Summary.
The bill establishes transparency and accountability measures for funds that the Panama Canal Authority transfers to the National Treasury under Articles 320 and 321 of the Constitution. Its provisions would apply once each transfer has taken effect and would preserve the Authority’s financial, administrative, and operational autonomy. The Ministry of Economy and Finance would be responsible for ensuring that the use of these contributions is transparent, traceable, and public.
To that end, the Ministry of Economy and Finance would provide a free, publicly accessible, searchable website covering financing from these contributions. For each budget allocation, it would publish the recipient institution, amount, transaction type, and purpose of the financing. The information would identify whether the transaction is a budget transfer, an extraordinary appropriation, a supplemental appropriation, or another type of transaction. It would also include indicators of the funded projects’ social and economic impact, the transaction’s status, planned and actual implementation periods, and results achieved.
Publication would cover data for each fiscal year. It would identify capital projects financed in whole or in part by the dividends and tolls contributed by the Panama Canal Authority to the National Treasury. It would also record amounts transferred to the Panama Savings Fund (Fondo de Ahorro de Panamá) and any transfers made for other reasons, together with the reasons justifying or supporting them. Traceability mechanisms would record and make visible, at a minimum, all credit and debit transactions involving these funds.
Information on each transaction would be published on the website when the funds are allocated. Following disbursement and actual use of the resources, it would be updated within 30 calendar days to reflect their execution. The published data would be available in open data formats and subject to constitutional and legal rules on transparency and accountability.
The bill provides that its rules be interpreted without limiting the autonomy of the Panama Canal Authority or the constitutional powers of the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República). It assigns the Executive Branch responsibility for issuing implementing regulations and sets the bill’s entry into force for the fiscal year following its promulgation in the Official Gazette. Its subject matter relates to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Panama Canal Authority, the National Treasury, the Panama Savings Fund, and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, as well as institutions receiving allocations, public investment, and projects with social and economic impact.
What it proposes.
- Transparency in the use of canal contributions to the National Treasury.
- Publication and traceability of budget allocations and transactions.
- Open data on investments, implementation, and results.
Who it would affect.
- Funds transferred to the National Treasury by the Panama Canal Authority.
- Ministry of Economy and Finance.
- Institutions receiving allocations financed with those funds.
Key points.
- The provisions would apply to funds transferred to the National Treasury once the transfer has been made, while respecting the autonomy of the Panama Canal Authority.Art. 1
- The Ministry of Economy and Finance would ensure transparency, traceability, and public disclosure of the use of the contributions.Art. 2
- A free website would allow users to consult allocations, their recipients, amounts, transaction types, purposes, indicators, time frames, and results.Art. 3
- The information for each fiscal year would identify funded works, transfers to the Panama Savings Fund, and the reasons for other transfers.Art. 4
- Traceability would include recording and making visible all credit and debit transactions involving the funds.Art. 5
- Each transaction would be published when the funds are allocated and updated within 30 calendar days after their disbursement and actual use.Art. 6
- The information would be available in open data formats and in accordance with transparency and accountability rules.Art. 7
- The autonomy of the Panama Canal Authority and the powers of the Executive Branch and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic would be preserved; the Executive Branch would issue regulations implementing the proposed law.Arts. 8-9