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

TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2004
HONDURAS
c.
♦
Greater transparency and predictability are important. The agency should follow the
173
scientifically based principles outlined in the Codex Alimentarius
in adopting
requirements and determining whether to approve a registration request.
Ministry of Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture regulates products from the agricultural sector, including raw and
process ed plants and livestock, from a health and safety perspective. In this task, the agency
faces numerous
challenges. For many years, Honduras’s only exports were bananas, coffee, and
wood, all of which are subject to few SPS requirements for entering the global market. However,
with the
recent growth of the seafood industry and diversification into nontraditional products
(such as okra, eggplant, and snow peas), demands on the food safety inspection, certification and
approval system have increased. As this transition occurs, the ministry will have to increase its
technical
capacity to ensure that new products meet SPS standards.
Because of their limited technical capacity and resources, small economies, particularly
developing ones such as Honduras, have difficulty
meeting constantly increasing, rigorous
international food safety requirements,
such as those established by the new bio-terrorism law of
the United States,. When large players in the global economy, such as the United States, impose
new requirements, these ripple throughout the world, eventually becoming part of international
recognized standards for the product. As a result, products from smaller, less developed countries
are often denied access to the global market for long periods of time while their regulatory
agencies and growers attempt to implement and certify production to meet the new requirements.
Within the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the National Plant and Animal Health Service
(SENASA), develops and implements the procedures governing SPS certification for exports and
import permits for processed and raw plant and animal products. As noted, export certifications
are completed at the four CENTREX offices with a staff of eight technicians. A fee of $8.25
per
SENASA certificate is charged for each of the approximately 9,000 certificates in 2004 through
September. At CENTREX, this process takes less than 10 minutes to complete.
SENASA has four divisions that issue the import permits required to secure release of each
shipment of raw or processed vegetable or animal product. SENASA maintains a register of all
companies permitted to import these products. Import permits are issued only by the
headquarters office in Tegucigalpa and normally take 2 days to review and approve. In 2004,
through September, 18,000 import permits were issued, at a cost of $8.25 each, by a staff of 10
people.
1) Ministry of Agriculture Operations That Support Trade Facilitation
The Ministry of Agriculture has taken several steps to improve the quality of its operations and
its level of service, including the following:
♦ Importers can secure the required certifications with few serious delays.
173 The Codex Alimentarius standards are available online at the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s website,
available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp.
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