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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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. XI-15
TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2004 HONDURAS ♦ In 2000 the ministry signed an agreement with OIRSA, which entrusted OIRSA with the full range of Servicio de Proteccion Agropecuaria (SEPA) import activities, including collection of all fees, performance of all inspections, fumigation, laboratory analysis, and quarantine services at the borders. This arrangement has produced a process with increased integrity and professionalism. Honduras and Guatemala have SEPA. ♦ The ministry has an internal automated operating system that tracks actions, permits, and the importer/exporter registry and provides quality statistical data. Using an Inter- American Development Bank loan, SENASA is updating the system so that the traders’ permits can be submitted and approved through Internet application. The target completion date is January 2005. ♦ There is an excellent working relationship between OIRSA and SENASA, which work together to upgrade public safety. Jointly, the two agencies provide training to upgrade professionalism. ♦ OIRSA funds are used to eradicate and control pests and to maintain pest-free zones so that producers in these areas can export their commodities. 2) Ministry of Agriculture Issues to Address Improvements in the following areas would expedite and enhance the ministry’s efforts to modernize and improve performance: ♦ SENASA should improve its relations with the trade community. To do so, it should promote a customer service approach to its work and involve the trade community more in streamlining and modernizing procedures. Active dialogue and working groups should be established for this purpose. ♦ A quality control program should be established so that management can determine how well it is fulfilling its responsibilities. Currently, the only reports are quantitative. ♦ A modern public information system should be implemented so that changes in procedures and policies are sent to the trade community on a timely basis. Because of constantly changing SPS requirements, importers and exporters do not benefit from predictability. ♦ The agency’s risk management system should be improved. Currently, the system is rudimentary, and technicians need training in qualitative and quantitative analysis. Increased risk management will lead to better resource allocation, better detection of problems, and fewer, shorter delays for low-risk items that can forgo inspection. ♦ Honduras should improve the maintenance of pest-free zones. Although SENASA works effectively with OIRSA on programs to eradicate pests and disease (it has successfully eradicated four poultry diseases), it is having difficulty in maintaining these efforts. ♦ Agriculture and livestock producers often look at the food safety process as compartmentalized into production, processing, and packaging. This hinders effective oversight and often prevents a product grown under a properly controlled environment from entering the export market because of problems in subsequent steps. XI-16
Page 1 and 2:
TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46: TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT
Page 95: TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
T H RADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSM
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?