The Dominican Association of Customs Agents denounced that the Customs Department preferred to create a custom-made software package to implement the GATT taxation system as of 1 July instead of installing the already proven Automated System for Customs Data recommended by the United Nations. In an interview with Hoy newspaper, Jose del Carmen Mendieta, Manuel Perez Atizol and Frankilin Nuñez, president, vice president and treasurer of ADAA, and engineer Osiris Ramirez Ponce de Leon, director of the National Institute for Customs Agents Training, said the installation of the United Nations package would mean more revenues for the government, and less unfair competition as it does not allow tax collectors or customs officers to favor one importer over another nor alter the values of a shipment. The system cannot assimilate any kind of corruption in customs as it would crash if someone tried to input data that was not in the system. Ponce de Leon said the system is in use in 180 countries today. The Customs experts attributed the problems causing delays in Customs declarations to the precariousness of the information system designed by the Customs authorities. For more information on the United Nations Customs software package, see http://www.asycuda.org/english.htm
