Draft bill 187.

Summary.

Article 1 states the draft bill’s purpose: to exempt Community-Based Organizations (OBCs) recognized by the Ministry of Environment (Ministerio de Ambiente) from registration fees, notarial fees and stamp tax. The benefit concerns acts, contracts and documents connected with the organizations’ formation, organization and operation, as well as the implementation of their environmental management projects. The measure is framed for organizations recognized by that authority and for transactions related to their activities; it does not establish an exemption for every action they may undertake.

Article 2 sets out the exemption’s scope. OBCs whose legal personality has been recognized by the Ministry of Environment under existing legislation would qualify. The provision covers registration fees payable to the Public Registry (Registro Público), notarial fees and stamp tax imposed on acts, contracts and documents directly related to an OBC’s formation, organization, recognition, registration and operation, or to the implementation of its environmental management projects. It also requires the organization to be a party to or direct beneficiary of the act, contract or document, which must be connected with the fulfillment of its purposes and objectives. To establish entitlement to the exemption, applicants would have to submit a copy of the resolution through which the Ministry of Environment recognized the relevant OBC’s legal personality.

Article 3 provides that the proposed law would take effect upon its promulgation. The operative provisions make no express amendment to the wording of another enactment: they establish an exemption from specified payments and set a documentary condition for claiming it. They establish no sanctions, fixed duration for the benefit or specific deadline for submitting the recognition resolution.

The statement of reasons places the proposal within the framework of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama (Constitución Política de la República de Panamá), Article 90 of Law 41 of July 1, 1998 (Ley 41 de 1 de julio de 1998), and Executive Decree No. 32 of March 28, 2017 (Decreto Ejecutivo No. 32 de 28 de marzo de 2017), concerning recognition of OBCs’ legal personality. It also mentions Cabinet Resolution No. 102-26 of August 25, 2026 and the El Niño phenomenon as environmental context. In the Republic of Panama, the public entities related to the proposal are the Ministry of Environment, its Directorate of Environmental Culture (Dirección de Cultura Ambiental), and the Public Registry; the statement of reasons also mentions the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) and the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo). The proposal could be of interest to OBCs, participants in registration and notarial procedures, and sectors engaged in community environmental management projects.