Prohibited and Restricted Imports in Guatemala: SAT Rules 2026 (Firearms, Food, Electronics)

Guatemala has clear rules about what you can and cannot import. SAT-Aduana classifies all goods into three categories: freely importable, restricted (requires a permit from a specific ministry), and absolutely prohibited. Knowing which category your shipment falls into BEFORE you ship is the difference between a smooth clearance and a seizure.

Quick summary: Three categories: (1) freely importable — most consumer goods and personal effects; (2) restricted — firearms (DIGECAM permit), fresh food (MAGA permit), processed food (MSPAS sanitary permit), medications (MSPAS permit), drones (DGAC flight authorisation), wildlife products (MARN/CONAP); (3) absolutely prohibited — narcotics, counterfeit goods, weapons of mass destruction, certain endangered species. Legal basis: Decreto 14-2013 (Ley Nacional de Aduanas), CAUCA, RECAUCA. Portal: portal.sat.gob.gt/portal/aduanas/.

Traveler or shipper? Start here

These are two different rulebooks, and reading the wrong one is how people end up at an airport counter arguing about a container rule. Pick your row first:

The rest of this page is written for the shipper: the person whose goods will be classified by SAT-Aduana at a port, an airport cargo terminal, or a land border, and who needs to know which ministry issues the permit before the shipment leaves.

The Three Categories at a Glance

The challenge is figuring out which bucket your item falls into. Decreto 14-2013 (Ley Nacional de Aduanas) and CAUCA list the categories at a high level; specific items are governed by ministerial regulations published by SAT, MSPAS, MAGA, MINGOB, MARN, and DGAC.

Restricted: Firearms and Ammunition

Firearms cannot be imported casually. DIGECAM (Direccion General de Control de Armas y Municiones, under MINGOB) controls all firearm imports.

Personal Firearm Import (Permit Required)

Permit timing: 4-12 weeks before shipping. Do not ship without the permit in hand.

NOT covered by menaje: the menaje de casa exoneration covers household goods for domestic use (CAUCA art. 115), and every firearm import needs its own DIGECAM licence whatever else is in the container. Each firearm is its own trámite.

Commercial Firearm / Ammunition Import

Requires a DIGECAM dealer license. See firearm and ammunition dealer license.

Restricted: Fresh Food, Plants, Seeds, Live Animals

MAGA (Ministerio de Agricultura) controls agricultural imports. The goal is preventing pests, diseases, and invasive species.

At the airport: MAGA’s quarantine manual (Acuerdo Ministerial 57-2021, procedure IM-0010, airport baggage inspection) has its inspectors check the baggage of passengers on international flights whether or not agricultural products are declared. When a regulated product does not meet the import requirements, the inspector retains it and applies the corresponding measure, and the passenger receives an inspection slip, a receipt, a retention record or a confiscation record, as the case may be. Honey is in category B of the Central American list of animal-origin goods (COMIECO Resolution 460-2022, Annex 1); for a shipment, MAGA’s manual asks category B goods for an original zoosanitary export certificate from the country of origin, the customs document, the invoice and the cargo manifest. MAGA-VISAR’s imports page publishes no separate allowance for food in a traveller’s bag (checked 30 September 2026).

Restricted: Medications

MSPAS (Ministerio de Salud Publica y Asistencia Social) controls pharmaceutical imports.

Personal Use

• In your luggage: medicines in quantities that match your circumstances and needs are traveler’s baggage, tax-free (RECAUCA art. 578 c; the Central American traveller declaration form of COMIECO Resolution 393-2017 likewise lists medicine among tax-exempt personal effects in quantities proportional to the traveller’s personal circumstances). No source we read sets a fixed quantity limit: Guatemala has given the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board no traveller rules (its country list, updated 2 May 2025, shows “Information not yet provided by country”), and SAT’s customs FAQ says bringing in medicine needs the corresponding permits without naming the permit for a personal supply
• Shipped for personal use: an MSPAS “importación de usuario final” permit (fee receipt, invoices, form F-SI-d-03, DPI or passport, product photos; for a patient, also a diagnosis letter from the treating doctor in Guatemala and the prescription), plus 5% DAI and 12% IVA (MSPAS F-IP-r-01, in force 3 Nov 2025)
• Controlled substances (opioids, benzodiazepines, ADHD stimulants): bring prescription, original sealed packaging, doctor’s letter on letterhead
• OTC medications: for over-the-counter medicine, the MSPAS personal-import requirements omit items e to g of their list (in the version in force from 3 November 2025: product photos, the diagnosis letter and the medical-insurance certificate)

