Industries · Free Trade Zones
Third-party document control in free trade zones
A free trade zone controls entry into a perimeter where several companies operate, each with its own contractors. The zone operator defines the entry requirements, which are general and apply to everyone who enters the perimeter, regardless of which company they’re going to.
Access control at the perimeter stays shared, and the record of entries and exits is available and exportable for the whole zone.
Critical moment in free trade zones
Entry into the perimeter
- Who comes in
- Contractors of the user companies (industrial and commercial users), carriers, technical staff, visitors
- Elements under control
- People · vehicles · machinery
- Answer at the gatehouse
- Cleared for entry: yes or no
Context
One perimeter, several companies, and a single gate
A free trade zone is a perimeter with several companies inside, each with its own operation and its own third parties. Contractors, carriers, technical staff, and visitors from different companies come through the same gate.
What NAVA controls is entry into the perimeter: the requirements the zone operator defines, which apply equally to everyone who enters. The internal requirements of the company the third party is visiting are that company’s business.
That’s why each user company that wants to control its own third parties needs its own NAVA license: it can’t approve documents under the free trade zone’s license.
The problem
What makes entry control hard in free trade zones
Situations your team will recognize, and what happens today when control depends on a spreadsheet and on the memory of whoever is at the door.
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The zone answers for whoever comes in, and they’re not its employees
Contractors, carriers, and technicians from different companies come through the perimeter gate. None of them work for the free trade zone, and the zone is accountable for having verified that they could be there.
Without a common, verifiable requirement for everyone, the decision to let someone in ends up being made by whoever is at the gate.
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What happens inside each company belongs to that company
The zone controls entry into the perimeter. The requirements a user company sets for its own contractors inside its facility aren’t managed under the zone’s license: that company needs its own.
Mixing the two up leaves a control gap no one takes on, because each side thinks the other one covers it.
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High third-party turnover
Carriers, maintenance contractors, technical staff, and visitors, every day and from different companies.
Verification can’t be sustained with a sign-in sheet or with the memory of whoever is at the gatehouse.
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The record has to hold up over time
In an audit, you have to answer who came in, when, which company they were going to, and with what authorization.
Months later, rebuilding that from paper sign-in sheets isn’t feasible, and what does get rebuilt isn’t always complete.
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The destination authorization gets lost
Who receives the third party inside the perimeter is part of the control data, not an administrative detail.
When it isn’t recorded, traceability stops at the gate and never reaches the facility.
Document requirements matrix
The documents your operation requires
The matrix turns your company’s procedure into rules the system applies: which element each document is required for, under which activity, with what validity period, who approves it, and what gets blocked when it expires.
- Entry The person or vehicle can’t enter while the document is expired or rejected.
- Use The equipment or machinery is disabled from operating.
| Document | Applies to | Blocks | Operational note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ID document and contact information | People | Entry | The basis of the perimeter entry record |
| Current enrollment with an ARL (occupational risk insurer), EPS (health insurer), and pension fund | People | Entry | General requirement for entry into the perimeter |
| Valid occupational medical exam | People | Entry | |
| Activity certifications | People | Entry | Depending on what they’ll do inside the perimeter |
| Work-at-heights certificate | People | Entry | Activities more than two meters above floor level |
| Authorization from the destination company | People | Entry | Records who receives them inside the perimeter |
| SOAT (mandatory vehicle insurance) and technical-mechanical inspection | Vehicles | Use | |
| Equipment inspection certificate | Machinery | Use | |
| Perimeter induction | People | Entry | With a configurable validity period |
Each requirement is configured once with its validity period, its approver, and its review criteria. Entry override is available as an exception, with a named person responsible and a justification.
How it works
Who does what, from onboarding to the gatehouse
Your team manages the relationship, the third party uploads their information, and NAVA applies the rules throughout the cycle. These are the five stages in free trade zones.
- 01
The zone operator
Configuration
The document requirements matrix for perimeter entry is defined once: what’s required of each type of element, based on the activity it will perform, with what validity period, and who approves it. It applies to every third party who enters.
- 02
The zone operator
Third-party onboarding
The contractor is linked to the activities it will perform inside the perimeter and to the company that receives it. The activity determines which documents it must provide.
- 03
The contractor
Document upload
The third party uploads the required documents from its own portal, with an Excel template when it brings a crew, and sees the comment on anything that was rejected.
