Import release times: results of the 2020–2023 National Action Plan (SAT, to October 2023)

In 2024 SAT published the results report of the 2020–2023 National Action Plan to cut release times for definitive imports, drawn up after a Time Release Study done with World Customs Organization assistance and executed with the public-private Customs Dialogue and Cooperation Table (30 institutions). Measured from the arrival of the transport unit to its exit from the customs precinct, the average release time moved, between the 2019 baseline and October 2023: air (Aduana Express Aéreo) from 9 days 4 h 26 min to 2 days 8 h 30 min (−74%), with operations 14% above 2019; maritime (national) from 7 days 5 h 26 min to 6 days 7 h 15 min (−13%), with operations +17%; land (Tecún Umán II border post) from 10 h 6 min to 8 h (−21%), with operations +12%. The stretch that depends on Customs alone, from selectivity to release, fell from 2 days 2 h 19 min to 14 h for air (−72%), from 2 days 15 h 34 min to 1 day 22 h 20 min for maritime (−27%) and from 3 h 25 min to 2 h for land (−41%). In the maritime mode, as of October 2023, 30% of cargo was released in under 24 hours, 25% between 24 and 48 hours and 45% in more than 48 hours: the bottleneck remains at the ports and with non-customs actors, not in selectivity.

The research is written in English; quoted figures, source names and the titles of legal instruments stay in the language their source published them in.