DR-CAFTA legislation approved

[NewsWhore]

After a long session yesterday the Chamber of Deputies approved the bills and modifications to laws needed for the country's entry into DR-CAFTA in consecutive readings and the possibility that the DR-CAFTA comes into effect by December of this year is quickly becoming a real possibility. Because modifications were made to the bills passed earlier in the Senate, the bills now return to the Senate for final approval, according to the Listin Diario. Though the decision to join DR-CAFTA had become law back in 6 August 2004, these new bills and changes to laws had to be approved and long delays in the process delayed the country's entrance into the free trade agreement with the US and Central America for many months. Delegations from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce made several trips to the United States in order to discuss the issues that were delaying the process. The bills passed yesterday by the Chamber of Deputies included modification to Law 20-00 on Industrial Property, which is now resolved by Chapter 15 of the free trade agreement. Also passed are laws on patents and brand names, and there has been a change to article 32 of the Penal Code, which now allows for the prosecution of crimes dealing with patents and brand names. Law 65-00 on Intellectual Property, Law 173 on Foreign Firms in the country, which allows for beneficial treatment for US companies in the country, Law 226-00, which gives autonomy to customs, and the Telecommunications Law were all approved by the Chamber. Diario Libre reports that the Deputies also passed a bill on bribery at national and international level. This bill states that anyone holding public office who is found to have received bribes in exchange for favors could face two to five years in jail and double the amount of the bribe, promised or received.

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