A BBSC is "the set of facilities that is situated in a sector of the territory of a Member Country or of two neighboring Member Countries adjacent to a border crossing."

This includes access routes, and the structures, equipment, and furnishings that are necessary to provide integrated control services for the flow of persons, baggage, goods, and vehicles. It is there that complementary facilitation and other user services are provided.

BBSCs may be located entirely within the territory of a country, adjacent to a border crossing; or on both sides of the border, adjacent to the crossing –in other words, some facilities would be situated in the territory of one country and others in the territory of the other.

The BBSCs are regulated by Decision 502: "Binational Border Service Centers (BBSC) in the Andean Community," approved by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers.

They are also governed by complementary provisions and regulations, Specific Arrangements and the provisions issued by the Board of Administrators.

The purpose of this Community provision is to promote the establishment of BBSCs in the CAN Member Countries and to adopt a framework of general rules on their development and operation to be applied in their integrated control.

"Integrated control" is understood to mean the verification and supervision of the legal conditions for the entry or departure of persons, baggage, goods, and vehicles performed jointly at the Binational Border Service Centers (BBSCs) by competent national officials appointed by the country of departure and the country of entry.

Both the establishment, and the transfer, modification, or elimination of those Centers shall be effected through Specific Arrangements between CAN Member States.

These arrangements, which shall become a part of the CAN’s body of law, shall be reported to the Andean Community General Secretariat for registry and publication in the Official Newspaper of the Cartagena Agreement no later than 10 days after they become effective.

A Board of Administrators consisting of competent national officials duly appointed by their respective countries shall be responsible for each BBSC.

That Board shall have the duties of identifying any measures that may be needed to comply with the objectives stipulated in the Decision; adopting the corresponding working program; approving the service schedule; harmonizing the working procedures of the basic services; deciding upon proposals and initiatives put forward by the private sector; and taking any other measure that may help to remove obstacles to the uninterrupted traffic of persons, baggage, goods, and vehicles.