TRADE FACILITATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

August 29th, 2022

Francisco A. Lima Mena
Secretary-General

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 Acts

Framework Agreement Establishing the Central American Customs

Union (12 December 2007)

Central American Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness Strategy,

with Emphasis on Coordinated Border Management (October 2015)

WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (February 22, 2017).

 Trade Facilitation / Customs Unions

Framework Agreement Establishing the Central American Customs Union

Establish and guarantee compliance with trade

Free Movement facilitation measures aimed at perfecting intra-
and Trade regional free trade and expediting the circulation of
Facilitation originating and non-originating goods within the
customs territory.

To guarantee that the intra-border customs between

the States Parties continue to operate and promote
Modernization gradually and in a coordinated manner, the
Institutional and facilitation and expediting of trade and the collection
Development Regulatory of the corresponding taxes.
Convergence
 Central America Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness Strategy with
Emphasis on Coordinated Border Management (ECFCC)

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 Trade Facilitation in Central America
Central American Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness Strategy
with Emphasis on Coordinated Border Management
(October 2015)

1. Coordinated border management model in

Central America.

2. Five (5) Short-term priority actions.

3. Eight (8) Medium and long-term measures.

4. Three (3) transversal axes including a

Central American Regional platform.

5. Inter-institutional coordination by the

countries with the institutions involved.
 Short-Term Priority Actions Compliance:
Measure 3. Electronic SPS Certificates.
Measure 1. Advance Declaration. implemented by Guatemala and
GT, HN, NI mandatory, PN optional, Honduras.
ES general and CR mandatory for its
exports and optional for its imports.

Measure 5. Use of Camera at Border Crossings.

Cameras installed in Guatemala and Honduras are
transmitting images of traffic in border crossings points
trought Customs Authorities webpages:

Honduras: http://stream.aduanas.gob.hn/
Guatemala: https://portal.sat.gob.gt/portal/programa-
miad/sistemas-de-video-vigilancia-cctv/

Measure 4. Registration by means of Radio

Frequency Devices (RFID).
The enrollment status of the 6 countries in the
region is at 37%, with 28,142 transport units
enrolled out of 75,600 tags delivered in the region
(August 25th, 2022).
 Medium and Long Term Measures status:

According to the information provided by the countries, there is a positive balance in the fulfillment of the
112 activities included in the medium and long-term measures.

80
73
70
70 67

60
Cantidad de actividades

51 50
50
44
40
40 37
35
32
30 28 28
26
24

20 17 16 16

10 6 6
4
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
0
Guatemala El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua Costa Rica Panamá

Cumplido En proceso No iniciado Pendiente de estatus No Reporta Información

*Data taken from the Diagnostic Report updated by the GTFC as of December 2021. The countries are in the update of the I semester
of the year 2022.
 Medium and Long term measures status:

There is a positive balance in compliance with medium and long-term measures. This is the case of "Reliable
Operators" (measure 4) and "quarantine control" (measure 5).

In the case of measure 7 "Infrastructure and equipment", the activities completed are concentrated in
Nicaragua, which has completed 25 out of 28 of the activities; other countries have identified this measure as
"In process", since they are in the process of readjusting infrastructure and acquiring equipment, in many cases
under border pairs.

In the case of measure 8 "border community and security", most of the countries have identified most of the
activities as "Not Started", identifying that technical assistance and specific guidelines are required for the
fulfillment of this measure.

In general, it has been identified that there are a number of activities that countries require technical and
financial assistance, while others depend on progress at the national level.
 Progress and challenges in the implementation of the
commitments taken in the WTO-Trade Facilitation Agreement.

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 Trade Facilitation in Central America
WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (February 22, 2017).

