Import Regulations – Honduras

Australia's trade and investment ties with Central America are growing, albeit from a very small base. Australia's main exports to Honduras are dairy products, such as milk, cheese, butter and cream. Other major exports are recreational boats, paper and paperboard.

The Government of Honduras has created a “Registry of Importers and Exporters”. All importers or exporters have to register. Registering people must fill in a form supplied by the Directorate General of Economy and Commerce to receive their registration card, or carnet.

Product certification, labelling and packaging
All labels must be in Spanish or have strip labels in Spanish added. A list of used ingredients must be shown on foods. Any artificial colorants and preservatives must be obligatory shown. Packages may be marked in stencil or brush and should be numbered consecutively. Spirits must be accompanied by a certificate stating alcoholic strength. Used clothing must be accompanied by a certificate of disinfection, legalised by the Consul. Imports of leather require a certificate issued by the Department of Primary Industries and Energy stating that they are free of foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, pleuropneumonia and African swine fever.

Documentary requirements
One original and four copies of commercial invoice in Spanish are required, attached to the Consular invoice for Consular legalisation. The invoice must contain the following information:
• date and place of shipment;
• name of the vessel and date of sailing;
• name of the shipper;
• port of destination in Honduras;
• shipping mark;
• name and address of importer;
• name of the consignee;
• quality, size of parcels by unit in metric system;
• marking on packages, number and kind of packages;
• gross and net weights in kilograms;
• detailed description of goods agreeing with the NAUCA Customs Tariff;
• numbers on relevant commercial invoice and bill of lading;
• FOB and CIF value in US$;
• details of the consular tax of 8% (see also 'Taxes and surcharges' above).

One original bill of lading and four non-negotiable copies are required in Spanish language, signed by shipper and legalised by Consulate. It also may be in English if a Spanish translation appears on the bill. It must include all relevant details regarding the shipments and these must agree with the other documents.