The Dominican Republic is now only the second Latin American country to have a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with United States Customs. The benefit of the agreement is that there will be fewer examinations when shipping cargo, a faster validation process, common standards, efficiency for Customs and business, transparency between Customs administrations, business resumption, front-of-the-line processing, and marketability.
The CBP says that the goal of the mutual recognition arrangement is to link the two industry partnership programs, so that together they create a unified and sustainable security posture that can help secure and facilitate global cargo trade.
The agreement was signed in Santo Domingo yesterday, Monday 7 December 2015 and is a follow up to the Joint Work Plan signed in May 2015. The agreement was signed by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske and DR Customs director Juan Fernando Fernandez. It allows for stronger cooperation between CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Dominican Republic’s Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program.
The program is aimed at speeding up and securing the supply chain and facilitating trade between the US and the DR.
The United States has mutual recognition arrangements with Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Jordan, the European Union, Singapore, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan).
Minister of Hacienda Simon Lizardo represented President Danilo Medina at the signing. The chairman of the board of directors of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Zouhair Chorfi, WCO secretary general Kunio Mikuriya, WCO assistant secretary Sergio Mujica, US Ambassador James Brewster and others were also present.
Read more in Spanish: http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2015/12/08/aduanas-firman-acuerdo-intercambio