private activity. Wine and cider channels are controlled by the Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INAVI), and distilled alcoholic beverages require the Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU) registration route.

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Who can trade

Import: General-regime importation is made through the Documento Único Aduanero (DUA), with intervention by a customs broker where the regime requires it. Food importers should also treat the operation as a food-business matter under the Registro Único Nacional de Alimentos, Empresas y Vehículos (RUNAEV), including company, premises or product steps as applicable.

Wine and cider: INAVI registers bodegas, cideries and importers. Imported wine, wine by-products and cider require INAVI inspection and a marketing-enabling certificate before sale in the internal market; INAVI may sample and analyse the goods and check technical and labelling compliance.

Spirits and potable alcohol: Manufacturers and importers of alcohols and distilled alcoholic beverages must register with LATU and declare products for conformity assessment. Distilled alcoholic beverage labelling must show the product registration number in the form determined by LATU.

Wholesale and distribution: The alcohol-control law allows any person or legal entity to distribute, market, sell, offer or supply alcoholic beverages after complying with applicable law and the seller-registration framework. The implementing decree requires the seller permit file to include Dirección General Impositiva (DGI), Banco de Previsión Social (BPS) and departmental commercial or bromatological evidence, as applicable.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: RUNAEV has an electronic-intermediation category for food operators without storage. Alcohol-specific B2B online sale and independent platform conditions: Not yet sourced.

State role: ANCAP is a competitor in distilled alcohols and distilled alcoholic beverages, not an exclusive state monopoly.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203. Beer made from malt. Wine: 2204. Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine; certain grape must. Cider: 2206. Other fermented beverages, including cider, perry, mead and qualifying mixtures. Spirits: 2208. Undenatured ethyl alcohol below 80% alcohol by volume; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Uruguay applies the Nomenclatura Común del Mercosur (NCM), adjusted to the seventh Harmonized System amendment, with the Arancel Externo Común (AEC) and national tariff treatment approved by decree. The Dirección Nacional de Aduanas (DNA) describes the tariff as the official list of goods and duties, and the public Sistema Lucía route is used for customs tariff consultation. Duty treatment depends on the full national tariff line, origin, customs regime and any applicable preference or exception.

Excise: The Impuesto Específico Interno (IMESI) covers listed beverage categories, including vermouth and special wine categories, potable alcohols, other alcoholic beverages including caña and grapa, beer, and ciders and wines not included in the special wine category. The DGI controls the marketing of alcohols and alcoholic beverages within its competence.

Territorial treatment: Customs law applies throughout Uruguay and its customs enclaves. Free zones have special treatment: goods introduced into free zones have import-tax exemptions under the free-zone law, while introduction from a free zone into non-free national territory is treated as an import for all purposes.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Mandatory packaged-food information must be in the official language of the country of consumption; for Uruguay this means Spanish. A complementary label may be used where the original label is not in the destination language, and it must be applied before commercialisation.

General mandatory particulars: Packaged food labelling includes the sales name, ingredient list, net contents, origin identification, importer name or business name and address for imported foods, lot, durability date and instructions where applicable. RUNAEV product registration asks for the label design.

Alcohol warnings and strength: Alcoholic and low-alcohol beverage containers must carry, on the principal label, the nature or product type, alcoholic strength, manufacturer or importer identification and the preventive messages established by law and decree. The decree requires preventive messages covering harmful abuse, pregnancy risk and driving or machinery risk, plus a pregnancy-risk pictogram.

Allergen and sulphite declaration for beverage alcohol: Not yet sourced.

Origin and wine particulars: Table-wine containers must show country of origin, wine type, producer, importer identification, importer address and INAVI registration number. Vinos de Calidad Preferente (VCP) must have the label registered with INAVI before local-market release and must be labelled in Spanish. A wine label using a geographical indication, region of origin or designation of origin must be supported by certification from the competent control body.

Label registration: VCP wine labels are registered with INAVI. Distilled alcoholic beverages must carry the LATU product-registration number on the label or an additional label. Imported wine, wine by-products and cider are released only after INAVI inspection and certificate where compliant.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase age: 18. The child and adolescent code prohibits sale, provision, lease or distribution of alcoholic beverages to persons under 18. Alcohol-selling establishments must display the under-18 prohibition notice required by the alcohol-control law.

Sale-hour and channel limits: Sale, supply or offering of alcoholic beverages is prohibited from 00:00 to 06:00 in premises that do not have the competent authority’s authorisation for alcoholic beverages to be consumed on the premises. The alcohol-control law also prohibits sale, offering, supply, advertising or promotion of alcoholic beverages in educational centres throughout the country. Automatic-machine sale is subject to the same law and its implementing rules. Establishments of at least 100 square metres must keep alcoholic beverages in a specific sector separate from non-alcoholic beverages.

Regional layers: Departmental commercial or bromatological authorisations are part of the seller-permit file, and RUNAEV is the national food-company, premises, vehicle and product system used by departmental authorities. Current departmental or municipal sale-hour additions: Not yet sourced.

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Protected names

Protection framework: Uruguay’s trade mark law protects geographical indications, designations of origin and indications of source. The Dirección Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial (DNPI) keeps the general registers of geographical indications and designations of origin, while INAVI is the competent body for national wine indications and designations. The 2026 decree sets the DNPI registration procedure, including applicant standing, geographical delimitation, product or service description, link to the area, use-and-control rules, opposition and indefinite registration term.

Verified wine examples: Uruguay’s official treaty list with Chile includes Canelones, Carmelo, Los Cerros de San Juan, Sierra de la Ballena and Garzón among listed Uruguayan wine indications. These examples are not exhaustive.

Spirits and beer: The law contains a wine and spirits geographical-indication provision, including a continued-use exception for wine or spirit geographical indications used before the World Trade Organization date. Protected domestic spirit and beer geographical names: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Uruguay. GS1 Uruguay states that it is the only body authorised by GS1 International to assign, administer and disseminate the GS1 system in Uruguay, and that GTINs assigned in Uruguay use the prefix 773.

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Not yet sourced

Alcohol-specific B2B online and independent platform conditions; allergen and sulphite declaration for beverage alcohol; current departmental or municipal sale-hour additions; protected domestic spirit and beer geographical names: Not yet sourced.