Customs says Despacho 24 Hours program has generated RD$500 million in savings for taxpayers

Santo Domingo, DR.

The Directorate General of Customs (DGA) continues to simplify, automate, and optimize the clearance of goods through the 24-Hour Clearance Program (D24H), which has generated more than RD$500 million in savings for taxpayers.

The main goal of this program is to reduce bureaucracy, time, and cost by streamlining processes and customs clearance, allowing the different sectors to plan their operations and count on inputs for production and marketing.

Since the program began on June 1, 2021, 38,988 containers have been cleared in 24 hours or less, and about 6,148 importers have received the service.

Customs Director General Eduardo Sanz Lovatón highlighted that by 2019, the entity’s share of clearance times exceeded 28%; however, as of April 2023, it is only 11%, demonstrating the improvement achieved in reducing times to clear customs.

“As part of the continuous improvements, we have significantly decreased the times of processes and permits in the Foreign Trade Single Window (VUCE), going from 6 days and 9 hours (2019) to 2 days and 15 hours (2023),” expressed Sanz Lovatón.

He explained that 63% of the declarations were made in advance, that is, before the cargo arrived; 42% had a VUCE permit, and only 15% were physically inspected. “VUCE contemplates 40 connected entities, 274 services, of which 247 are in our APP.”

Likewise, the tax collection agency has achieved 549 certifications for Authorized Economic Operator Companies (AEO), including Simplified AEO. Notably, 75% of the AEO declarations have clearance times of less than 8 hours at DGA.

In addition, more than 40 technological improvements have been implemented within the DGA systems.