In Guatemala, President Alejandro Giammattei decided to veto the reforms to the Contracting Law and announced that the bill will be returned to Congress with the respective observations.
According to Giammattei, the observations consist in the fact that the reforms to the Contracting Law should only apply to the purchases made by the Municipalities and not to the bids made by the institutions of the Executive.
In Guatemala, the Chambers of Industry, Construction, Commerce and Agriculture agree that the reforms to the State Contracting Law constitute a step backwards in terms of transparency and open the door to greater opacity in public spending.
In April 2021, the deputies approved the amendments to Decree 57-92, which among other things allow for an increase in the amounts of direct and low value purchases.
Arguing that the reforms to the Contracting Law constitute a step backwards in terms of transparency, the Guatemalan business sector is asking President Alejandro Giammattei to veto what was approved by the Congress of the Republic.
In the last days of April 2021 the Guatemalan deputies approved the modifications to Decree 57-92, which among other things allow for the expansion of the amounts of direct and low value purchases.
Congress approved a decree obliging the Ministry of Agriculture to fumigate banana and plantain plantations.
Decree 7-2020 approved the Law for the Protection of Banana and Plantain Crops in the Republic of Guatemala, a law that, in addition to protecting banana crops, also promotes the economic development of the banana sector, Congress reported in a press release.
Because the current legal framework is ineffective, Guatemalan entrepreneurs in the food sector are asking the government to draft a new law that would criminalize smuggling and also consider it a matter of national security.
Directives of the Guatemalan Chamber of Food and Beverages (CGAB) assure that the current Decree 58-90 "Law Against Fraud and Contraband" is obsolete and does not allow for direct and frontal combat against contraband.
With the reform approved by Congress, the airlines will avoid paying VAT and income tax twice.
The reforms that will come into effect in January 2021 were approved by Decree 2-2020, which received the endorsement of the Legislative on January 20.
Last December 2, the new Credit Card Law proposal received a favorable opinion from the Economy Commission of the Guatemalan Congress, and now it should be discussed in the plenary session.
In Guatemala, Congress is discussing a bill that seeks to increase the arrival of flights to the country through tax incentives for airlines, which would be coupled with the elimination of improper tax charges.
On August 14, 2019, the President of the Legislative Branch, Álvaro Arzú Escobar, presented to Congress initiative 5585, which has the support of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) and the Guatemalan Association of Air Lines (AGLA). See full bill.
After the Guatemalan Congress voted against the bill granting the concession to rehabilitate and operate the Escuintla-Puerto Quetzal highway, the winning company asks to return the process to third reading, but some deputies refuse.
After the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the legal framework regulating part-time work in Guatemala, a new proposal advances in Congress.
This is bill 5477 has received a favorable opinion from the Labor Commission of the Congress of the Republic and is pending discussion in the plenary of deputies.
The Guatemalan Congress voted against the bill that granted a private company the concession to rehabilitate and operate the Escuintla-Puerto Quetzal Highway, which will require the presentation of a new bill to revive the road project.
Executive authorities and business representatives asked Congress to speed up the ratification of the Association Agreement with the United Kingdom, as the process must be completed by 31 October this year.
Twelve years after having settled in Guatemala and after multiple struggles for the non-renewal of its mandate, from today the International Commission against Impunity is no longer operating.
In August 2007, the Congress of the Republic approved the creation of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which arrived in the country with the mission of investigating criminal structures operating within government institutions, work done in association with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The authorities that will assume the government in 2020 in Guatemala could evaluate options to tax temporarily some sectors, however, there would be a risk that these taxes become permanent.
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.