El Salvador
El Salvador Customs Contacts
Website: http://www6.mh.gob.sv/
Email: usuario.dga@mh.gob.sv
Telephone: (503) 2244-5000
Address: Km. 11½ , Carretera Panamericana, San Bartolo, Ilopongo, Departamento de San Salvador
El Salvador is a country situated in Central America, bordered the North Pacific Ocean, Guatemala and Honduras. The country signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and other important trade agreements with Mexico, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Panama. El Salvador is a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, World Customs Organization and WTO.
Export/Import Requirements:
El Salvador is open to international trade. The country is a member of the DR-CAFTA. The agreement has increased its international commercial activities considerably. El Salvador is trying to simplify and modernize its customs procedures. Thus since 2002 the country has been applying the Customs Valuation Agreement with the WTO. El Salvador has very few trade barriers affecting the import of products manufactured in the country, but there are some barriers in services.
The country has a system of "remote computing". With the accordance with this system the importer / exporter can connect himself electronically to the central customs, and to submit all information. This procedure reduces the processing period that could take two or three weeks to just a few hours.
Import tariffs
El Salvador is a member of the Central American Common Market, and as a result applies a CACM common external tariff for products imported from outside of the community. El Salvador applies preferential tariffs for member countries of the Central American Common Market.
For other countries, El Salvador applies a common external tariff which do not exceed the maximum of 15% established by the CACM:
- new and used clothing - 25%
- fabrics - 20% or more
- motor vehicles - 25-30%
- agricultural: dairy, rice, pork, poultry - 40%
- alcoholic beverages – 20-40%
There is also a VAT tax of 13% applied to all imported products regardless the origin. Import duties are calculated ad valorem and applied to the cost, insurance and freight value of the products.
Product certification and labeling
Imports to El Salvadoran usually does not require import licenses and require only a commercial invoice and bill of lading However, all imports of fresh food, agricultural products and live animals require a sanitary certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Public Health. Grains require import licenses from the Ministry of Agriculture. Dairy products require import licenses from the Ministry of Public Health. Pharmaceutical products need to be registered at the National Directorate of Medicines (Direccion Nacional de Medicamentos –DNM). Food products require a Certificate of Free Sale.
Labels must indicate the following information:
- the price of the product (on the packaging, in a visible place)
- weight, volume, or an exact measure of the contents
- for pharmaceuticals: trade name, active ingredient and their concentration, instructions for use, possible side effects, warnings; dose; manufacturing and expiration dates; formula; manufacturing lot number, and Health Registry Number
- expiration date (for frozen and canned food)
- labels must be in Spanish
Documents for import
The following documents are required:
Commercial invoice, indicating:
- name and address of the seller
- city and date
- name and address of the buyer
- description of the products (including brand, model or style)
- quantity, unit and total value of the goods
- terms of payments agreed with the seller
Transportation documents:
- airway bill or bill of lading
- name of the company
- port of origin and destination
- type, quantity, and description of product
- weight, freight value
- number of the corresponding transportation document and date and place of issuance
In the “Tariff Online Query” exporters can find a detailed information about the import tariffs, import permits and import restrictions for a specific product:
http://appm.aduana.gob.sv/sacelectronico
Sources:
http://web.ita.doc.gov/tacgi/OverSeasNew.nsf/alldata/El%20Salvador
https://www.export.gov/article?id=El-Salvador-Customs-Regulations
