On September 8, 2023, the Ministerial Instance of the Customs Union between the Republics of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala adopted Resolution UA No. 109-2023 by means of which it is established the obligatory nature, for Honduras and El Salvador, as of October 17, 2023, of the anticipated electronic transmission of the Central American Single Declaration in the original merchandise by means of the DUCA-F.
Although by resolution dated October 20, 1995, the Central American Court of Justice stated that publication is not an essential requirement for the validity of mandatory normative acts of the Central American Economic Integration System, the State of Honduras did its part by publishing in the Official Gazette La Gaceta the Ministerial Agreement No.102-2023 of the Secretariat of State in the Office of Economic Development (SDE) on October 26, 2023. This publication confirms the decision of the Government of Honduras to include the same in its internal legal system. In turn, the Customs Administration of Honduras (AAH), in order to ensure its effective implementation and enforcement, made publications in its networks and official channels.
It is worth remembering that the Single Central American Declaration (DUCA) is the goods declaration format for all foreign trade operations, which replaced the Single Central American Customs Form (FAUCA) and the Single Declaration of Goods for International Land Customs Transit (DUT), through the adoption of three formats: The DUCA T which is used in the international transit of goods by land; the DUCA D used for the import or export of goods with third countries outside the Central American region; and, the DUCA F for originating goods with technological facilities that allow their early transmission.
The countries of the region, and in this particular case those of the Northern Triangle, have identified that traceability elements, technology, efficiency in the operation of technological and intuitive services are indispensable to guarantee an effective flow of goods and strengthen international trade in order to promote national and foreign investments in the region. The implementation, with its instructions and pilot processes, has already been successful in its implementation in the Guatemala-Honduras customs integration in 2021 and El Salvador-Guatemala in 2022, so it is expected to emulate the results in this opportunity.
The Tax and Customs Law team of Central Law is fully available to advise and accompany you in commercial operations with tax and customs incidence throughout the Central American region, Panama and the Dominican Republic. We remain at your service to clarify any doubts and answer any questions.
For more information contact us at [email protected]
This article was drafted by Jorge Romero , senior associate at CENTRAL LAW in Honduras and revised by J. Humberto Medina Alva.