The Dominican Republic faces the challenge of illicit trade and the unfair competitionproblems that affect the formal economythe tax collection and consumer safety.
“He illicit trade and the unfair competition require particular and punctual attention that has been demanded not only by Dominican society, but also by our main commercial partners and by our entire region,” said Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, head of the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), who highlighted yesterday that The entity carries out a process of inspection of 102 companies of Asian capital during 2024 due to various irregularities that encourage illicit trade in the country.
“They have already audited 44 companies. Reliquidating, this year only, a amount above 2,400 million pesos,” indicated the head of Customs.
He also said that for the first time, in a joint action with the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) and Customs, they have carried out a inspection together in more than 30 companies that They import from Asia.
The official spoke during the first seminar-workshop about Illicit Trade and Unfair Competition, where, also, the Minister of Finance, José Manuel Vicente, highlighted the impact of the legal modernization and institutional as a fundamental tool in the fight against illicit trade.
“In the last three years we have achieved seizure of 75 million contraband items in the country’s ports and airports. With a capacity of just 40% of the load reviewed non-intrusively At the beginning of President Abinader’s government, today we have almost 100%. This has been possible thanks to the technological innovations that the General Directorate of Customs has had,” said Vicente.
Yeni Berenice
In it “International Seminar-Workshop about Illicit Trade and Unfair Competition”, the head of the General Directorate of Prosecution of the Public Ministry, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, participated, who pointed out that in recent years in the Dominican Republic one of the legislative systems further strong.
“The message for those who dedicate themselves to illicit trade is that the Dominican State (…) has a joint strategy to prevent it, to pursue it. We have and we are going to use all our resources (…)”, he added.
He warned that for illicit trade: “we are going to go for everything: for high penaltiesby high seizuresbecause the Dominican Republic does want to be a model of commerce, but under no circumstances a paradise where trade takes place. illicit tradewhich generates so much damage from the impact on the economynegative consequences (…) on the quality of people’s lives”.
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) reaffirmed its commitment to combat illicit trade, calling it one of the main obstacles to the development of formal companies, tax collection and consumer safety in the country. On the other hand, the president of the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep), Celso Juan Marranzini, said that the objective is for government institutions to work in a coordinated manner in this fight, since illicit trade is a form of organized crime that significantly affects formal economic activity, reducing jobs and investments. For this reason, he assures that it is essential that the fight be constant, articulated and increasingly sophisticated.
