ECUADOR

On March 17, the Economic Development Committee of the National Assembly approved the report for second debate of the bill for Attraction of Investments, Strengthening of the Securities Market and Digital Transformation, presented by the Executive Branch. The head of the legislative board, Daniel Noboa (United Ecuadorian Movement – allies), assured that the issue of “locks” and state presence for Public Private Partnerships (PPP) was reinforced, maintaining the incentives to attract investments. Likewise, the legislator said that there will be two minority reports for the second debate, which is expected to take place on March 22.

In this regard, Assemblywoman Nathalie Arias (ruling party) pointed out that the PPP figures have been improved for the delegation of new infrastructure. This in order to guarantee “high quality service standards for users”. Likewise, the parliamentarians agreed to maintain article 169 of the current Monetary Code, which establishes that the entities of the national financial system that own, directly or indirectly, 6% or more of the subscribed and paid-in capital or of the capital stock are considered persons with patrimonial property with influence. It is worth mentioning that the bill proposes 25%.

The proposed regulation seeks to promote investment and innovation through the modernization, updating and simplification of formalities, processes and regulatory obstacles. The legal proposal also modifies the shareholding structure of the stock market; the creation and custody of securities; improvements in compensation and new parameters for risk rating agencies. The legal proposal also states that in the Free Trade Zone area it will be possible to trade goods for export, re-export or internationalization based on competitiveness.