1. Provisions to expedite the movement, release and

clearance of goods, including goods in transit. (Articles
1-12) Clarifies and improves the relevant articles (V,
VIII and X) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) 1994. Also contains customs cooperation
Category C: provisions.
Category A: Category B: provisions that
the member will
provisions that provisions that
implement on a
2. It includes special and differential treatment
the member will the member
implement by the will implement
date after a provisions that allow developing and least developed
transitional
time the after a period following countries to determine when they will apply specific
Agreement enters
into force (or in transitional the entry into provisions of the Agreement and to identify provisions
period force of the
the case of a
least-developed following Agreement and that can only be applied after receiving technical
requiring the
country within the entry into acquisition of assistance and capacity building support.
one year after force of the assistance and
entry into force) Agreement support for
capacity building.
 Central America Trade Facilitation
WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (February 22, 2017)

3. It includes provisions that establish a standing committee on trade

facilitation in the WTO and require Members to have a national
committee to facilitate internal coordination and implementation of
the provisions of the Agreement. In Central America it is composed as
follows:

Guatemala’s Trade Facilitation

Committee was created by
Ministerial Agreement No.
355-2016, published in the
Official Gazette on September
12, 2016
Honduras' Trade Facilitation In Nicaragua, the WTO Trade
Committee was created by Facilitation Subcommittee was
Executive Decree PCM-039- created on September 27,
2018 2013).

Costa Rica created the

El Salvador's Trade Facilitation
Committee was created by
Decree 32-2016
National Council for Trade
Panama has a Logistics
Facilitation (CONAFAC)
Cabinet
created by Law No. 9430 of
April 4, 2017.
 Status of implementation commitments

País Category A Category B Category C

Costa Rica 97.9% with a time-frame - 2.1% future
Ratified on the 1 May 2017 spanning from February 2017 to implementation from
January 2023 January 2023
El Salvador 77.3% commitments for - 16.8% commitments for
Ratified on the 4 July 2016 implementation to date. implementation to date.
5.9%. future
implementation from
February 2017 to
December 2024
Guatemala 63.9% commitments for 8,8% commitments for 25,6% commitments for
Ratified on the 8 March 2017 implementation to date. implementation to date. implementation to date.
1,7% future
implementation from
January 2024 to July
Fuente: Own elaboration with data based on https://www. /tfadatabase.org 2024
 Status of implementation commitments

País Category A Category B Category C

Honduras 58.4% commitments for 0,8% commitments for 7,1% commitments for
implementation to date. implementation to date. implementation to date
Ratified on the 14 July 2016 1,7% future implementation 31,9% future implementation
from March 2023 to March from March 2023 to March
2026 2027

Nicaragua 76,9 % commitments for 16,0% commitments for 3,4% commitments for
Ratified on the 4 August implementation to date. implementation to date. implementation to date.
2015 0,8% future implementation 2,9% future implementation
from December 2022. from June 2023 to June 2024.
Panamá 75,6% commitments for 8,8% commitments for 15,5% commitments for
Ratified on the 17 November implementation to date. implementation to date. implementation to date.
2015

Fuente: Own elaboration with data based on https://www. /tfadatabase.org

Progress and Challenges in TFA Compliance in Central America:

1. All Central American countries have presented progress and compliance

levels that remain close to the average for Latin America (74.9%); even
countries such as Costa Rica (97.9%), El Salvador (77.3%) and Nicaragua
(76.9%), are above the Latin American average.

2. The fulfillment of the commitments of category C is subject to the countries

having the technical and economic capacities to be able to fulfill them, which
will be provided by donors that are in communication with countries as
included in Articles 13.2 and 14.2 of the TFA.
 Regional Time Release Study

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 Actions to be implemented

97 Total of actions
6 improvements identified

68 National Customs Actions

Infrastructure Staff assignment Inter-agency

coordination

11 Regional Actions

18
Document Advance Streamlining the flow
Actions with other Actors automation and
scanning
declaration of transport units

10 Recommendations to Customs

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 Regional Action Plan

11 Actions in 15%

4 thematic areas 20%

30%
35%

INFRASTRUCTURE ONGOING STRATEGY COORDINATED MANAGEMENT STAKEHOLDERSACTORES COORDINATION

Infrastructure, equipment Joint strategy to reduce Advance in the Inter-institutional coordination.

and personnel for border costs and streamline the coordinated
posts. crossing process. management of
Customs Administrations.

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 Tema

Francisco A. Lima Mena

Secretary-General

SIECA

#OrgullosamenteSIECA