- 04
The NAVA back office
Validation
Documents are approved, rejected with a comment, or left pending, using the criteria the zone operator defined.
- 05
Gatehouse
Entry into the perimeter
The lookup is by ID number, license plate, serial number, or QR code. The answer shows whether the person is cleared and which facility they’re going to, and the system records the entry and the exit.
Scenario
One gate, one common requirement
A technician arrives at the zone’s gate. The gatehouse looks up their ID number and the system answers: cleared for entry, headed to the assembly plant, which is the company expecting them. The requirement they just met is the same one the zone sets for everyone who enters.
The record stores the entry time, the destination company, and, when they leave, the exit time. Months later, the report can be filtered by period and by the lookup fields and exported to Excel, with exceptions and their justifications included.
- Destination company
- Assembly plant
- Requirements
- Perimeter entry requirements, the same for everyone
- Perimeter induction
- Approved, valid
- Record
- Entry and exit, exportable to Excel
Results
What changes when the perimeter has a single control
Four concrete changes to day-to-day work in free trade zones. You can see each one in detail on the page of the solution that carries it out.
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A common, verifiable requirement
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The gate decides with data, not judgment
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One way to resolve entry
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The record answers months later
The platform
Which solutions are involved in this industry
NAVA is three solutions on the same platform. This is the role each one plays in an operation like yours.
Document requirements matrix for perimeter entry, control of vehicles and machinery, and entry and exit records.
See NAVA 360 →
Occasional visitors to the perimeter: self-registration through a link or QR code, the host’s pre-approval, and induction before arrival.
See NAVA ID →
Training over WhatsApp for the user companies’ staff, with an in-chat assessment and a certificate.
See NAVA Skills →All three share one platform and database and are contracted separately. The zone’s license covers perimeter control; a user company that wants to manage its own third parties inside its facility needs its own NAVA license.
Regulatory framework
Applicable regulations and how they translate into documents
This page refers to the free trade zone regulatory framework in general terms. NAVA doesn’t interpret the regulations: it manages the documents the zone uses to show the control it exercised.
| Framework | What it requires | How it shows up in the document requirements matrix |
|---|---|---|
| Decree 1072 of 2015 | The hiring company’s obligations under its OHS (occupational health and safety) management system (SG-SST) toward third parties who enter its operation | ARL, EPS, and pension enrollments, medical exams, and induction |
| Resolution 0312 of 2019 | Minimum SG-SST standards by company size and risk class | Differentiated requirements by type of activity |
| Resolution 4272 of 2021 | Minimum safety requirements for work at heights, more than two meters above floor level | Work-at-heights certificate as an entry-restrictive document |
| Free trade zone regime | The entry control specific to free trade zones | Configured as the perimeter’s own requirements, with their validity period and their approver |
Frequently asked questions
Questions about third-party control in Free Trade Zones
There are several user companies inside the zone. Can each one set its own requirements?
No. Requirements are defined in general terms for entry into the perimeter, and the zone operator sets them. A user company that wants to control its own contractors inside its facility needs its own NAVA license: it can’t approve documents under the free trade zone’s license.
Is there a record of who entered the perimeter and which company they were going to?
Yes. Every entry and every exit is recorded, and the report can be filtered by period and by the fields you need, and exported to Excel. If an entry override had to be authorized, the justification and the name of the person who authorized it are kept.
The same contractor goes into several companies in the perimeter. Do they have to upload their documents several times?
No. The third party exists only once on the platform, with its elements and its documents. Perimeter entry requirements are the same regardless of which company they’re going to, so they upload once.
Are occasional visitors recorded too?
Yes. They’re managed with self-registration through a link or QR code, visitor induction, and the host’s pre-approval, and their entries and exits go into the same record.
Can we require documents specific to the zone’s regime?
Yes. The document requirements matrix doesn’t come with predefined regulations: the zone operator defines the requirements, with their validity period, their approver, and their restrictive nature.
Does NAVA need a different setup for each industry?
The document requirements matrix is configured with your company’s requirements, and those requirements change from one industry to the next. The system is the same: what you configure are the documents, validity periods, approvers, and which document blocks what.
Demo
See NAVA set up for your free trade zone
We set up the document requirements matrix for perimeter entry and the entry and exit record for your zone. You leave with a written price proposal.
- Colombian software
- 30-day trial
- OHS validation available
- Support in Spanish