Legal Consultant to the Executive Branch, Guido Gómez Mazara said that President Hipólito Mejía will soon make the much-criticized consular invoice a thing of the past. The DR and Paraguay are the only countries in the Americas that still require the consular invoice for imports. The consular invoice penalizes commerce as it creates a time-taking bureaucratic step in addition to the US$200 charge that has primarily served to make rich the lucky consuls. The business community has long requested the elimination of the consular invoice. During his presidential campaign, former President Leonel Fernández had promised to eliminate it, choosing to not do so once in power.
