Now we transport thousands of tons of goods in fast trucks, we dispatch proformas and invoices online ... and there are still customs agencies.
EDITORIAL
The controversy which arose in Guatemala over the proposed creation of the Agile Import Window (VAI by its initials in Spanish) is as old as the world. Not going too far back into the past, we know that when in the late nineteenth century cars began to circulate, in many places the speed of their movement was restricted so that they would not go faster than a horse and buggy, and there were many who protested that this invention would put drivers of carts out of work along with horses and cattle breeders.
They are opposing the Agile Import Window to be implemented if the law on competitiveness and productivity is approved.
The Corporation of Guatemalan Customs Agents (CAAG) and the Association of International Carriers oppose the Agile Import Window (VAI by is initials in Spanish) to be implemented if the Productivity and Competitiveness Act is approved.
It has been pointed out that the Guatemalan state is slow, bureaucratic, unplanned, and that there are no rules or processes for controlling public spending.
The National Economic Research Center (CIEN), believes that there is an urgent need to modernize the State, since these conditions ensure the perpetuation of high levels of poverty.
They point to a need to reform the State Procurement Law, the Civil Service Law, the Organic Budget Law and the Law of the Comptroller General.