Dominican Republic — agent-bev Library

Market status

Licensed. Private operators trade subject to customs, tax and sanitary controls. Commercial importers register with the Dirección General de Aduanas (DGA), alcoholic-beverage importers use the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII) importer-licence route, and each import authorisation for alcoholic beverages is handled through the Ventanilla Única de Comercio Exterior (VUCE) with Ministerio de Salud Pública sanitary controls. This classification reflects the official licensing and registration framework described below.

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Who can trade

Import: A person may make imports without a DGA importer/exporter registration when not commercially dedicated to the activity, but anyone intending to carry out import or export as a commercial activity must register with the DGA. A product subject to a permit, licence or authorisation must also meet the competent agency’s formalities. Alcohol importers request an official DGII importer licence, must be tax compliant and provide the required bond, and the licence is presented to the DGA for each import. VUCE alcoholic-beverage import authorisation identifies the Ministry of Public Health as the external agency and requires documents including commercial invoice, sanitary registration, shipment document and pro forma invoice.

Wholesale and distribution: Products of alcohol are within the DGII Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo (ISC) control scope for producers, importers and commercialisers. The DGII traceability system is designed to control and track alcohol products from production or importation to final destination. Product authorisation for alcohol requires product detail, sanitary registration, trade mark registration or competent certification, alcohol strength and presentation volume. Separate alcohol-specific wholesale or distribution licence requirements for third-party wholesalers: Not yet sourced.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: Law 126-02 provides a legal framework for digital documents and data messages, but it excludes warnings that must be printed on products because of commercialisation, use or consumption risk. Online ordering therefore does not replace the underlying customs, sanitary, tax and label obligations. Independent B2B platform, broker and payment-intermediary permissions: Not yet sourced.

Premises permissions: Alcohol manufacturers require official DGII authorisation and no-objection or certification from health, environmental and municipal authorities for installation. Distribution warehouse and municipal premises permissions for non-manufacturing wholesale: Not yet sourced.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203, beer made from malt. Wine: 2204, wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine, and grape must except heading 2009. Cider: 2206, other fermented beverages including cider, perry and mead, and relevant mixtures. Spirits: 2208, undenatured ethyl alcohol below 80% alcohol by volume, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: The Dominican tariff is queried through the Consulta de Aranceles of the foreign-trade single-window system known by its Spanish initials SIREVUCE and must be checked at the detailed national tariff-code level. The SIREVUCE result for a line shows the import duty field, Impuesto sobre Transferencias de Bienes Industrializados y Servicios (ITBIS), selective tax fields and any VUCE import forms. A four-digit heading alone does not establish the payable customs duty or import authorisation route. Exact customs duty for a specified product and origin: Not yet sourced.

Excise: The ISC applies to transfers of specified domestically produced goods at manufacturing level and to imports. Alcohol products, alcoholic beverages and beer are taxed with an ad valorem component on the suggested retail price plus a specific component. Producers and importers are taxpayers; the specific component for alcohol products, alcoholic beverages and beers is paid by litre of absolute alcohol and is adjusted quarterly.

Territorial treatment: The customs territory is the whole national territory where customs legislation is fully applicable. Definitive importation means entry into the customs territory for use or consumption and implies payment of duties and taxes that may be due. Temporary, suspensive or special customs regimes can change payment timing or treatment where their conditions are met. Free-zone or special-regime treatment for beverage alcohol: Not yet sourced.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Food and beverage labelling is required in Spanish. The Dominican Standard (Norma Dominicana, NORDOM) 53 guidance identifies the product name, responsible business name and address, industrial and sanitary registration, country of origin, net content, ingredient list, minimum durability date and lot identification as general prepacked-food label elements.

Mandatory warnings: Beer and alcoholic-beverage containers for national consumption must carry the warning “El consumo de alcohol perjudica la salud”, in easily legible contrasting letters. The same warning rule extends to advertising.

Alcohol strength: DGII alcohol-product authorisation requires label samples and product details including alcohol strength and presentation volume.

Allergen lines: Not yet sourced.

Origin lines: NORDOM 53 identifies country of origin as a label element. Imported alcohol-product authorisation also requires a free-sale certificate from the country of origin, where applicable.

Wine particulars: Not yet sourced.

Label registration: The sanitary-registration process for food and beverages requires the label format under NORDOM 53. Alcohol import authorisation through VUCE requires the sanitary registration, and DGII alcohol-product authorisation requires the sanitary-registration number on the label or complementary label.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase age: 18. Law 136-03 protects children and adolescents until they reach 18 and prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco to children and adolescents. It also prohibits their entry into commercial establishments where alcoholic beverages are consumed and requires a visible entrance notice. A 2025 Ministry of Interior and Police measure separately prohibits the presence of children and adolescents in alcohol-sale and alcohol-consumption centres.

Sale-hour and channel limits: Decree 308-06 was declared unconstitutional by Tribunal Constitucional judgment TC/0689/26, but the effects of that declaration were deferred for two years from notification. Current enforcement therefore still refers to the decree and the 2022 joint horario resolution. That resolution sets sales in colmados, colmadones, cafeterias, car washes, mechanical parks, water parks and liquor stores until 00:00 every day; discotheques, bars, clubs, restaurants, event centres, piano bars and casinos until 02:00 Sunday to Thursday and until 03:00 Friday and Saturday. MIP-RR-0006-2025 orders immediate next-day closure for establishments found in flagrant violation.

Regional layers: The cited sale-hour framework is national. Current municipal or regional overlays beyond the national Ministry of Interior and Police rules: Not yet sourced.

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Protected names

Protection framework: Geographical indications and denominations of origin are protected under the industrial-property framework administered by the Oficina Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial (ONAPI). Law 20-00 provides actions against misuse of geographical indications and requires ONAPI to maintain a register of domestic denominations of origin; foreign denominations may be registered where a treaty or reciprocity allows. Registration requires the denomination, geographical area, products and essential qualities or characteristics.

Verified spirit example: Ron Dominicano is registered as a denomination of origin, Registration No. 26, in international class 33 for alcoholic beverages, dated 18 November 2021 with indefinite validity. Its published conditions describe the Dominican geographical area and specified production stages. This example is not exhaustive.

Verified wine, beer and cider protected names: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Dominicana. It states that it is part of the global GS1 network and assigns unique identification numbers that allow companies to identify products and services with barcodes. Its GTIN guidance describes the GTIN as a unique identity for trade items.

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Not yet sourced

Separate alcohol-specific wholesale/distribution licence for third-party wholesalers; independent business-to-business platform, broker and payment-intermediary permissions; distribution warehouse and municipal premises permissions for non-manufacturing wholesale; exact customs duty for a specified product and origin; free-zone or special-regime treatment for beverage alcohol; allergen labelling rules; wine-specific labelling particulars; current municipal or regional sale-hour overlays beyond national Ministry of Interior and Police rules; verified wine, beer and cider protected names: Not yet sourced.