Dominican republic Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in dominican republic, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Trade Barriers
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While CAFTA-DR eliminates most of the trade barriers to imports from the U.S., the treaty’s implementation, since its signing in March 2007, has not been without problems, and certain technical barriers and issues of interpretation can arise from time to time. For example, most U.S. agricultural goods that compete with local industries are restricted more strongly than others that do not compete. Restrictions are applied in different ways. For instance, importers must obtain import permits for all agricultural products via the Department of Agricultural Permits of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the case of processed foods, products are required to have valid sanitary registrations from the Ministry of Health/DIGEMAPS that, in some cases, are difficult to obtain.

Even though the procedures to obtain an import permit have been improved recently, these import permits are not always easy to obtain in a timely manner and sometimes, are not available at all.

More recently, in December 2024 the Dominican Government issued Decree 693-24 that established a 23,300 MT Tariff Rate-Quota (TRQ) on U.S. rice. Additional volumes of U.S. rice imported into the country are subject to a 99% tariff rate. The Decree appears inconsistent with the free and open market access that U.S. agricultural goods have supposed to receive on January 1, 2025.    

For more information and help with trade barriers please contact:

International Trade Administration
Enforcement and Compliance
(202) 482-0063
E-mail: ECCommunications@trade.gov
E&C Website

For Agriculture
USDA Office of Agricultural Affairs (USDA/FAS)
U.S. Embassy
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Phone: (809) 368-7741
|E-mail: agsantodomingo@fas.usda.gov
USDA/FAS website

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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