Decree No.553-22, establishing the Regulations on the rules of procedure for agricultural imports under the tariff rate quotas in the Dominican Republic's World Trade Organization (WTO) Schedule XXIII of tariff concessions

The aim of the Regulations is to govern the import policy applicable to tariff rate quotas (TRQ) under the Dominican Republic's WTO Schedule XXIII of tariff concessions, for garlic, rice, chicken meat, onion, beans, milk powder and corn. To that end, it establishes a system of non-automatic import licenses for the adjudication of TRQ for those products, with the exception of corn, which is governed by the automatic licensing system.
The competent body for the allocation and administration of TRQ is the Commission for Agricultural Imports. The Ministry of Agriculture is the institution responsible for implementing the Regulations.
The Commission for Agricultural Imports must publish a call for applications for the allocation of TRQ on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, by 1 October of each year at the latest. The period for submitting applications for WTO TRQ shall expire 15 working days after the date indicated upon publication of the convening notice. Prior registration in the Registry of Agricultural Importers is needed to apply for these TRQ (G/LIC/N/2/DOM/1) and to submit an application for the quantities of TRQ to the Department of Import Licensing for Agricultural Products of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the duly completed WTO application form for TRQ. The Regulations provide for a period of one year, from the time of publication, for the user to apply for the allocation of shares of TRQ, even if the applicant is not registered in the Registry of Agricultural Importers.
The volumes of WTO TRQ shall be allocated on the basis of:
a) End use of the product concerned and the line of business of the applicants.
b) Historical record of the total imports of agricultural goods made by the applicant during the sixty (60) months prior to the cut-off date established in Article 11 of these Regulations.
c) Quantities requested by the applicants.
d) Quantities available for traditional importers and new importers, by type of product.
The Commission shall publish the allocation of import volumes on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture by 15 January at the latest. This publication must include the opening and closing dates of each quota in the calendar year. The Directorate General of Customs shall assign an electronic code to each applicant through the Integrated Customs Management System. These codes shall be issued within five working days of the publication of the allocation.
With the aim of guaranteeing that the quotas allocated are used, the beneficiary must provide written notice of the total or partial non-use of the allocated quota by 31 August of each year, at the latest. Beneficiaries not using their allocation and not providing prior notice of this shall be penalized by the non-allocation of a quota for the product in question for the subsequent calendar year. The Commission for Agricultural Imports shall reassign the quotas returned under the same allocation method.