In a move heralded as a significant step toward modernizing the Dominican Republic’s foreign trade, the Customs Agency (DGA) has signed a historic inter-institutional agreement with ten key government agencies. The accord aims to further expedite container freight clearance and solidify the operation of the Integrated Single Window for Foreign Trade (VUCE).
The DGA’s director general, Yayo (Eduardo Jose) Sanz Lovatón, penned the agreement, which seeks to transform the entire logistics chain through process standardization, automation, and integration, promising greater efficiency, security, and regulatory compliance.
The new agreement builds on the success of the existing 24-Hour Clearance Program, which has already facilitated the clearance of over 100,000 containers. This initiative has generated estimated savings for the Dominican economy ranging from RD$2 billion to RD$5 billion (approximately US$34 million to US$85 million).
“This achievement represents a significant saving for the Dominican economy and is the result of the work carried out through the VUCE,” stated Mr. Sanz Lovatón. He emphasized that the transformation is a response to President Luis Abinader’s vision and priority within the “Zero Bureaucracy” program.
The cooperation agreement is structured around several critical improvements to the trade process:
• Electronic System Interconnection: Comprehensive electronic linking of systems and integrated processing of permits.
• Optimized Response Times: Defined deadlines for issuing authorizations and a reduction in overall clearance duration.
• Unified Risk Engine: Implementation of a single risk-assessment tool for more efficient and targeted selection of goods for inspection.
• Coordinated Joint Inspections: Preventing duplicated efforts by consolidating inspections among agencies.
• Process Automation: Ensuring transparency and public access to information regarding requirements, tariffs, and applications.
Sanz Lovatón highlighted the remarkable progress already achieved in speeding up the process. He noted that just five years ago, the average time to release a container fluctuated between nine and ten days. Today, that time has been dramatically reduced to a mere 48 hours, enabling the DGA to clear over 100,000 containers within that short timeframe.
Gabino José Polanco, technical advisor to the DGA, added that this is a special agreement focused on perfecting the advances already made, consolidating VUCE as an integrated service platform. VUCE currently collaborates with 44 institutions and offers 301 services to the commercial community.
“The VUCE is consolidated as an essential tool to facilitate exports and imports, strengthen security in operations, and promote foreign investment,” Mr. Polanco expressed.
The government institutions linked to this agreement are the ministries of Defense, Environment, Interior & Police, Agriculture, the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), the Dominican Port Authority, the Dominican Institute for Quality (Indocal), the Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel), the General Medicines, Food and Health Products Agency (Digemaps) and the Center for Export and Investment of the Dominican Republic (Prodominicana)
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Aduanas
11 December 2025