Industriales gave reasons for their opposition to the draft Fuels Law, that are related to the law, cost, technical reasons and the country's competitiveness, in a note sent to the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly.

From a statement issued by the Chamber of Industries:

Monday, August 27, 2018  The Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica, through a letter sent to all the Deputies of the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly, expressed its opposition to the bill of Law No. 20,641 "LAW ON FUELS (Law to advance in the elimination of the use of fossils fuels in Costa Rica and declare the national territory free of exploration and exploitation of oil and gas) "due to reasons related to the law, cost, technical reasons and the country's competitiveness.

Enrique Egloff, President of the ICRC, explained that if the Fuels Bill was approved, they would be handing over a "blank check" to RECOPE to spend no holds barred in any way they like. "Extending the scope of RECOPE and authorizing it to charge fuel rates is like granting a blank check on which to write the numbers they want to spend. This would clash with the ARESEP Law that prohibits piling unnecessary expenses onto tariffs for provision of the service," said Egloff.

The industrialists pointed out that it is totally disadvantageous to extend RECOPE's monopoly to encompass new activities in which the private sector can compete, and on which discussion is currently taking place in circles of national opinion over the advantages of keeping the monopoly on current activities.

The President of the industrialists explained that in addition to technical and economic reasons, the most serious are the legal ones because they could cause problems for the country in the form of international lawsuits.

Read full statement (in Spanish).

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