The authorities at customs offices in Guatemala and Honduras have opened new routes for regional transit of goods between the two countries.
The aim of the opening of new routes at the borders between the two countries, in El Florido and Agua Caliente, is to streamline regional trade which has been blocked because of the protests over the application of a fee of $18 in Salvadoran customs offices for X-ray inspection of trucks.
President Funes has asked Congress to suspend for 180 days the fee charged for inspecting goods in transit using scanners.
From a press release issued by the Presidency of El Salvador:
The President, Mauricio Funes, today appealed to the Legislature, through a project for a proposed temporary decree, to suspend the collection of $18 for non-intrusive inspections in the case of goods going through customs offices which are destined to go out of the country, an issue which has generated a dispute at the borders.
Central American companies are asking the Salvadoran government to intervene in the conflict, which is already generating huge losses.
Legislation in the region allows customs offices to design nonintrusive inspection methods, but these should not generate arrears in clearance or excessive costs which obstruct the free movement of goods, services and people.
Only cargo destined for El Salvador should be charged with the $18 fee for the inspection with scanner, request freight carriers.
According to the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), this fee violates conventions and trade agreements in the region. In addition, they believe that the inspections and the time it takes to submit all shipments to the procedures are excessive.
The improvised implementation of a new system of customs administration and the opposition to the collection of $18 for each declaration of goods is already affecting regional trade.
The implementation of an inspection system for cargo transportation in El Salvador has not only generated traffic chaos but has also caused delays in intraregional trade.
The regional union of freight carriers is protesting about the fee for inspections using scanners at Salvadoran customs offices and the delays it has generated.
The Central American Freight Council declared a protest strike at Salvadoran borders over the payment of $18 for the inspection of cargo travelling overland.
Regional unions are threatening a general strike in the Salvadoran border to protest at the rate of $18 per inspection at customs offices in that country.
S21.com.gt reports: "The new provision of the General Customs of El Salvador will take effect on 6 January, in light of this, carriers of the remaining five countries in the region have announced a general strike on the Salvadoran border if this legislation goes ahead. "
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.
Guatemala is not getting ready for the entry into force in January 2015 of a U.S. policy which establishes inspection systems for containers at the ports of departure.
Guatemala is running the risk of not being able to sell its products to the United States, seeing as authorities have not placed any importance on the implementation of the Initiative for Safe Containers (Container Security Initiative-CSI).
From the border with Mexico up to Darien in Panama, customs offices are hindering trade and conspiring against the region's development.
According to the Corporation of Guatemalan Customs Agents (CAAG), delays suffered by transport carriers alone make goods 5% more expensive for Central American consumers. But added to this is 30% for sanitary and phytosanitary barriers and non-tariff measures that are applied in each country.
Conflicts of interest between carriers and the apathy of the authorities of Costa Rica and Panama have kept the border blocked for all regional trade.
EDITORIAL
It's not just that immigration and customs officials do not provide a 24 hour service, as is needed, and as occurs at other Central American borders, but that in Paso Canoas, the governments of Costa Rica and Panama are not exercising their authority in a responsible manner, resulting in conflicts for one reason or another, with consequent blockades and closures that produce serious economic losses not only for Panamanians and Costa Ricans, but also for all Central American companies whose imports or exports pass through this border.
Regional freight transportation businessmen in Guatemala will meet to discuss abuses in fees and other procedures at several customs offices on the isthmus.
As reported by Benjamin Castro, president of the Chamber of Honduran Cargo Transporters, carriers also hope to meet with the Tax Authority (SAT), to discuss other problems they are experiencing in the country.
After the Salvadoran Supreme Court suspended the Fonat law, carriers decided to resume their work.
"There is no longer a reason for the strike," said Raul Alfaro, president of the Association of International Cargo Transporters (ASTIC).
"The Chamber accepted a constitutional challenge submitted by the ASTIC against the collection of accident insurance, namely the Fund for Victims of Traffic Accidents (Fonat), from which the Legislature excluded foreign transporters, but not Salvadorans," noted an article in Elsalvador.com.
The Central Council of Transport has announced a three-day strike in protest against El Salvador levying a tax on freight carriers of between $35 and $250.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "the measure will affect all regional trade, because the rest of the international freight carriers from the isthmus will join the strike 'in solidarity' in order to send a message to other governments who have created new taxes on trade merchandise ... ".
Recognized Brazilian company of backhoe loaders, telescopic, articulated and other types of cranes looking for companies interested in representing the brand and distributing their machinery in Central America and Mexico. The company manufactures and sells telescopic,...