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Customs does not hinder economic recovery, said director By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The general director of Customs, Juan Carlos Gómez Sánchez, was emphatic on Tuesday saying that the goal of the National Customs Service is to fight against tax evasion as well as to support economic reactivation, and those actions can never be considered an obstacle to economic development. "Customs fights against evasion, it does not mean hinder the economic reactivation. The security measures that we have taken in one of the processes carried out by customs at the Juan Santamaría international airport* have the goal to improve controls mainly on courier service," said Gómez. " It does not affect, in any way, the schedules of attention in the customs as erroneously has been reported in some news media. " The control review protocol that began to be applied in recent days only in the airport customs department is the result of a process of investigation that began since 2018 before some irregularities were detected by the Customs Inspection Director in the process of courier delivery service. Among other security measures, customs changed the schedules for the dispatch of couriers, in such a way to guarantee that always are customs officials in the work of review process. "We have enough arguments to believe that there are people who, individually or in organized groups, made maneuvers during the internal transfer of products that enters to the country to evade the payment of taxes, and our obligation is to close the ways for avoiding taxes with the resources we have," said Gomez. "That is what we do and will continue to do to fight against tax fraud, what should not be seen as an obstacle to the economic reactivation. " An example of merchandise seized by customs police, as AM Costa Rica reported in February, was the confiscation of 1.5 tons of merchandise for possible tax evasion. The Supervision Department of the National Customs Service seized the merchandise that was not declared when imported. The confiscated products were packed in 174 boxes and were declared as empty plastic bottles, but it contained food supplements. The Direction of Customs said in a statement that this false declaration was intended to evade tax payment and avoidance of the Ministry of Health’s requirements for the import of such supplements. "We will continue the administrative and judicial actions against the customs agent and the importer, both for the attempted evasion and for being subject to regulation, which put people’s health at risk," said Gomez. That merchandise was sent to the customs warehouses of the airport where officials of the Ministry of Health destroyed the products not authorized for sale in the country. ---------------- Have you had problems of delays with couriers or products that are in the customs? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com |
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