On August 9, 2022, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala approved Decree 40-2022, which contains the Law on Incentives for Electric Mobility offering tax inducements on the importation, sale, and use of electric vehicles or those that run on hydrogen, as well as hybrid cars. Tax benefits include exemption from the Value Added Tax…
Category Archives: Guatemala
Blog, Cybersecurity & Data Protection, Guatemala, News
Law on Prevention and Protection against Cybercrime in Guatemala
09
Aug
Aug
On August 4, 2022, the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala approved Decree 39-2022, which contains the Law on Prevention and Protection against Cybercrime. The law includes criminal sanctions for cyber activities that violate personal data, sensitive computer data, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and data stored in computer systems or systems that use…
Blog, Guatemala, News, Sanitary Registration of Products
Guatemala joins the information bank for the regional evaluation of medicines
08
Aug
Aug
On August 2, 2022, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance announced adhesion to the regional mechanism for the joint evaluation of dossiers of medicines and related products for human consumption. With this adherence, the health regulatory authorities in charge of endorsing drug registrations in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala…
Blog, Free Trade Zones, Guatemala, International Trade, News
Update in the Registry of Exporters for companies with operations in Guatemala
01
Aug
Aug
Compliance with tax obligations is essential to guarantee the continuity of commercial operations of any company. In the case of exporting companies, the current Guatemalan regulation requires that, no later than July 31, such companies update their compliance status with the Exporters Registry. The update constitutes an administrative tax obligation and enables the subsequent tax…
Blog, Environment, Health & Safety, Guatemala, News
New regulations in Guatemala for the prevention of COVID-19 in workplaces
20
Jul
Jul
On July 20, through Government Agreement 179-2022, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare established specific mandatory measures in the workplace to prevent COVID-19 infections, as follows. Employer Obligations: Ensure social distancing under the Health Alerts and Health Provisions System of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance or use physical barriers. Clean work…
Blog, Free Trade Zones, Guatemala, News
New rates for the Special Public Development Zones of Guatemala
19
Jul
Jul
Through Ministerial Agreement 398-2022, the Ministry of Public Finance has reformed the Tariff Regulations for the Public Special Development Zones (known as ZDEEP). The approved changes that apply to ZDEEP users and administrators include the following: Modification of the fees for evaluating the application file as a user. Modification of the monthly rent per square…
At BLP, Blog, Business Law, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
BLP advises Barentz International on the acquisition of Divsa in Central America
29
Jun
Jun
BLP has advised its client, Barentz International, a global distributor of ingredients in the life sciences industry, on the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Distribuciones Industriales Variadas, S.A. (Divsa) in a significant transaction involving eight jurisdictions (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, Panama, and Mexico.) Divsa is…
At BLP, Blog, Guatemala
BLP advises Emergent Cold Latin America (Emergent Cold LatAm) on the acquisition of Bodegas Frías in Guatemala
20
May
May
Emergent Cold Latin America (Emergent Cold LatAm), the fastest-growing cold storage and logistics services provider in Latin America, has acquired Bodegas Frías, the largest operator in Guatemala. BLP advised its client on all matters related to the acquisition, including performing due diligence on corporate, environmental, real estate, litigation, intellectual property, and regulatory issues to complete…
16
Mar
Mar
On March 11, 2022 the Law for the Simplification of Procedures for Non-Profit Corporations, Nº 10160 of March 11, 2022, was published, whereby article 2 of the Income Tax Law was amended, in such a way that inactive companies must: Submit annually to the Tax Authorities, all variations in their assets, liabilities, and equity. In…
07
Mar
Mar
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare issued Government Agreement No. 57-2022 containing reforms to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations. These reforms come into force as of March 4, 2022. Among the reforms implemented, the following stand out: The powers and functions of the occupational health and safety committee must also be included in…