After two days of analysis of the joint work they carry out throughout the year, the forty-second Meeting of National Directors of Customs of the Multilateral Convention on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of Customs of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP).
This instance, described as “successful” for allowing the deepening of the exchange of experiences and good customs practices between 21 signatory countries of COMALEP, held on May 5 and 6 virtually, with Honduras as the host country.
The opening was led by the Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Ricardo Treviño Chapa, together with the Vice President of the WCO for the Americas and the Caribbean Region, Werner Ovalle Ramírez, the Director of the Customs Administration of Honduras, Fausto Cálix, and the Administrator of International Affairs of Customs of Mexico (SAT) and Permanent Representative to the COMALEP Secretariat, Juan de Dios Vázquez.
"Among the topics discussed, the challenges of customs administrations after the COVID-19 pandemic and the customs facilitation and control strategies implemented were presented," reported the Director of the Customs Administration of Honduras and president of the COMALEP meeting, Fausto Cálix, who listed the actions that led to the adoption of hygiene guidelines and biosafety protocols, the implementation of new technological tools, traceability, new processes, as well as the application of procedures in accordance with the latent needs and the security of customs operations.
The meeting was divided into five panels: “The World Customs Organization (WCO) and its instruments”, “The experience of using new technologies in the region and the results obtained”, “Trade facilitation and customs control in the context of COVID-19”, “Green Customs” and “Security”.
The impact on trade, the solutions applied and innovations and strategic alliances to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic were also analyzed, in addition to excellence and high quality in customs clearance, the scope of the seventh amendment of the harmonized system of Description and Coding of Goods.
Other topics discussed included the experience of using new technologies, a single window for trade, alerts, analysis and exchange, the modernization process and technologies in customs, the technicalization of the customs system through the cross-checking of information, multilateral environmental agreements and control of trade in strategic goods.
In this way, with the holding of the XLII COMALEP, an intense week of work in Honduras was successfully concluded, which included the holding of the XXIV Regional Conference of General Directors of Customs of the Americas and the Caribbean (CDRGA) and the Second Forum of Customs of the Americas and the Caribbean with the Private Sector.
The Multilateral Customs Convention of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP) was signed in Mexico City in 1981 and ratified in 1999 as a useful instrument to strengthen mutual assistance in the fight against fraud and cooperation, as well as the increase and development of trade between the parties. The countries that comprise it are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
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