Spanish
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) positively valued the openness shown by the Chamber of Deputies in the process of discussing the Draft Modification of the General Law on Integral Management and Co-processing of Solid Waste No. 225-20 and recognized the willingness to dialogue demonstrated within the framework of a consultation process observed by the special commission in charge of the analysis of this legal piece.
However, the AIRD expressed its deep concern about the unreasonable and disproportionate increase in the special contribution, by imposing significant increases without a technical study to support said amounts having been presented to date.
"We recognize the fulfillment of the commitment publicly assumed by the President of the Chamber of Deputies to guarantee open and participatory discussion spaces on this initiative, as well as the adjustment made to a series of articles that affected local manufacturing and that had been included in the original project without any technical basis or public discussion," expressed Mario Pujols, executive vice president of AIRD.
However, regarding the increase in the special contribution, the executive pointed out that "the approved amounts remain disproportionate. In no space has the reasoning behind this exercise been explained to us. On the matter, we have even proposed that public funds received by instances with objectives similar to those of the DO Sostenible Trust be included in this equation, such as those managed by ECO5RD, an entity created by Decree 28-23."
The guild has repeatedly expressed its understanding of the financing needs of the municipalities and the challenges they face in fulfilling their legal powers. "However, we have reiterated that it cannot be claimed to meet all the needs of the municipality with a special contribution that must necessarily be directed to the fulfillment of the cross-cutting objective of the law to promote the correct management of waste and the closure of open-air landfills in the country," Pujols specified.
AIRD trusts that the dialogue in the Senate will continue in a plural and transparent manner, aware that there is still an opportunity to continue improving the document, highlighting that some contradictions to better international practices regarding waste management still remain. "The Senate can still make adjustments to the document and address some of the aspects considered anti-competitive by the Competition Defense Commission in its public report on the subject, including contractual aspects that should not necessarily be part of legislation like this," concluded Pujols.
