Draft bill 179.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes amendments concerning public land passenger transport and sets general foundations, programs and guidelines for planning, organizing, regulating, administering and supervising the movement of people. Its stated purpose also covers making that movement safe and protected and promoting the development of public transport in the Republic of Panama. To that end, it identifies Article 18 of Law 14 of May 26, 1993 and Article 47 of Law 34 of July 28, 1999 for amendment, and item 1 of Article 29 of Executive Decree 543 of October 8, 2003 for repeal.

Under the proposed amendment to Article 18, operators currently providing public land passenger transport in its various forms on a designated line, route or stand would continue to provide that service on a permanent basis. The legal entities under which they are organized would receive recognition of their concession right. Service providers that are not organized as legal entities would have to organize themselves accordingly. Each legal entity would have to comprise at least forty owners of operating certificates. The proposed article links that requirement to the social purposes for which those certificates are granted.

The same article would allow concessionaires or service providers to be approved when a need arises for new transport lines or routes in places where there was no need for service when the proposed law was implemented. Those concessionaires or providers would have to meet the organizational requirement in the preceding paragraph: they would have to form legal entities comprising at least forty owners of operating certificates. These provisions therefore address the continued service of existing operators and the approval of providers for new lines or routes under the stated conditions.

The proposed amendment to Article 47 of Law 34 of July 28, 1999 provides for personal notice to interested parties of decisions by the Authority granting or cancelling operating certificates. Notice would follow the parameters established by Law 38 of July 31, 2000, which governs administrative procedure. The draft bill would also repeal item 1 of Article 29 of Executive Decree 543 of October 8, 2003. Its provision on amendments restates the two statutory amendments and that repeal.

The Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) would issue implementing regulations within ninety (90) days of promulgation. The proposed law would enter into force on the day following its promulgation. The public bodies connected with these provisions are the Authority responsible for granting or cancelling operating certificates and the Executive Branch. The provisions would concern transport operators, certificate owners, legal entities providing the service, prospective concessionaires and users of public land passenger transport.