The executive vice president of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), Mario Pujolstoday expressed his worry for the inclusion of a ban on the importation of plastic lids in the observations sent by the Executive Branch to the Senate on the Solid Waste Law.
The extentas he pointed out, generates uncertainty in productive sectors strategies that depend on these inputs.
In that sense, the union representative warned that the proposal threatens to directly affect to industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceutical and liquor, whose products require caps with technical specifications and safety that are not manufactured in the country.
What agreements would be violated?
Pujols sstressed that the provision could come into conflict with international commitments assumed by the Dominican Republic before the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as with the trade agreements signed with the United States (DR-Cafta) and the European Union.
Pujols recalled that the AIRD carefully reviewed the observations sent by the Executive on November 3 and acknowledged that the document clarifies several pending points since the approval of the law in August.
Howeveremphasized that the inclusion of the import ban had not been discussed during the 11 months of monitoring that the union has given to the legislative process, which increases the worry and uncertainty in the sector.
“The extent It surprised us because in all this time there had never been a question worry similar. The caps used in the market do not represent any obstacle to the recycling of plastic bottles, so we do not understand this decision,” he said.
He added: “With that inclusion they would be violating agreements so we believe it is necessary to step on the brakes and analyze the consequences before approving it,” he emphasized.
Finally, the vice president of the AIRD made a called to open a space for dialogue and technical reflection between the public and private sectors, with the aim of ensure that the implementation of the law does not affect the competitiveness nor the stability of the national productive apparatus.
