Program to design and apply common Central American policies (ADAPCCA)
The overall objective of the project ADAPCCA was to strengthen the Central American economic integration process. It was a regional project including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and, if applicable, Panama. The specific objective of the consulting services was to provide international technical assistance to the ADAPCCA project. ADAPCCA was to create a basis for concrete measures and processes for setting up, establishing and further developing the Central American Customs Union. The project focus was on the formulation, development, application and adaptation of common areas of policy which were directly connected to the control of the Central American Customs Union.
Its direct beneficiaries were the Central American economic agents (producers, workers, employees, exporters, importers as well as consumers). At the institutional level, the Council of Ministers for Economic Integration (COMIECO) and the Secretary for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) strengthened their decision making and policy implementation capacities in the field of integration. The project activities helped to produce a sound foundation for the integration process which was reflected in the execution of a definite number of common regional policies.
The project had three spheres of intervention:
1. High priority policies relating to aspects essential for the feasibility, operation and deepening of the customs union which comprise actions in the following policy areas: customs, fiscal and trade policies, policies for the trade of services, investment policies, sanitary and fitosanitary standards, quality (norms and technical regulations, metrology) as well as the settling of trade disputes.
2. Complementary policies to the customs union which include measures in the areas of competition, migration, intellectual property, transport, commerce and environment as well as in other policy areas which are to be incorporated into the annual operation plans.
3. Strengthening of the regional and national institutions related to the Central American Customs Union (“UAC”), in order to achieve high-class harmonized standards and coordination.
PROJECT IS PART OF
