The legal and accounting teams at Biz Latin Hub’s offices in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama reported the following regulatory updates in December 2021 that could affect your business interests.
At Biz Latin Hub our multilingual teams of corporate support specialists based throughout Latin America and the Caribbean offer tailored packages of integrated back-office services, including legal, accounting, recruitment, and other services to assist companies and investors doing business in the region.
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Table of Contents
Argentina
The Argentinian government and its institutions introduced two notable regulatory updates recently:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Financial Information Unit Res. 112/2021 and Res. IGJ 17/21 Published: October 19th (pdf) | By issuing Resolution 112/2021, the UIF modified the percentage of share capital required to be considered a social beneficiary of a company. The Ultimate Beneficiary Owner can be one or more individual person who have at least twenty per cent (20%) of the capital or voting rights of a legal person or who by other means exercise final, direct or indirect control over a legal person or other legal structure. Now this percentage was reduced to 10%. Accordingly, the public registry modified this percentage and adapted the requirements of several procedures concerning foreign companies to this resolution. |
| Decree 886/2021 Published: November 10th | Decree 886/2021 extends Decree 34/2019, concerning measures taken to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, until June 2022, but with a modification that means that double compensation for unjustified dismissals will be reduced until it is effectively eliminated after 30 June 2022. |
Bolivia
The Bolivian government and its institutions introduced five notable regulatory updates in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Decree Supreme N°4632 Published: December 1st, 2021 | Creates programs for tubers and roots, cotton, Andean grains, urban and peri-urban agriculture, fishing and aquaculture, and support for beekeeping production, within the framework of the policies of productive reconstruction and food security |
| Decree Supreme N°4635 Published: December 8th, 2021 | Legal Personality regulations for NGO’s and Associations: Supreme Decree No. 4353 of September 29, 2020 is abrogated remaining back in force Supreme Decrees No. 1597 of June 5, 2013, No. 2650 of January 13, 2016 and No. 3746 of December 12, 2018 |
| Decree Supreme N°4640 December 22th, 2021 (Entering in force since January 1st 2022) | Establishes and maintains measures against COVID -19, including: – The negative RT-PCR test issued up to forty-eight (48) hours before entering the public entities. Air, land, fluvial and railroad transportation companies, shall request passengers before boarding: – The vaccination card with complete vaccination schedule (first and second doses of Sputnik V, Pfizer, Sinopharm, or AstraZeneca or other, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson or other); – The vaccination card of the first dose of any of the above-mentioned vaccines, for those persons who at the publication of this Supreme Decree are not vaccinated, – Negative RT-PCR test issued up to forty-eight (48) hours prior to boarding. |
| Decree Supreme N°4641 December 22th, 2021 (Entering in force since January 1st 2022) | a) Implements the COVID-19 Vaccination Card as the official document certified by the Ministry of Health and Sports, which accredits that a person was vaccinated in the Plurinational State of Bolivia; b) Regulates the registration, certification and verification of the authenticity of the laboratory results for COVID-19 diagnosis. |
| Decree Supreme N°4642 Published: December 23th, 2021 | Extends zero percent (0%) of the Tariff Levy until December 31st , 2022 for the importation of vaccines, diagnostic tests, medicines, medical devices, supplies, reagents, medical equipment, for the containment, diagnosis and care of COVID-19. |
Brazil
The Brazilian government and its institutions introduced one notable regulatory update in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Federal Law 14,273/21 Published: December 23th, 2021 | Regulates Brazil’s railway public policy, including the rules for concessions to the private sector. |
Chile
The Chilean government and its institutions introduced two notable regulatory updates in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Law 21.400 Published: December 10th, 2021 | Establishes legal marriage between same sex couples. |
| Law 21.398 Published: December 24th, 2021 | Introduces new measures to boost Consumer’s rights. |
Colombia
The Colombian government and its institutions introduced four notable regulatory updates in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Resolution 2052 Published: December 6th, 2021 | Through which the transitory preventive measures are adopted in the sanitary control for the entry to the country of international travelers by air. |
| Decree 1724 Published: December 15th, 2021 | Whereby the legal monthly minimum wage is increased by 2022. $1.000.000) COP |
| Decree 1725 Published: December 15th, 2021 | Whereby the transportation allowance is modified by 2022 |
| Decree 1789 Published: December 21st, 2021 | This Decree modifies and adds Article 18 of Law 2069 of 2020 is regulated and Articles 2.2.2.47.9 and 2.2.2.47.10 are added to Decree 1074 of 2015, regarding the use of electronic and digital signatures as a tool to facilitate innovation and digital transformation. |
El Salvador
The government of El Salvador and its institutions introduced one notable update in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Income Tax removed from 13th salary payment for 2021. Published: December 6th, 2021 | Parliament approved to remove the Income tax withholding from the 13th salary payment to those who obtain less than $1100. To those who obtain more than $1100 the withholding will be calculated on the amount that surpasses the limit. |
Guatemala
The Guatemalan government and its institutions introduced one notable regulatory update in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Governmental Agreement No. 278-2021 Published: December 17th, 2021 | Sets minimum wages for economic activities in the Republic of Guatemala. The minimum wage for non-agricultural economic activity is set as follows: Monthly salary Q.2,959.24 plus incentive bonus Q250.00; total: Q.3,209.24 (Last update to minimum wage was on 2018) |
Panama
The Panamanian government and its institutions introduced one notable regulatory update in December:
| Regulatory activity | Outcomes for business |
| Executive Decree No.186 of November 22, 2021 published in Official Gazette 29427-C (page 24 to 26.) Published: December 2nd, 2021 | Planilla 03 or Payroll 03 form will now be a monthly report. Before this used to be an annual report that was filed with the income tax declaration, from January 2022 this will need to be filed on a monthly basis. |
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