As of October 1st, Guatemala and Honduras will begin operating three Peripheral Customs Offices, areas that will simplify procedures and allow free community mobility between both countries.
Guatemalan and Honduran taxpayers who make definitive imports to each State Party will be the ones to benefit from the implementation of this type of customs, since the goods imported under this modality will enjoy free mobility.
Since January 1, 2020, Nicaraguan authorities have been charging $25 for the electronic processing of the Single Central American Transit Declaration, a cost that exceeds by 233% what was paid until the end of 2019.
Until December 31 last year, the General Directorate of Customs Services (DGA) charged $7.5 for the Single Central American Declaration in Transit (DUCA), but with the new provision of the authorities, the cost increased by $17.5 for 2020.
After having been extended several times, the contingency plan for DUCA F and DUCA was finalized on July 8, however, there is uncertainty because the platform is not fully operational.
Because the implementation of the Central American Single Declaration continues to generate problems in customs in the region, the contingency plan for DUCA F and DUCA was extended until June 27.
"If you use the Contingency Plan, we suggest that you make sure you arrive at the destination country with the DUCA F and DUCA T duly processed and the supporting documents," reported the Guatemalan Association of Exporters.
Since there are still difficulties arising from the implementation of the Single Central American Declaration, the Contingency Plan for DUCA F and DUCA T was extended until 17 June.
Central American customs authorities agree to maintain in force the Contingency Plan for DUCA F and DUCA T, until June 17, 2019, at 23:59 hours. If the Contingency Plan is used, we suggest that you make sure that you arrive at the destination country with the DUCA F and DUCA T duly processed and the supporting documents," explains a statement from Agexport. See full document.
After several rounds of negotiations, El Salvador formally joined the Customs Union process with Guatemala and Honduras, so it will have to adjust its systems to the community information platform.
Authorities from the countries of the Northern Triangle reported that since November 20th, El Salvador has been fully incorporated legally and administratively into the process of Deep Integration of the Customs Union between Guatemala and Honduras.
A key factor in economies´competitiveness is the unrestricted movement of the available human and material resources, and this is where the customs integration of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador falls very short.
EDITORIAL
Jorge Cobas González Director of CentralAmericaData.COM
In the customs offices of Tecun Uman working hours have been extended both on the Guatemalan and Mexican side in order to allow passage of trucks which until now had been left stranded.
The Superintendent of Tax Administration is also operating an extraordinary timetable, a measure which could be extended for a few days, depending on what is decided at the end of the weekend.
Guatemala carriers have blocked passage through customs posts at Pedro de Alvarado, Jutiapa, in protest against the excessive slowness of procedures for entering El Salvador.
The slowness of customs formalities as a result of the computer system crash caused some 300 carriers to form a blockade using their trucks from Sunday February 28th on the route to the customs office in Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, located in Moyuta, in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, on the border with El Salvador.
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration has announced that this month it will deliver 55% of the funds required to implement the customs union between the two countries.
The funds pending for the implementation of the Customs Union between Guatemala and Honduras are being managed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) for a total of $1.5 million for delivery in February.
Despite the antiquity of the efforts for Central American integration and for the Customs Union the obstacles to trade between the countries on the isthmus presented by customs offices are notorious.
The Federation of Chambers and Associations of Exporters of Central America (Fecaxca) is once again calling for policies and common strategies for standards and customs procedures.
Governments in the region should accelerate and make concrete a real customs union that decisively contributes to economic development by facilitating trade in goods and services as well as flows of capital.
While Central American government officials in regional authorities speak of integration, in reality central governments are doing little or nothing to achieve it, when not they are not in the process of obstructing it.
"We cannot continue to be a region where trade is moving at 15 kph when developed countries have cargo moving at 60 kph."
Employers believe that border points and customs offices in Central America are limiting their work and reducing their competitiviness despite the fact that they have been selling products to each other for over a decade.
"We cannot continue to be a region where trade is moving at 15 kph when developed countries have cargo moving at 60 kph," said Jorge Daboub, president of the Federation of Private Entities of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (FEDEPRICAP).
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.
The heavy bureaucracy present in Central American governments is obstructing the transport of goods, adding to regional trade costs.
In Guatemala, for example, the inefficiency in resolving issues and easily implementing procedures is self evident, as currently there are open files against 36,000 carriers, "something that no one can update, because of how cumbersome it would be to update this documentation , but the worst thing is that many of these records were wrongly documented because they correspond to breaches by vehicles which later went out of circulation ... " noted an editorial published by Prensalibre.com.