Locals can bring in $2,500 in goodies

[NewsWhore]

The Director General of Customs has once again instituted the Christmas holiday facility for Dominicans and other residents who want to bring back presents for their family and friends. The limit this year is set at US$2,500 as duty and tariff-free. A press release from the Customs Department (DGA) says that this allowance will go into effect on 28 November and will last until 7 January 2009. The same facilities will also apply to articles that arrive 15 days before or 30 days after "due to airline restrictions on accompanied baggage". For these cases, the DGA points out and emphasizes that passengers should declare the articles and demonstrate their right of ownership in the shipping papers to the administrators of the customs offices, and prove, using their passport or another document that the items being claimed under the facilities, arrived within the stipulated period. Likewise, the memo points out that in the case of appliances, passengers can only bring one of each article. The DGA also warns that in order for the Christmas facilities to be applied, they will check passports, cedulas, time spent outside of the DR and other data in order to prevent irregularities. Finally, the letter says that in the case of detecting fraudulent activities that attempt to take advantage of the facilities without fulfilling the requirements of Law 9-96, the facilities will be withdrawn and the sanctions will be applied according to the law.

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