Towards a New International Law
heart of Central America, with a thriving
industrial economy which has undergone
drastic changes in the last 30 years,
moving from agribusiness to technical
industry--mainly textiles--as its main
focus of wealth production.
The attractive and strategic logistics
corridor in the north of the country
(Metropolitan Sula Valley Area, including
San Pedro Sula, Villanueva, Choloma and
port by Customs of the United States, has
attracted an increasing amount of foreign
capital and investors. This has boosted
economic changes and provided solutions
and job opportunities. In addition,
Honduras promotes foreign investment
through special tax laws and laws that favor
exports, such as the Free Zone Act, the
Temporary Import Regime Law and the
Special Development Zones Law, among
others. Another economic advantage
offered by Honduras since 2005 is the Free
Trade Agreement signed with the United
States, allowing tax free exports to the
United States.
However, the legislative and economic
efforts, and the existing mechanisms
applied by current governments, have
proved insufficient to attract all of the
foreign investment projected by the
government. This is especially true from
those whose countries of origin strictly
regulate issues such as tax, transparency,
ethical and corporate governance and
financial information exchange (i.e., FCPA,
FATCA, etc.), due to some corruption
allegations against Honduras in the past.
To address this, in addition to the economic
and tax laws, Honduras has:
to public information
of the civil procedural system (Civil
Procedure Code)
to select judges and members of the
judiciary
prosecutor's offices to deal with acts of
corruption
arbitration as means to grant parties an
additional method of solving conflicts.
efforts have had an impact on the local
and international economic community,
shifting the investor's perspective towards
Honduras and favoring the integration of
markets. Even so, the results obtained have
been insufficient to reach the projection on
investment established by the government.
Regulations have recently been
adopted to incorporate a new legislative
layer of attraction of foreign investment,
designed to create a flexible corporate-
business environment, with the right
measures to guarantee the legal
security of the entrepreneur, even by
international standards. The law for the
generation of employment, promotion
of the business initiative, formalization
of business and protection of investors'
rights, and the law for the promotion
and protection of investments, are all
laws designed to incorporate the current
international principles, rulings and
criteria on investment/investors protection,
transparency and arbitration. These laws
adjust the commercial regulations and
jurisdictional options according to Soft Law
or Lex Mercatoria indicators, in order to
respond to the requirements of unification
and standardization of the law, facilitating
free commercial traffic.
These legislative, administrative and
judicial efforts to bring the Honduran legal
system closer to international parameters,
homologating the conduct and business
behavior of the investor with those of
standardized norms, which reflects the
recommendations of such entities as
UNIDROIT, United National Commission
on International Trade Law, International
part of the legal team at Ulloa & Asociados;
since 2009 he is currently the chief litigator. His
areas of practice are civil law, administrative
law, commercial law, corporate law, and
litigating civil and commercial cases. He is
a law professor at Universidad Tecnologica
Centroamericana, where he teaches
international law.
Col. El Pedregal, 21 avenida
21 y 22 calle N.O. #PH-A
San Pedro Sula, Honduras 21104
Morazán, frente al Centro Comercial El Dorado
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
ulloayasociados.com