With the decreed intervention the time it takes to pass through customs has doubled and even tripled in some cases.
Elperiodico.com.gt reports: "The militarization in customs offices and the lack of staff in the Tax Authority (SAT) are delaying the passage of trucks by between three and ten days."
Added to this are technical and administrative deficiencies in the Directorate General of Customs at the Ministry of Finance of El Salvador for passage through Cuidad Pedro de Alvarado and San Cristobal.
The Customs union intends to invest $2.5 million to implement the Project Paperless Customs Offices.
The initiative could reduce fraud and corruption in the country by up to 85%.According to Victor Manuel Rivera, president of the organization, when the Vice President Roxana Baldetti, as manager of the National Anti-Smuggling Unit (Conacon), authorizes the proposal, they will will have, in less than six months, the program installed in all Customs offices registered with the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT).
Anti smuggling operations are working, resulting in tax collections by Customs grow by 3%.
From a publication in Diario de Centro América:
Working together to reduce smuggling
The first quarterly report of the National Commission Against Contraband (CONACON) contains encouraging news: From June to September smuggling has been reduced and customs revenue increased 3%.
Among the changes requested by the Guatemalan private sector, are the elimination of insurance for theft of goods in transit and the current billing method.
Private sector representatives together with the Tax Authority (SAT) are working on a draft for a new law, which introduces changes to almost 80% of the current Customs Act.
"... The American Chamber of Commerce has asked for changes to the billing method prescribed in current law, which provides for the entry of the net price of the merchandise. It opposed the $250 fines for invoices that do not comply with the new format, and also severe measures such as the suspension of customs agents. It is alsoagainst criminalizing a shipment arriving which is, for example, 5 percent over weight or over value", reports Elperiodico.com. gt.