The This Tuesday afternoon, the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, will sign and send to the Assembly the draft Law for the Attraction of Investments, Strengthening of the Securities Market and Digital Transformation. Several of the government representatives confirmed that the shipment will be of an urgent economic nature (30 days for its treatment) and they trust that, through dialogue and socialization, it will be well received in the Assembly.
It is a broad law, with 259 articles that reform 18 legal bodies. From a first review it is concluded that the Law It deals with three key issues: clarification, simplification and transparency in public-private alliances and other forms of delegation; a new scheme for free zones and new control rules and structure of the stock market and stock exchanges. These three issues in turn will generate a strengthening of employment that could leverage the generation of more jobs with the aim of fulfilling the campaign offer of 2 million jobs until the end of the current government period.
The Minister of Production in charge, Lorena Konanz, explained that the most important change brought by the bill seeks to attract investments from companies dedicated to industrial, logistics and service issues, focused on exports. The main incentives for companies that decide to participate in the new free zones will be the elimination during ten years of income tax (IR) and after that a reduction of 10% in future years. In addition, the ISD exemption for the importation of capital goods, inputs and raw materials, exemption from taxes on foreign trade (tariffs) and 0% VAT rate. An important change in the concept of this law is that it will no longer be the State that decides where and on what activities the free zones will be, but rather it will be the private sector that decides where and on what activities to focus, always under state regulation.
On the second pillar, Roberto Salas, Secretary of Public-Private Partnerships (APP), explained that the law brings, among other issues, the mandatory inclusion of strategic projects in a single platform. But he clarified that the regulations that govern projects in strategic sectors that have their own regulations for the delegation to private parties remains as it has been up to now.
In general, it is sought that the projects of APP have a more agile process, so that they can be done in reasonable times and that the quality of the service for citizens can be maintained in optimal conditions over time. In addition, it is guaranteed that the assets that are part of the State at the end of the contract can return to the same State.
The third point of the law was exposed by the Minister of Economy, Simón Cueva. The official explained that a first change will be about the control of the Stock market. The Superintendency of Companies will be in charge of control, but in order to have a better focus on this matter, the entire insurance sector will return to Superintendency of Banks. This change comes after learning about several scandals such as the Isspol case, in which there were some problems.
Additionally, there is a new shareholding structure of the stock exchanges that now exist in the country, the idea is to delimit this shareholding and open the possibility that other actors become part of the shareholders, including international stock exchanges. Likewise, the participation of public sector securities that can be issued based on auctions is sought. A public cadastre is created on this subject.
A fourth point is Digital transformation, which among the changes proposes allowing the entry of digital multinationals such as Amazon or Alibaba and for this, the regulations are transformed, to put an end to certain outdated concepts on the hosting of information. This was explained by the Minister of Telecommunications, Vianna Maino, who also indicated that it is proposed that issues of property and commercial registries, among others, be carried out digitally and telematically.
About problems you might face the Government in the Assembly in the face of an important existing political opposition, the Secretary of Communication, Eduardo Bonilla, explained that the regime is betting on dialogue “as the mechanism to make viable laws that focus on solving citizen problems, one of them employment ”. According to Bonilla, opposing the law is opposing the creation of jobs for the seven out of ten citizens who do not have full employment. He also said that there have been rapprochements with members of the Assembly, not just now, but for months, since many of the proposals of this law were already included in the Opportunities Law that was known by the Assembly, but was rejected for contain the treatment of various subjects. He also clarified that this law has been built with the participation of many sectors, business and citizens.
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
