They seek that Repsol cannot deduct from income tax the expenses for cleaning up the spill

The civil society organizations Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) and CooperAcción have filed an amparo claim against the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration (Sunat), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and, as third party intervener, to the enterprise Repsol SA., with the aim that the company does not benefit from income tax discounts for the expenses made to clean up the oil spill.

“It is unacceptable that a company that has caused contamination ends up benefiting from a lower tax payment for carrying out remediation activities or humanitarian assistance that are its obligation,” warned Ana Leyva, deputy director of CooperAcción.

According to this organization, article 37 of the Income Tax Law (DS 179-2004-EF) has been applied for several years by the Tax Court with a controversial interpretation, which will allow Repsol when paying its income tax deduct from this amount the costs of environmental decontamination. It should be noted that this is incompatible with the environmental constitutional principles of polluter-payer and internalization of costs.

“This interpretation of the Fiscal Court violates various rights, including the right to enjoy an adequate and balanced environment for the development of life —recognized in article 2.22 of the Constitution—; specifically, the legal obligation to assume the environmental repair costs of the companies,” said Juan Carlos Ruiz, lawyer for the IDL.