The new Customs Law of the Dominican Republic, enacted last August by the Executive Branch, aims to streamline, modernize and adapt regulations to international standards.
In Law No. 168-2021, the Caribbean country penalizes money laundering in the trade of goods and creates the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for the investigation of customs crimes and offenses. Also, in the words of the Legal Consultant of the Executive Branch, Antoliano Peralta, the regulation proposes that the General Directorate of Customs participate more in the processes of international economic integration, adhering to the current regulations of foreign trade.
According to the legal expert, they are added new definitions relating to multilateral environmental agreements, green customs, types of documentary and physical inspection, cold chain, international transport, economic customs regimes, international trade vocabulary in accordance with “incoterms” or ICC rules for the use of international commercial terms. It also incorporates the use of electronic or digital signature and add payment through banking entities.
It also includes the transmission of documentation before the arrival of the means of transport and accepts the Sea Waybill or “Sea Waybill” as a physical or electronic shipping document.
In terms of powers, measures are added to address money laundering, via trade in goods, following recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), among others.
For his part, President Luis Abinader said that the new law will help in the recovery of the economy and will boost trade by simplifying and eliminating bureaucratic procedures and legislative loopholes, providing greater rationality to the national tax system and the international trade regulatory framework.
The new regulation, made up of 420 articles, allows the General Directorate of Customs to be modernized and made safer, and also to have a more exclusive legal text that increases the control of goods.Press release from the Presidency of the Dominican Republic)
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