In order to dismantle a network of apparent corruption that is accused of illegally obtaining contracts for road maintenance, authorities in Costa Rica conducted 57 raids that included homes, the Presidential House, the MOPT, the Conavi and the CTP.
On the morning of June 14, 2021, about 700 agents of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) and the Public Prosecutor's Office (Fiscalía) raided 21 dwelling houses, Presidential House, Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), National Viability Council (Conavi) and Public Transport Council (CTP).
After the Legislative Assembly ratified the country's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the business sector is of the opinion that this will help consolidate the institutional reforms needed to make the State more efficient.
The Assembly informed that by approving in the second debate the bill 22.187, which contains the agreement on the terms of accession, the deputies gave the green light to Costa Rica's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Following the news that the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation in Costa Rica plans to renew the framework that regulates outdoor advertising, businessmen of the sector are asking to be taken into account in this process.
In the country, outdoor advertising is regulated by a law that dates back to 2001. In the case of national roads, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) is in charge of regulating this type of advertising and in the case of cantonal roads, local governments are designated for these tasks.
Initially the ordinary period to declare the beneficial owners of the companies was due on April 30, but the authorities decided to extend the deadline to May 31.
This declaration was to be submitted during the month of April; according to resolution N°DGT-ICD-R-06-2020, however, due to the state of emergency facing the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these institutions agreed to extend the deadline, in order to guarantee the fulfillment of this obligation and facilitate voluntary compliance, informed the Ministry of Finance.
Empresa Tomza Guatemala S.A. reported that in Nicaragua the government of President Daniel Ortega illegally expropriated and confiscated the company's assets, which together amount to $4 million in investments.
The expropriation process took several years. Tomza executives explained that in 2015 they were granted the permits for the construction of a property located in the municipality of Tipitapa, department of Managua.
After the Mayor of Alajuela filed an action of unconstitutionality in Costa Rica to revert the exoneration of real estate taxes applicable to free trade zones, the business sector believes that legal certainty is being undermined.
On March 16, 2021 Humberto Soto, Mayor of the municipality of Alajuela, filed an action of unconstitutionality. This legal recourse has the objective of reverting the exemption that free zones enjoy for the payment of the real estate tax.
President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Tourism Gustavo Segura, signed the Law for the Promotion of Tourist Marinas and Coastal Development, a regulation that modernizes the conditions in which the country's marinas operate.
The law, signed on April 5, authorizes foreign-flagged vessels and their crews to carry out lucrative activities related to aquatic transportation, recreation and tourism within the waters of the national territory, allowing the hiring of national captains and sailors to carry out these practices, informed the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
By submitting to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly a new text of the dual global income bill, the Alvarado administration intends to guarantee the tax exemptions that companies operating in the free trade zone regime already benefit from.
The dual global income bill that was sent last January 22 to the Assembly created confusion among the deputies.
The bill that extends until March 2021 the validity of the regulations that allow companies to reduce working hours was approved in the first debate.
In March 2020, when the first cases of covid-19 were registered, the "Law Authorizing the Reduction of Working Days following the Declaration of National Emergency" was approved. The validity of this regulation expires in December of this year, but a legislative project was approved in the first debate that seeks to extend the validity of the regulation until March 2021.
The Legislative Assembly is preparing to consider, in the first debate, a bill aimed at exempting inactive companies from the obligation to file an income tax return.
The file of this legislative proposal is number 22,307 and was presented by Deputy Pablo Heriberto Abarca. The initiative will be discussed in the Assembly, despite the opposition of the Ministry of Finance.
Because in Costa Rica the regulations authorizing companies to reduce working hours expire in December 2020, businessmen in the tourism sector are asking the Assembly to extend the deadline.
When the first cases of covid-19 were registered, the "Law Authorizing the Reduction of Working Days in view of the National Emergency Declaration" was approved. The validity of this regulation expires next December, but, the businessmen see the need to extend its validity.
Following the approval of the law on trawling in the country, fishermen's unions announced that they will hold demonstrations so that the Alvarado administration can veto the law.
After a long discussion about the benefits it will bring to a group of fishermen and the harm it could cause to others, the trawling bill was approved in the second debate with a vote of 28 deputies in favor and 18 against, the Legislative Assembly reported.
For the first time, the country's Courts of Justice sentenced six people to 10 years in prison for tax fraud against the Public Treasury, a sentence that corresponds to the case of a clothing importing company that defrauded over $575,000.
Carlos Vargas, general director of Taxation, indicated that during 16 years the taxpayer who was condemned used all the procedural guarantees until the last instance.
The Costa Rican Tuna Industry Chamber warned about the possibility that the government will publish a decree that would extend the ban zone for the purse tuna fishery to a distance of between 100 and 150 miles from the Pacific coast.
According to the sector's union, this decree, which is in the drafting stage, would put at risk the fulfillment of the export commitments of canned fish to the world's main markets.
A bill is being considered in Costa Rica that proposes to identify each container of this type of beverage with a device, label or sticker in order to prevent smuggling, a measure that, according to business people, would not be effective.
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