Commercial Import

• Requires MSPAS pharmaceutical importer license + product registration
• Each medication brand must be registered with MSPAS before sale in GT
• SAT’s customs FAQ lists among Guatemala’s import prohibitions psychotropic substances or narcotics without MSPAS registration and authorization (Acuerdo Gubernativo 712-99)

Drones (UAVs): a flight authorisation, not an import permit

A drone is not on the prohibited list. What DGAC, the civil aviation authority, regulates is flying it, and its forms split by who you are:

The rules in force are RAC 101 (22 July 2013) and Operational Directive DO-004-2025. The rules this page used to state, for drones under 25 kg registering within 30 days of arrival, do not appear in either, and no 250-gram figure appears in RAC 101 or DO-004-2025; the 250 g figure comes from DGAC as quoted in the press in March 2026, saying local drones of 250 g or more must be registered. Heights, no-fly areas and site rules, with sources: drone rules in Guatemala.

Corrected 24 September 2026: an earlier version said hobby drones under 25 kg must be registered with DGAC within 30 days of arrival, and listed MARN review, thermal-imaging and commercial-sale rules without a source. Those statements were removed.

Restricted: Wildlife Products, Cultural Heritage

CONAP issues sport hunting and scientific research permits — see CONAP sport hunting permit.

Restricted: Electronics — The “Reasonable Personal Use” Test

There is no numerical cap in the law, but customs officers apply judgment.

Rule of thumb: if it looks like inventory, it gets classified as inventory.

Restricted: Used Clothing (Pacas)

The “paca” trade is a real industry in Guatemala but is gated. Individuals cannot import bales of used clothing for resale.

Absolutely Prohibited (No Permit Available)

These cannot be imported under any circumstance. Detection = seizure + potential criminal charges.

Radioactive substances for radiological or therapeutic use are not on this list: SAT lists a Ministerio de Energía y Minas import permit for them (read 27 October 2026).

What Happens If You Try to Import a Restricted Item Without a Permit?

What the official sources we read actually say about the outcome (checked 30 September 2026):

Neither source sets out what happens to a first-time traveller with a small personal item beyond the measure above, and we do not guess at fines or criminal outcomes.

How to Verify Before You Ship

1. Check SAT-Aduana’s public list at portal.sat.gob.gt/portal/aduanas/ — categories of restricted goods are published
2. Ask your agente aduanal before shipping — see customs broker cost
3. Contact the relevant ministry (DIGECAM, MAGA, MSPAS, DGAC) if your item is borderline
4. When in doubt, declare it on the customs form, so the item is checked against its permit requirement in the open rather than found in your bag

SAT also publishes a non-tariff permit catalogue. SAT describes these permits as government authorisations for goods subject to special controls for security, public health, environmental protection or technical standards (read 27 October 2026).

For tax estimates on freely importable goods, see import calculator or calculadora de aranceles.

Which ministry issues your permit

There is no single customs permit. SAT-Aduana verifies a permit that a different ministry issued, which is why I asked SAT and they said it was fine is not an answer. This is the whole map on one screen:

Timing: plan on a 2-12 week window before shipping, depending on the permit. This is the single most consequential line on the page — a permit obtained after the goods land costs you storage while it runs, and sometimes the goods.

The three questions every “it depends” actually turns on

Most of the ambiguity on this page collapses once you answer these three. They are the same three an aduana officer applies:

1. Quantity — is this a plausible personal amount? One laptop, one phone, one tablet reads as personal. Five new iPhones in original boxes reads as commercial no matter whose name is on the shipment, and gets DAI plus 12% IVA on full CIF value plus commercial paperwork.
2. Commercial or personal use? The same used clothing is unrestricted as your own wardrobe and heavily restricted as pacas for resale.
3. Is it inside a menaje de casa shipment or shipped separately? Firearms and prescription medications are never covered by menaje, whatever else is in the container.

If your answer to any of the three is “borderline”, the cheap move is the same every time: declare it. Goods that enter evading customs control fall under SAT’s definition of customs contraband (Decreto 58-90).

Worked examples

Five shipments, run through the same three questions:

1. Moving home from Texas, and there is a hunting rifle in the container. The rifle is not covered by menaje. It needs its own DIGECAM individual import permit obtained before shipping, the firearm registered in your name in the USA, and the corresponding Guatemalan possession or carry licence — which under Art. 70 means residency, not a US permit. Realistic runway: 4-12 weeks. If the container ships first, the rifle is an illegal import, not a paperwork delay.

2. Family in the USA mailing a care package with three months of blood-pressure medication. A shipped medicine is not baggage. The recipient needs an MSPAS “importación de usuario final” permit — for a prescription drug that includes the prescription and a diagnosis letter from the treating doctor in Guatemala — and the box pays 5% DAI plus 12% IVA. No source we read sets a fixed quantity rule for it. Controlled substances (opioids, ADHD stimulants, benzodiazepines) need the prescription, original packaging and a doctor’s letter on letterhead. Ship medications separately from the main household goods so one problem does not hold the whole menaje.

