After Nicaraguan authorities imposed in their customs a $50 payment to each cargo vehicle transiting through their territory, Costa Rica requested a meeting to review the issue.
On March 15 of this year, Nicaraguan authorities began to collect a customs tax on the transportation of cargo in transit or with final destination in the country, which consists of the payment of $50 for each transport unit of goods that passes through land customs.
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
On the Nicaraguan side everything is ready for cargo transported to and from the port of Limon to save 160 kilometers, through the customs post of Las Tablillas, but endless red tape is preventing works from starting in Costa Rica.
The Legislature granting approval for a loan to finance the work, completion of administrative procedures, the holding of a tender to hire a project manager who must then then tender the work internationally, are all of the steps that have to be completed to just to get work started at the customs post in Las Tablillas.
While authorities have reactivated the process for binational customs liberalization, entrepreneurs have pointed to constraints on issues related to bureaucracy, corruption, and infrastructure at border crossing points.
The governments of Guatemala and El Salvador have resumed work in Technical Groups to liberalize binational border posts. In a statement, they reported that dialogue has been revived over customs, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, migration, security, and legal and tax issues.
The decree approved by the Guatemalan Congress was the missing step needed to implement the free movement of people and goods between the two Central American countries.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Trade:
Guatemala, January 22, 2016. The Congress of Guatemala yesterday approved a Protocol Enabling the Deep Integration towards the free movement of people and goods between the Republics of Guatemala and Honduras.
Posts will be set up in peripheral positions with third party countries, an integrated post in Agua Caliente, and free movement posts in El Florido and Entre Rios-Corinth.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce of Guatemala:
CUSTOMS UNION WILL PREVENT CORRUPTION IN CUSTOMS OFFICES
This morning new schemes were agreed that will increase efficiency at border points between Guatemala and Honduras, allowing greater transparency in the process and preventing customs staff from behaving with discretion.
Despite the corruption scandals that tarnished the policy in Guatemala and Honduras, Honduran businessmen say the project of to unify the border posts at the end of the year is still moving forward.
Amid strikes, marches and demonstrations which have taken place in Guatemala and Honduras, working groups composed of representatives of the private sector in both countries and the government have not stopped working, as reported entrepreneurs like Maria Antonia Rivera, from the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Cortés.
Money in the pocket for every grandstanding politician and every wannabe business consultant, logistics in Central America is a much talked about theme on which no action is actually taken.
EDITORIAL
Logistics is vital for sustainable economic development, and it is perhaps the area of business management that has made the greatest strides in the last 50 years.
"It is we ourselves who are still looking ourselves as independent countries, when in fact we must work even harder on this unification."
In his article published in the magazine industry, the executive director of the Chamber of Industry of Guatemala Javier Zepeda, describes the situation which as yet has not be able to be changed: the plan for regional integration only exists on paper.
The agreement between the two governments states that as of December 15, 2015 customs offices at common borders will suspend their tax functions and allow the free movement of goods and people.
From a statement issued by the Government of Guatemala:
64 years after having started the process of Central American integration, the presidents of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, and Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, signed a historic agreement for a customs union between the two nations today, from which it is expected that economic growth of 15% will be produced in the short term. The agreement aims to eliminate the three land crossings on the borders of the two countries.
Both governments announced that they have signed an agreement to unify customs in order to expedite the transport of vehicles and people, with effect from 1 June.
With this agreement, it is expected that the border between the two nations will be fully liberated for both freight and passengers in December. Immigration procedures will be carried out online or in an office to be located near the border area.
Now is the time to fulfill the clear mandate of the Presidents of the Central American Integration System for the establishment of a Customs Union in Central America.
From a statement issued by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Central America (FECAMCO):
The Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Central America (FECAMCO) held in San José, the transfer of chairmanship of this regional entity to the Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica for the period 2015.
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.
The Tax Authority of Guatemala has denied the existence of a consensus among Central American countries to implement a unified charge.
The Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT) of Guatemala denied that there is a consensus among countries to implement a one-time charge for reviewing scanned merchandise flowing through the region, as announced by the Directorate General of Customs of El Salvador.