The industrial sector trusts that the Chamber of Deputies will take into account the proposals for improvements with the corresponding technical support that it will present before the discussion begins on the Project to Modify the General Law of Comprehensive Management and Co-processing of Solid Waste (Law 225 -20), approved this week by the Senate of the Republic.
The request is made after the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) expressed its deep concern about the content of the project, which it claims was approved by the Senate in a surprising manner without first carrying out due consultation with the key actors of the sector.
In that sense, he questioned the speed with which the Senate approved the project, attributing it to the imminent closure of the legislature.
Among the points objected to by the AIRD that the project contemplates is the “disproportionate” increase in the special contribution that companies must pay, including micro, medium and small companies (MSMEs), with increases that range between 140% and 3,750%.
He added that this increase will represent a burden on the shoulders of companies, especially for MSMEs.
The executive vice president of the AIRD, Mario Pujols, criticized the lack of dialogue in the legislative process observed on this occasion. “The approved project has not been the result of a participatory and plural dialogue, as is appropriate in legislation of such technical complexity. A consultation process would have allowed for more balanced and fair regulations,” he stressed.
Likewise, he described as disturbing that the Ministry of the Environment and the Public-Private Trust for the Comprehensive Management of Solid Waste were not summoned to these discussions, despite their fundamental role in the implementation of the law.
“In these first five years of application of Law 225-20, these institutions have accumulated valuable experience that could have served to improve the regulatory framework. Excluding them from the debate is a worrying omission,” Pujols added.
He recalled that with the Senate they have had the best examples of open and participatory interaction, as was the case of the Logistics Centers Bill, where, based on existing differences in criteria between the actors impacted by it, a space for exchange was opened that led to legislation that today is a regional reference on the subject.
