For the Central American Rice Federation, the bankruptcy of more than 62 thousand rice farmers in Central America and the Dominican Republic is imminent, due to the abolition of import tariffs, a measure that is part of the implementation of the DR-CAFTA Free Trade Agreement.
Representatives of the sector consider that if the commercial liberalization of rice cultivation continues, there will be an increase in unemployment and poverty in their agricultural areas, since more than 265,000 people depend directly on this crop and approximately 990,000 people indirectly, and foresee serious social, economic and political implications due to the effects of the Treaty.
Because in 2023 the tariff on rice imports will be zero because of the CAFTA-DR Treaty, rice producers in El Salvador are asking for a review of the trade agreement.
According to CAFTA-DR, which was signed in 2004 and came into force in 2006, the tariff on imports (DAI) will be eliminated gradually.
The IAD was reduced from 40% to the 13% currently charged; in 2022 it will be reduced to 6.7% and in 2023 it will be reduced to zero.
On April 26, Brazil will reactivate again on the agenda of the World Trade Organization, the complaint against Costa Rica for the imposition of a safeguard to increase the tariff on sugar.
In Panama, the Cabinet Council approved the extension for six more months of the decree which, in the context of the pandemic, provides tax benefits for the importation of medical and personal hygiene supplies.
The purpose of this policy is to maintain assured for the national population the access to hygiene and personal protection products at competitive prices, in addition to the acquisition of medical supplies necessary to strengthen and meet the medical and sanitary needs of the health sector in the fight against the pandemic that generated the outbreak of Covid-19.
Once Cauca IV comes into force, Costa Rican consumers will be exempted from paying duties on Internet purchases made abroad by Costa Rican consumers that do not exceed $500.
The fourth version of the Central American Uniform Customs Code (Cauca IV) will take effect as of May 1 and according to Costa Rican authorities, the exoneration of duties will only apply to family shipments.
Since a bill is being discussed in the Assembly of Panama that intends to force all private educational centers to offer discounts to students who receive virtual education, the business sector is opposed to this measure, as it is an attack against free enterprise.
The Assembly informed last January 21 that a bill was presented which aims to regulate the percentage of discounts in private schools and universities, if the teaching modality is virtual, blended and face-to-face.
Because yellow corn is imported from the United States at a price of $11 per quintal in Nicaragua and the cost of producing a quintal of sorghum locally is $12.5, competition for local producers is nearly impossible.
Nicaragua is part of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, an agreement that allows yellow corn from the United States to enter the local market free of tariffs.
Based on the willingness of Costa Rican authorities to raise the tariff on imported sugar from 45% to 73%, Brazil decided to raise the entry taxes on four animal products from Costa Rica.
Months ago, the private sector has been warning of the possibility that the country's trading partners would apply reciprocal measures because of Costa Rica's unilateral decision to raise entry taxes on imported sugar.
Following in Brazil's footsteps, Canada warned the WTO about the possibility of imposing compensation against the Costa Rican authorities' policy of raising the tariff on imported sugar from 45% to 73%.
After receiving a ruling opposing the international arbitration disputed with Teco Energy, the New York State Supreme Court ordered the seizure of $15.75 million from Guatemala.
Teco Energy is a company that was a shareholder of Empresa Eléctrica de Guatemala and years ago claimed international arbitration, arguing that from 2008 to 2013 the National Energy Commission set a maximum amount that energy distribution companies could charge the user.
Following what began as a blockade by Panama on the entry of animal products from Costa Rica, a formal proposal has been made to apply an import tariff to Costa Rican dairy products marketed in the Panamanian market.
In July of this year, Panama informed the National Animal Health Service (SENASA), an agency of the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), of the decision not to extend the export authorization to a list of Costa Rican establishments previously authorized and that have been trading in the Panamanian market for many years.
For the period from November 2020 to January 2021, Deocsa and Deorsa users will be charged an increase in the price of electricity of 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively.
In general terms, it is possible to indicate that for the following quarter the rates show minimal variations derived from the regular behavior of macroeconomic variables that have a direct incidence on the costs transferred to the rates, informed the National Commission of Electric Energy (CNEE).
After the Costa Rican authorities raised the tariff on imported sugar from 45% to 73%, the South American country decided to raise before the World Trade Organization, a process to exercise the right of suspension.
In June of this year, the Alvarado administration decided to increase to 79% and for the term of three years, the tariff on sugar entering the country.
In Costa Rica, the Chamber of Commerce opposes the agreement signed between the rice sector and the government, which maintains the fixing of the price and the 35% tariff on grain imports.
The decision was made on August 23rd in the framework of the meeting in which the National Production Council (CNP), the National Rice Corporation (CONARROZ) and the Ministries of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) and Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) participated.
Following an appeal filed by the importing company La Maquila Lama with the Costa Rican authorities, the government decided to reduce the additional tax on sugar purchased abroad from 34.27% to 27.68%.
With the reduction decreed by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), a decision that was published on August 18 in The Gazette, the total tax applied to imported sugar will be 72.68% (45% original plus 27.68% of the safeguard), which is slightly less than the 79.27% (45% original plus 34.27%), which was in force until before the enacted amendment.