The Legislative Assembly approved in second debate a bill that aims to tax in the country the sale and self-consumption of imported or locally produced cement.
The initiative, which was approved in the first debate in the Assembly in mid-February and is still pending approval by the Executive Branch, establishes that the tax will be on imported cement produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product nationally.
The lack of a competition law in Guatemala could expose the country to sanctions from the European authorities, since it is a requirement demanded in the regulations of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
Since the end of 2016, the Association Agreement (AdA) required Guatemala to have a law on the matter, since in 2019 a Central American competition authority would have to be created.
Changes in legislation restricting the use of disposable plastic containers and packaging force companies to look for other options, some of which could be up to five times more expensive.
In Costa Rica, the Legislative Assembly ratified the ban on the import, marketing and distribution of expanded polystyrene containers, better known as styrofoam.
With the approval in Second Debate of file 19.833 "Addition of an article 42 bis, a paragraph d) to article 50 and the transitory XIII, XIV and XV to the Law for the Integral Management of Waste, No.
The bill being discussed in Costa Rica basically seeks to extinguish the assets of organized crime, but there are those who claim that as proposed, it puts at risk the presumption of innocence of individuals.
The extinction of domain is a concept that in practice refers to seizing or confiscating assets linked to criminal activities, and then transferring them in favor of the State.
The countries in the region are working on the development of a standard to regulate anti-competitive practices by regional companies.
The first draft of the new regulations was presented at the VII Central American Competition Forum.
"There are markets where competition problems cross borders and affect more than one country, we are working on a competition law and on the creation of an authority which has the power to implement it in Central America," said Francisco Diaz Rodriguez, Superintendent of Competition in El Salvador.