Executive Decree PCM-006-2026 creating the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade (OPCE)

To create the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade (by its acronym OPCE), as a deconcentrated entity of the Presidency of the Republic, responsible for the formulation and evaluation of foreign trade policy and the general administration of the foreign trade regime.

The Presidential Office of Foreign Trade shall be headed by a Presidential Commissioner with the rank of Secretary of State who shall report directly to the President of the Republic.

As of the effective date of this Executive Decree, all functions of the Subsecretariat of Economic Integration and Foreign Trade of the Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development shall be assumed by the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade. Accordingly, the following are transferred to the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade: the General Directorate of Economic Integration and Commercial Policy, the General Directorate of Administration and Treaty Negotiation, and the Permanent Mission of Honduras before the Trade Organization attached to the Subsecretariat of Economic Integration and Foreign Trade.

It is the responsibility of the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade to:

• 1)

  Formulate and evaluate foreign trade policy and the general administration of the foreign trade regime, preferential and non-preferential;

• 2)

  Formulate, execute and evaluate policies of Central American economic integration within the framework of the legal instruments of the Economic Integration Process of Central America, including the negotiation and execution, as appropriate, of the necessary agreements, conventions or resolutions;

• 3)

  Exercise representation and integrate the organs and bodies of the Central American Economic Integration Process that are composed of Ministers who have under their competence matters of economic integration of Central America;

• 4)

  Exercise the representation of Honduras before the World Trade Organization and participate in the negotiations and administration of multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements administered by that Organization and in other international commercial forums where treaties, conventions and, in general, matters of international trade are discussed;

• 5)

  Direct preferential trade negotiations, in coordination with other relevant entities of the Public Administration;

• 6)

  Administer preferential trade agreements in force and those resulting from preferential trade negotiations;

• 7)

  Formulate, execute and evaluate trade facilitation policies, within the framework of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation;

• 8)

  Administer mechanisms for settlement of State-to-State commercial disputes, within the framework of preferential and non-preferential trade agreements;

• 9)

  Support and coordinate with the General Prosecutor of the Republic, in the processes of settlement of investor-State disputes, within the framework of preferential and non-preferential trade agreements that contain investment-related provisions;

• 10)

  Administer commercial defense mechanisms for national production, in accordance with the provisions of preferential or non-preferential regulations and national legislation;

• 11)

  Complement the formulation of strategies and execution of policies that allow the promotion of exportable supply of goods and services, as well as the diversification of external markets;

• 12)

  Any other matter related to the administration of the foreign trade regime. For the exercise of its competencies, the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade (by its acronym OPCE) shall exercise timely coordination, as appropriate, with other institutions of the public administration with legal competencies over the production and commercialization of goods and provision of services in the country and, in particular, shall exercise timely inter-institutional coordination with the Secretary of Economic Development, with regard to export procedures and the development of the Single Window for Foreign Trade.

To suppress the Subsecretariat of Economic Integration and Foreign Trade, attached to the Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development, created by Legislative Decree No. 135-2008, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta on January 14, 2009; its functions, competencies and powers shall be assumed by the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade.

The human resources working for the General Directorate of Economic Integration and Commercial Policy, the General Directorate of Administration and Treaty Negotiation, the Permanent Mission of Honduras before the World Trade Organization, as indicated in Article 3 of this Executive Decree, are transferred to the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade and shall be submitted to an evaluation process conducted by this Office. The financing for the labor liabilities of the human resources submitted to said evaluation process that are not evaluated favorably or whose services are not required by the new structure of the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade shall be covered and prioritized with resources that the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance shall identify for this purpose.

The Secretary of State in the Office of Finance is instructed to identify the necessary resources for the proper functioning of the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade, based on the budget proposal presented by the head of said Office, and to proceed to create the corresponding budget structures. For the achievement of the objectives of the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade (OPCE), the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance is instructed to transfer to the budget structures of the OPCE the budget allocations corresponding to the following budget structures: Institution 290, Program 12, Activity/Work 001, 002, 003, 004 Source 11.

The Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development is instructed to conduct the appropriate proceedings before the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance to effect the budget transfers derived from this Executive Decree.

For the fulfillment of its competencies, the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade shall have the technical and administrative structure that it deems necessary, which shall be established by the internal guidelines that said Office determines and which must be presented to the Secretary of State in the Office of the Presidency for its corresponding approval by the President of the Republic by himself or in Council of Secretaries of State.

The Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development is instructed to transfer to the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade the furniture, equipment, materials and other assets assigned to the General Directorate of Economic Integration and Commercial Policy, to the General Directorate of Administration and Treaty Negotiation, to the Permanent Mission of Honduras before the Trade Organization and to the General Directorate of Business Processing, as indicated in Article 3 of this Executive Decree.

The Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development is instructed to conduct the formal delivery to the Presidential Office of Foreign Trade of all documentation, institutional and historical files of the General Directorate of Economic Integration and Commercial Policy, General Directorate of Administration and Treaty Negotiation and the Permanent Mission of Honduras before the Trade Organization, as indicated in Article 3 of this Executive Decree.

The Secretary of State in the Office of Economic Development is instructed to present, before the Secretary of State in the Office of the Presidency, its definitive organizational structure for its corresponding approval by the President of the Republic by himself or in Council of Secretaries of State.

With the purpose of guaranteeing the continuity of the State's strategic functions in foreign trade matters, the administrative structures currently existing in the General Directorate of Economic Integration and Commercial Policy, the General Directorate of Administration and Treaty Negotiation and the Permanent Mission of Honduras before the World Trade Organization shall continue exercising their functions under the previous structures until the completion of the administrative and budget migration process and the full operational implementation of the OPCE. All proceedings initiated, before the effective date of this Executive Decree, in the aforementioned Directorates shall retain their validity and legal deadlines, provided that they comply with the corresponding requirements. The continuity of operations and the use of all computer platforms, management systems, electronic portals and institutional access credentials used for processing licenses, certificates, registrations and other foreign trade processes, including but not limited to the Online Requests platform (SOL), are authorized. Said tools and their associated credentials shall be understood as legally linked to the OPCE by competential succession, retaining full validity and legal efficacy for the issuance of administrative acts during the transition period. The exceptional use of the stationery and seals of the preceding Directorates is authorized during the transition period, without this affecting the validity of the administrative acts issued under the new hierarchy of the OPCE.

Notwithstanding and without prejudice to the repeal of Executive Decree Number PCM 39-2023 approved on the eighth (8th) of September of two thousand twenty-three (2023) and published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta", on the date of the eighth (8th) of September of two thousand twenty-three (2023), decreed in Literal f) of Article 19 of Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026, dated February 24, 2026 and published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta" of February 25, 2026, the consequent suppression of the National Administration of Civil Service (ANSEC) and the reestablishment of the organizational structure established in the Civil Service Law and its Regulation as everything decreed and derived from this Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026, must inevitably and necessarily be executed in a progressive and timely manner since the Authority of the Civil Service within the Government of the Republic and even more so after everything decreed and derived from this Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026, is fundamental, inescapable and urgent, therefore the National Administration of Civil Service (ANSEC) must continue complying with all its powers, functions, competencies, capacities and other faculties and always through the structures it has been using and has been functioning with and, for the time that proves necessary to guarantee, in all cases and circumstances, that no proceeding, authorization, issuance, procedure, among other acts are limited or affected or halted, and in turn, to guarantee that the Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions integrated and appointed by the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN), execute their powers and delegations also contained and/or derived from the related Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026, consequently, the National Administration of Civil Service (ANSEC) may continue as heretofore, authorizing and/or issuing, without any difficulty or legal or administrative limitation, all administrative acts, documents, opinions, procedures or proceedings that it deems necessary for its normal functioning, whether of cases initiated or that have been presented to it previously or, of cases that are initiated or that are presented to it hereinafter before the same. The Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions and the National Administration of Civil Service (ANSEC), shall establish through a Joint Session Act executed for this purpose, the date or moment and, as appropriate, the specific procedure for the effective reestablishment of the organizational structure of the General Directorate of Civil Service and the Civil Service Council, provided for in the Civil Service Law and its Regulation, therefore the Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions and the National Administration of Civil Service (ANSEC) must exercise inter-institutional coordination for everything that corresponds or proves appropriate or pertinent during the entire process.

The Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions may establish through a Session Act executed for this purpose, among other matters that correspond and/or are considered pertinent, their internal structure, their programming and scheduling of activities, as well as the delegations and specific faculties to one or more of its members so that they are distributed and appear, together or separately, before the offices of the entities, departments, programs, bodies, public institutions and others contained and/or related to the related Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026 in order to immediately, effectively and forcefully begin with the corresponding liquidation processes and, being authorized during the entire process to delegate one or more functions and request actions or proceedings derived from the process, to personnel strictly related to liquidations to guarantee, in all cases and circumstances, the effective execution and strict compliance with everything contained and/or derived from the related Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026. The Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions may be required by the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) for all or part or for some specific activity of the affiliation processes contained in Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of Executive Decree Number PCM-004-2026, otherwise and as corresponds to them, it shall concentrate its efforts, decisions and actions on the liquidations of the rest of entities, departments, programs, bodies, public institutions and others, decreed in the same Executive Decree. If the Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions should require the approval and additional issuance of any administrative act, decision, authorization, instruction, guideline, regulation, among other matters, the same shall be issued by the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) from which they depend hierarchically, functionally and budgetarily for all legal, administrative and other purposes that correspond. The Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) shall permanently evaluate the functioning of the Technical Liquidation Commission or Commissions, requesting the corresponding reports from them, in addition to indicating the corrective measures, improvements and approving the changes that, as appropriate, correspond for the strict compliance with their responsibilities.

This Executive Decree is of immediate execution and shall be published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta".

Given in the City of Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., on the third (3) day of the month of March of the year two thousand twenty-six (2026). LET IT BE COMMUNICATED AND PUBLISHED. NASRY JUAN ASFURA ZABLAH PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC JUAN CARLOS GARCÍA MEDINA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY FÁTIMA IDALMA JUÁREZ PADILLA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT EMILIO ENRIQUE HERNÁNDEZ HÉRCULES SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE SULMY YAMILETH ORTÉZ MALDONADO SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF GOVERNANCE, JUSTICE AND DECENTRALIZATION, BY LAW MIREYA DEL CARMEN AGÜERO TREJO SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN RELATIONS EDDY JOHANS ORDOÑEZ RUBI SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NOLVIA PATRICIA HERRERA ESPINOZA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF WOMEN'S AFFAIRS GERZON ONÁN VELÁSQUEZ AGUILERA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF SECURITY JUSTO RAFAEL CANO MARTÍNEZ SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF DEFENSE, BY LAW JOSÉ MIGUEL CASTILLO HURTADO SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF HEALTH, BY LAW

JUAN CARLOS RAMOS RAMÍREZ SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT IVETTE ARELY ARGUETA PADILLA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION LEDA LIZETH GARCIA PAGAN SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF HUMAN RIGHTS MOISES ABRAHAM MOLINA GUILLEN SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK EDUARDO OVIEDO GARCÍA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF ENERGY ANIBAL ALBERTO EHRLER MARTÍNEZ SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION FERNANDO PUERTO CASTRO SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY ANDRÉS DE JESÚS EHRLER MARTÍNEZ SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF TOURISM YASSER ABDALAH HANDAL CÁRCAMO SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF CULTURES, ARTS AND HERITAGE OF THE PEOPLES OF HONDURAS LUIS RENE SUAZO PEÑA SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF RISK MANAGEMENT AND NATIONAL CONTINGENCIES, BY LAW ADA MARÍA MEJIA SIGNORELLI SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE AND FAMILY FRANCIS YOLANDA ARGEÑAL ECHENIQUE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF HOUSING AND HUMAN SETTLEMENTS