The meeting of technical groups from the countries of Central American Integration System (SICA) in El Salvador ended with significant advances
Monday, September 5, 2011
Progress was made in the preparation of some 15 rules of origin and the harmonization of tariffs for different products.
Deputy Minister of Economy of El Salvador, Mario Hernandes, told Reuters, "Decisions made in the technical rounds will be passed up to the technical and deputy ministers of Trade and Economy for approval."
The representative of the Honduran Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Jeronimo Urbina added that because the process is long and complicated it has not been possible yet to set a deadline for the full functioning of the customs union.
The first round of negotiations of the Second Semester of Customs Union ended last August 24 in Nicaragua having made significant progress.
From Diario de Central America:
The technical negotiators have concluded revision of the Central American Technical Regulation (RTCA) for labeling of distilled spirits and registration requirements for microbial pesticides for agricultural use, which have been passed on for resolution by the Council of Ministers of Economic Integration (Comieco). Negotiations will continue for the rest of subgroups via videoconferences and the necessary consultations made with stakeholders in each case.
Central American representatives have approved various technical regulations for the regional customs union.
Among the regulations adopted are those relating to labeling and product registration.
Also under discussion in the meeting, was the process of Panama’s incorporation into the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (SIEC), a requirement that Panama needs to meet in order to take part of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
The Association Agreement between the region and the EU will start without having completed the process of a customs union, and without having created a common tariff.
This is what officials declared at the European Union Trade Commission, "there are marked differences between the Central American nations that can not be dissolved by sheer force, because they have come about by historic events."
In the first half of the year, the Central American Economic Integration Secretary (Sieca) will launch two IT systems for customs offices.
They are called Siauca (Unified Customs Information System for Central America) and AIC (Integrated Central American Tariff).
Siauca "is to be used exclusively by the customs authorities of the five countries of the region, and will enable them to freely exchange information", reported Capitales.com. Meanwhile, "AIC is an information tool covering imports and exports from the 5 Sieca countries".
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