The plenary session of the Constitutional Court gave a positive opinion on the draft Regulation on economic urgency for the introduction of a return tax on non-returnable plastic bottles; so this tax that was supposed to expire this year can remain in effect.

This legal decree is one of seven projects sent by President Guillermo Lasso and another approved by the constitutional control body since the president applied the crucifixion on May 17, which dissolved the National Assembly and called early elections.

The goal of this second regulation, which was approved by the Court, is to maintain this refundable tax on non-returnable plastic bottles, which is contained in the Law on the Promotion of the Environment, which was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in January of this year. With this ruling, the aforementioned law is invalidated from 2024. That is why a decree law was proposed for the re-establishment of the return tax.

The court did not preliminarily establish any significant inconsistencies with the Constitution and considered that it meets the criteria of Article 148 of the Magna Carta. They took into account “compelling circumstances why this tax must be preserved due to the situation in which local recycling producers and their families find themselves, in order to protect one of the priority groups of attention that depends on this activity, as well as It aims to reduce environmental pollution and encouraging the recycling process.”

This statement was published this Tuesday, although the session was held a day earlier (September 18).

The positive report was given unanimously, with nine votes, eight of which were simultaneous votes.