Amendments to the Mining Supervision and Control Fee (Resolution ARCOM-006/26)
Through Resolution No. ARCOM-006/26 dated June 23, 2026, published in the Fifth Supplement of Official Gazette No. 312 of June 24, 2026, the Board of Directors of the Mining Regulation and Control Agency (ARCOM) amended Resolution No. ARCOM-003/25, which regulated the provisions applicable to the Mining Supervision and Control Fee.
Below is a summary of the main amendments introduced by this resolution:
- The scope of obligated parties is modified. The fee now applies exclusively to holders of mining rights under large-scale, medium-scale, and small-scale mining regimes, as well as the general regime, that are in the exploitation phase; holders of commercialization licenses; and operators of processing plants.
Holders of mining rights exclusively in the exploration stage and the National Mining Company ENAMI EP are expressly exempted from payment.
- The previous calculation method based on percentages of the Unified Basic Salary (SBU) per hectare is abandoned. The fee is now calculated based on the total cost incurred by ARCOM in providing supervision and control services, which is then distributed proportionally among the obligated parties as follows: i) Mining concessions in the exploitation phase: distributed according to the proportion of hectares of each concession relative to the total hectares of the respective regime; ii) Processing plants: distributed according to the proportion of the installed capacity (in tons) of each plant relative to the total capacity; and iii) Commercialization licenses: a fixed fee of 10 SBU per license is maintained.
- Payment of the fee becomes annual, with a cutoff date of December 31 of each year and a due date of January 31 of the following year.
- Collection and enforced recovery of the fee will be handled by the Internal Revenue Service (SRI). Payment by means of tax credit notes is expressly prohibited.
- Obligated titleholders must review and keep updated the technical and administrative information used as the basis for the calculation. In particular, they must verify the registered phase of their concessions, the surface area attributed to each title, the applicable mining regime, the reported installed capacity of processing plants, and the number and validity of their commercialization licenses.
- For fiscal year 2026, the fee will be calculated on a pro-rata basis from the effective date of the Resolution (June 24, 2026) until December 31, 2026, and must be paid by January 31, 2027.
Starting in 2027, the fee will be assessed for full annual periods.
This reform aims to encourage investment in exploration and enhance the competitiveness of Ecuador’s mining sector, while linking the fee to the actual costs of state supervision and control.
If your company is in the exploration or exploitation stage and needs to determine the scope of this resolution and its implications, please contact us. At If your company is in the exploration or exploitation stage and needs to determine the scope of this resolution and its implications, please contact us. At LASPINA LEGAL we have a highly qualified team ready to assist you!