3. Five new iPhones for family members. Fails question 1. Multiple identical units in original boxes are classified as commercial regardless of who is importing them: DAI plus 12% IVA on the full CIF value, plus possible commercial-import paperwork. Spreading them across travelers’ baggage is a traveler-allowance question, not this page — see the travelers guide.

4. A hobby drone with a camera, for personal photography. Not prohibited. The paperwork is DGAC’s flight authorisation: a tourist files DVSO-OPS-805; a resident files DVSO-OPS-801 so DGAC can say whether the aircraft must be registered. Flying in a protected area is a separate question for CONAP. See drone rules.

5. A packet of heirloom vegetable seeds for the garden. Restricted. Raw seeds for planting need a MAGA phytosanitary permit, and hobby-gardener quantities are not exempt. Undeclared, expect seizure at the airport.

Tips

• Get the permit BEFORE shipping. The official pages we read describe no retroactive route
• Photograph and inventory everything before shipping. Helps in disputes
• Ship medications separately from main household goods — keeps your menaje shipment clean
• One firearm per DIGECAM permit application — easier to approve than batch applications
• Declare borderline items — undeclared goods that evade customs control fall under SAT’s definition of contraband
• Returnees: firearms and prescription meds are NOT covered by menaje. Plan separately. See returning vehicle import for related restrictions
• Drones: get the DGAC flight authorisation that matches your status (tourist DVSO-OPS-805, resident DVSO-OPS-801) before flying

Common questions

What can I not bring into Guatemala?

Nothing at all from the absolutely-prohibited list: narcotic or psychotropic substances without MSPAS registration and authorization, counterfeit goods and pirated media, child exploitation material, CITES Appendix I species such as jaguar pelts and sea turtle shells, and chemical weapons precursors. Radioactive substances for radiological or therapeutic use are permit-controlled rather than banned: SAT lists a Ministerio de Energía y Minas import permit for them. A second and much larger group is restricted rather than banned — firearms, fresh food and plants, medications in commercial quantity, drones, wildlife products — legal only with a permit from the responsible ministry obtained before shipping. If you are flying in with a suitcase rather than shipping a container, the traveler allowances are a separate rulebook: see the customs guide for travelers.

Are guns legal in Guatemala?

Yes, for the people the Firearms Law lets hold them — but importing one is a separate question from owning one, and this page covers the import side. Under Art. 62 of Decreto 15-2009, possession at home is a right of citizens; Art. 70 allows carry by Guatemalan citizens and by foreigners with legally authorised temporary or permanent residence, with DIGECAM authorisation. A US concealed-carry permit has no standing — the gate is residency, evidenced by a Migracion resolution. Bringing a firearm in without a licence or without declaring it is illegal importation under Art. 99: 5 to 8 years non-commutable plus confiscation, rising to 8-12 years for more than two weapons or war-class weapons. Full walkthrough: guns in Guatemala for Americans.

Can a tourist bring a hunting or sporting firearm?

Only through the temporary-entry route, never on the strength of the customs code alone. RECAUCA Art. 578(k) does list hunting and sporting arms plus 500 rounds in the traveler baggage exemption — but its second sentence hands the question straight back to each country’s own firearms regulation. In Guatemala that is Decreto 15-2009, whose Art. 36 routes temporary entry by foreigners through the Guatemalan consulate to DIGECAM, which issues a special temporary carry or transfer licence and notifies MINEX so the shipping documents can be authorised. DIGECAM publishes procedure sheets for both the over-60-day and under-60-day cases. Apply with real anticipation through the consular channel.

How far ahead do I need the permit?

Before the goods ship, not after they arrive. None of the SAT, MSPAS or MAGA pages we read describes a retroactive permit for goods already sitting at customs (checked 30 September 2026).

Official Links

• SAT Aduanas Portal
• SAT customs FAQ (Temas Aduaneros) — permit-issuing agencies, import prohibitions, definition of customs contraband (read 30 September 2026)
• SAT non-tariff permit catalogue, read 27 October 2026.
• MAGA-VISAR imports page, with the quarantine procedures manual, Acuerdo Ministerial 57-2021 (procedure IM-0010, airport baggage inspection) and COMIECO Resolution 460-2022 (risk-category lists; honey in Annex 1) — read 30 September 2026
• DIGECAM Firearm Import Permit
• Import Calculator

Related Guides

• Vehicle Import from USA Deep Dive
• Customs Regimes Guatemala
• Customs Broker Cost Guatemala
• Menaje de Casa from USA
• Returning Vehicle Import from USA
• DIGECAM Firearm Possession