By: Ruth Olivares
Partner – LatinAlliance Guatemala
I am convinced that what separates successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful ones is sheer perseverance.” Steve Jobs
Any merchant who wishes to distribute and sell to the public their food, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning and hygienic products, natural, pharmaceutical, veterinary, pesticide, and other similar products for human or animal consumption, must have an Authorization granted by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance of the Republic of Guatemala or by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food, for animal products, which is called SANITARY REGISTRY.
Thus, the Sanitary Registry is an authorization granted by the competent government entity for the commercialization of products in the country, and is granted to any individual or legal person who has previously fulfilled the corresponding applicable requirements, in order to be empowered to place in the trade their products.
In this sense, the Sanitary Registry is a key tool for all those entrepreneurs who wish to expand and grow in the market, especially in a globalization process such as the one we are currently in, in which merchants wish to cross borders and enter to other territories, since the Sanitary Registry grants certainty to the consumer about the quality and safety of the products, guaranteeing that they are safe and that they will not cause diseases when ingested or used, which allows them to achieve greater acceptance among consumers, and even within the same competition that recognizes the quality of these.
In this way we can indicate that the Sanitary Registry provides a competitive advantage in commercial exchange for businessmen, since it allows the owner to distribute his products in the territory with complete freedom, providing the buyer with security about their quality, without any type of barrier that prevents its commercialization in the market.
The foregoing especially because having a product with Sanitary Registration generates confidence in the buyer that said product is suitable for consumption, that it will satisfy their needs and that it will meet their expectations. Therefore, with this, the entrepreneur will achieve greater acceptance of them in the market, with satisfied customers who will not only purchase their products but also recommend them, thus generating an opportunity for development and obtaining greater economic benefits for the company, situation that will produce a difference compared to the rest of the competition.
Additionally, it is important to highlight that if the businessman is really interested in expanding his business and increasing the sale of his products, many of the establishments where they are sold, such as supermarkets, stores and related businesses, request as a requirement to enter the list of suppliers to have their Sanitary Registry, so having said authorization provides a benefit in relation to the rest of the manufacturing and distributing companies of the same products.
Thus, for example, we have that within the requirements that the WALMART Supermarket demands to be a supplier in Mexico and Central America is that the manufacturer complies with the Health Regulations dictated by the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, applicable to the type of merchandise, that is, it has a Sanitary Registry duly authorized and current.
With what has been indicated, we can affirm that the Sanitary Registry grants the businessman a benefit in relation to his competition and grants a potential to expand his business both nationally and to new borders.
Finally, it is important to mention that currently the Sanitary Registration process has been modernized in the Republic of Guatemala, thanks to commercial, political and technological factors, which allows for greater ease of procedures, as well as requirements and criteria. used by the national authorities, which makes it possible to obtain it in a more agile way for anyone who is interested in managing it.