President Luis Abinader unveiled the new Customs Law, issued with the objective of streamlining, modernizing and adapting the previous law to international norms and standards, in line with the reality of national legislation.
The new law adapts the customs legislation to the international trade and customs agreements signed by the country in the last 30 years and reduces the discretion of the director of the Directorate General of Customs.
The new legislation is composed of 420 articles aimed at regulating the Dominican customs regime, establishing the different guidelines on which the institution will be based. The legal text recently presented aims to modernize and make the DGA more secure, as well as to have a more exclusive regulation that increases the control of merchandise.
It is recalled that the piece was submitted by the official legislator Alexis Victoria Yeb, via the Senate of the Republic, and was later converted into law by the Chamber of Deputies.
Below, you can read the new Customs Law 198-21 here
Reading some particularities of the new Customs Law, the legal consultant of the Executive Branch, Antoliano Peralta, pointed out that it punishes the crime of laundering in the trade of goods, creates the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the investigation of customs crimes and offenses. It also seeks that the DGA participates more in the processes of international economic integration, following the new rules of foreign trade.
He explained that it also adds new definitions related to multilateral environmental agreements, green customs, types of gauging, documentary, physical, cold chain, international transportation, economic customs regimes, international trade terms in accordance with the “incoterms” or ICC rules for the use of international trade terms; it incorporates the use of electronic or digital signature and adds payment through banking entities.
Likewise, it incorporates the transmission of documentation prior to the arrival of the means of transport, accepts the Sea Waybill as a physical or electronic shipping document.
