Trade and Commercial Law Assessment - Honduras - Economic ...

TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2004
HONDURAS
required. If physical examinations are not providing adequate results, the risk
management parameters for generating examinations should be adjusted or reduced.
Through post audit, post verification, and physical examination, Customs has concluded
that approximately 80 percent of its shipments are compliant.
♦ There is concern in Honduras and the region that goods sold in Panama are imported with
undervalued invoices. This problem must be addressed on a regional level, and those
parties participating in undervaluation should be penalized and criminally prosecuted for
flagrant violations of customs law.
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The trade community is concerned that goods are entering without Customs clearance.
Supporting this concern, the number of commercial declarations
generated by the
Customs automated system for 2003 appears low. All commercial imports over $500 are
to be transmitted electronically and should be logged in the system.
The Customs laboratory is understaffed and under-equipped. In fact, there is only one
employee at the Customs laboratory and that person is responsible not only for customs
analysis, but also for quality control. Laboratory issues requiring complex analysis are
sent to Mexico, which is expensive and time-consuming.
Although it may be sufficient for current processes, the existing level of automation does
not provide the capabilities required to incorporate a sophisticated risk
management
process. In addition, the current automated system, ASYCUDA/SIDUNEA ++ 1.17d, is
difficult to modify. The automated system is now available at 14 sites, and
communications are said to be stable for use of both microwave and satellite linkage. The
network, ADUANETT, is provided by a private association, and users pay for the
network, charging their clients approximately $8 per transaction.
The contract with
Customs states that ADUANETT is to provide some equipment, including workstations,
servers, and printers. Inspectors are selected at random to perform examinations, and
examination findings are input into the system to provide an electronic history of the
results. The automated system provides manifest, selectivity, declaration processing,
accounting, and transit modules. Some in-house programs have also been developed, and
work is under way to provide linkage with other countries. It is anticipated that, for
Central American goods, the export country’s declaration will become the import
declaration. Honduras is seeking, as it should, to move to another system, because of the
current system’s limitations.
Customs procedures are now too complex and cumbersome. All of these procedures
require review to identify those that are redundant or unnecessary. Many neighboring
countries have taken the initiative on this issue and reduced procedures as well as
documentary requirements.
Customs’ risk management system is not fully utilized. There are still many unnecessary,
unproductive examinations resulting
from overly broad criteria. The analysts should take
into account the training received and input targeted criteria on the basis of extensive
analysis to define risk and develop a methodology for updating examination criteria. A
better understanding of risk management and the development of a mechanism to provide
managers with performance feedback are both needed.
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