President Funes signed the Law Against Money and Asset Laundering without noticing the lack of special controls for Politically Exposed Persons.
The special controls for Politically Exposed Persons (PEP), was one of the reforms that was left out because the deputies did not approve it and the President, Mauricio Funes did not suggest it despite this being a recommendation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Group (CFATF by its initials in Spanish).
If approval is not given to the amendments to the Law on Public-Private Partnerships and the Money and Asset Laundering Act, the second disbursement will not be realised.
This was explained by Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes. "Donors are free to stipulate any conditions deemed appropriate. Everything that is the responsibility of the Executive has already been done," he said.
President Funes returned the text of the Act to the Legislature, with observations on five topics covered by the Act.
According to a statement from his office on 8th January 2013:
The President, Mauricio Funes, returned the usury law to the Legislature with observations in five aspects related to the credit market, the stability of operations, the flexibility of the rules, segmentation and timelines for implementation.
The Salvadoran Association of Pension Funds has asked for changes in legislation to be made firm in order to increase the profitability of the savings of workers.
The Salvadoran Association of Pension Funds (Asafondos) asked President Mauricio Funes to keep his promise to carry out a second part of reforms to the pension system.
Funes offered to make the changes last month in order to raise the profitability of pension funds in light of strong criticism of the low returns paid on the contributor’s savings, reported Elsalvador.com.
A National Directorate of Drugs has been created which will set prices using an international reference value and ensure that the cost of medicines is not above the Central American average.
Mauricio Funes, El Salvador’s president, has passed the Medicines Act, which seeks to regulate the prices charged by distributors, reported Diario de Centroamerica on their website.
Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes commented over the decree approved by 853 representatives which amends the Law on the Credit Card System.
A press release from the Presidency of the Republic of El Salvador reads:
The observations are essentially based on three considerations:
1. The Presidency shares the spirit of the legislators in their initiative to limit interest rates, in many cases charged by loan sharks, in the financial system that applies to credit card users and which has as its principal the intention to protect consumers.
The Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, has passed a law granting the concession for ‘La Union’ port.
A press release from the Presidency of the Republic of El Salvador reads:
The president passed on Wednesday, October 5, 2011, the "Law on the concession for the multi-purpose port specializing in containers, Phase I, the port of Central American Union", approved with 71 votes in the Legislative Assembly on 8 September.
Fusades agrees that that public officials should not been totally prohibited from participating in procurement tenders.
Comparisons with laws of other countries like Guatemala and Costa Rica and explanations on the position of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in this regard are some approaches that have made the Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Fusades) support President Funes's decision to revise the newly formed law on tenders.
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador has lifted president Funes 's veto of the law regulating the advertising, marketing and consumption of tobacco, and protecting non-smokers.
An article by Amadeo Cabrera in Prensagrafica.com reported that at the end of the vote and amid applause, the president of Congress, the president of the Assembly and the deputy of the FMLN Siegfried Reyes declared: "56 votes in favor, zero votes against, five abstentions. Therefore, legislative decree number 771, by which the Law on Tobacco Control was issued, has been ratified and should follow the process established by the Constitution. "
President Funes has vetoed a law intended to prohibit smoking in public places.
Inconvenient and detrimental to business is how President Funes categorized the law which had been adopted in the legislature of June 23.
According to Funes, the implementation of the regulation could affect economic activity in various sectors, both in the restrictions on commercialization and also those affecting to advertising and promotion.
The President has commented in the Assembly on the decree which contains the law on regulating information services and credit history.
The purpose of this act is to ensure the right to personal and family privacy and reputation on the issue of reliability, accuracy, updating and proper handling of consumer data regarding credit. It also has to regulate the activity of public or private legal persons, who are authorized to operate as data reporting agencies and operators who maintain or manage data on the credit history of consumers or customers.
President Funes has responded to the Legislative Assembly with his comments about Decree No. 683, the amendments to the Law on Fisheries and Aquaculture.
A Press Release by the President of El Salvador states: "This decree states that it is necessary to define the scope of fisheries, with the aim of sustaining natural resources, protecting various marine species and the marine environment in general, that these natural resources are sources of employment for fishermen and their families, maintaining food sustainability and economic development in that area.”
The new deadline for enforcement of the government transparency law will be one year.
The Legislature partially agreed with some of the observations done by the Executive branch, including recognition that some of the time frames included on the text were insufficient considering the purpose of the law and that a data base containing the information must first be created.
A bill will be introduced this week to simplify and speed up government acquisitions, and to include more small and medium companies in the process.
These changes are being proposed by the Salvadoran Construction Chamber (Casalco).
According to Elsalvador.com, “the Chamber wants to adjust the money volumes required for contracts shorter than 12 months, and to make it easier to obtain warranties for each acquisition”.