The Dominican Customs Law, Explained: What Law 168-21 Means for Importers and Exporters

For 68 years, Dominican foreign trade ran on a customs statute written in 1953, before container shipping, free trade agreements and electronic commerce existed. Law 168-21, in force since August 2021, replaced it with a modern code of over 400 articles. For anyone importing into or exporting from the Dominican Republic, five features of the system matter most.

1. The DGA and its powers

The General Customs Administration (DGA) is an autonomous body with legal personality and its own budget, charged with collecting all taxes and tariffs on international trade and enforcing the country’s trade agreements. Its powers include preventing customs offenses, imposing administrative sanctions, and collecting customs debt, including re-liquidating duties after clearance, within the control period the law establishes.

2. Self-assessment, verified

The system rests on self-determination: the importer, consignee or customs broker classifies the goods, values them and calculates the duties. The DGA then applies risk-analysis methodologies to decide which declarations to inspect, and may amend any assessment where the declared and the verified diverge. Declarations are filed electronically through the customs system with the supporting documents, commercial invoice, transport document, declaration of value, certificate of origin and any required permits, and late declaration triggers statutory surcharges.

3. Liquidation on CIF value

Duties are liquidated on the CIF value (cost, insurance and freight), converted to Dominican pesos at the official Central Bank exchange rate on the date the taxable event occurs. Once the recognition of goods concludes, the importer is notified and must pay within a short statutory term to withdraw the merchandise.

4. Sanctions, administrative and criminal

Administrative infractions (undeclared cargo, missing invoices, errors in valuation, weight or quantity) draw fines, typically calculated as multiples of the evaded duties, and goods found in excess of or different from what was declared can be taxed, fined or confiscated. Smuggling (contrabando) is a criminal offense: introducing, extracting, transporting or selling goods without completing customs requirements and paying the corresponding duties. It carries confiscation of the goods and the means of transport, fines in multiples of the evaded taxes, and prison, with escalating penalties for repeat offenders. Carrying undeclared cash above US$10,000 across the border is treated as contraband, without prejudice to anti-money-laundering liability under Law 155-17.

5. Recourses

An importer who disagrees with a liquidation may object before the customs administration, escalate administratively within the DGA, and ultimately appeal before the Superior Administrative Court. Deadlines are short and counted from notification, the single most important compliance fact in this entire area.

Arthur & Castillo represents importers and exporters in customs compliance, DGA verifications, sanction proceedings and appeals. If customs has questioned your operation, engage counsel while the deadlines are still open.

Do you want more information about our services under Dominican Customs Law 168-21? Contact Us.

Disclaimer: This publication is not intended to provide advice or suggest a guaranteed outcome as individual situations will differ and the situation may have changed since publication. For specific advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.

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