El Salvador to review proposals for Telecommunications Law reform

By the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador

January 8, 2019

By agreement of the majority of the parliamentarians of the Economic Commission, a seminar will be held on February 11 and 12 to deepen initiatives related to the creation of Special Economic Zones in El Salvador and for the same event participation of Mexican experts is expected with the purpose of learning about their experience in that area. In addition, the technical team will be activated for a thorough review of 18 proposals for reforms to the Telecommunications Law that are still being studied by the legislative board.

In this context, the commission's president, deputy Margarita Escobar (ARENA), proposed to her colleagues a work plan to speed up the study of the various initiatives and I invite them "to work as we have done so far, with dialogue and agreement to approve everything by consensus," the foregoing coincides with the results of the work of the commission and is that to date a total of 28 initiatives have been approved for the benefit of the Salvadoran population with an impact on its economy.

An equal number of motions remain to the study of the commission, of which 18 are related to proposals for reform of the Telecommunications Law in its articles 8, 28, 29, 34, 36, 37, 38, 42 and 127; and the rest of the initiatives seek to modify the Law on National Administration of Aqueducts and Sewers – in relation to the drinking water administration boards – create a new Law on Tourism, and establish Special Economic Zones through a Law for Investment and Development framework, as well as the issuance of special provisions of Secured Transactions.

For deputy Yanci Urbina (FMLN) it is essential "to carry out an analysis of the issues that are still valid to reform the Telecommunications Law, because it is a very important issue for citizens because it is the most massive service available. The law has some reforms made but it continues to be a very old law regarding the development of technology. "

Coinciding with this issue, parliamentarian Francis Zablah (GANA) spoke out in favor of speeding up the study of the Telecommunications Law reforms and curbing abuses of consumers by mobile telephone companies.

Deputy Arnoldo Marín, representing the Parliamentary Group PDC, said that it is necessary to take the due time to study the various proposals in order to do things right.

While legislator Juan José Martel (CD) considered that the commission "should review the issue of reforms to the Telecommunications Law and seek to approve a consensus opinion on the matter."

This is a machine translation of the original press release, issued in Spanish.