If the proposed amendment to the Scanner Act is approved, the fee to be charged will be $70 on merchandise worth over $2,000 and $20 on goods ranging in value from $500 to $2000.
In addition, there will be a fee of $25 on freight from the free zone declared in air customs offices and $30 of free zone goods declared in land and maritime customs offices.
While in customs offices the $18 fee is still being charged, those employers affected by it are concerned and are asking for a refund of what they have already paid.
The Chamber of Commerce of El Salvador (CCES) expects the authentic interpretation of the decree exempting the charge for the service of non-intrusive inspection of exports and imports and international transit of goods, to be published soon in the Official Journal, as the $18 fee is still being charged at the borders of the country.
The suspension of payment for customs inspections in El Salvador applies to goods in international transit and those with a local destination.
From a press release issued by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador:
The Legislature has approved an authentic interpretation of Decree 604, approved on January 16, which contains exceptional and transitional provisions applied to the "Customs Simplification Act" to suspended for a period of 180 days, the fee for the provision of non-intrusive inspections, whose office of departure and destination are within or outside the borders of El Salvador.
Salvadoran exporters are asking for clarification over the regulation that puts on hold the fee of $18 per inspection of goods.
The Corporation of Exporters of El Salvador (Coexport) asked the Government to clarify which goods have to be inspected at customs and pay the $18 fee. They explain that there is confusion occurring at the regional level which must be addressed.
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.