Executive Agreement 0350
Congreso Nacional
- Published: August 27, 2019
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 35,033
- Category: Administrative
- Type: Executive Decree
Summary
This agreement approves a regulation that simplifies the process for renewing public and special transport permits in Honduras. It allows transport operators to quickly renew their authorizations if they meet basic requirements and have no pending fines, avoiding complex procedures. The process is valid for one year and applies to buses, taxis, motorcycle taxis, and cargo transport.
Considerations
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic establishes that "Honduras is a State of rights, sovereign constituted as a free, democratic and independent Republic to assure its inhabitants the enjoyment of justice, liberty, culture and economic and social well-being"; in the same manner that "The President of the Republic has the General Administration of the State and, among his attributes are; to direct the general policy of the State and represent it; to issue Executive Agreements and Decrees and to enact Regulations and Resolutions in accordance with the Law"; to create, maintain and suppress public services and to take measures that are necessary for the proper functioning thereof, and that "The Secretaries of State are collaborators of the President of the Republic in the orientation, coordination, direction and supervision of the organs and entities of the National Public Administration, in the area of their competence".
Whereas the General Law of Public Administration establishes that "This Law establishes the norms to which the Public Administration shall be subject", in the same way that "The President of the Republic has in his charge the supreme direction and coordination of the centralized and decentralized Public Administration. The President of the Republic in the exercise of his functions may act by himself or in Council of Ministers". "For the General Administration of the country that the Constitution of the Republic confers to the Executive Power, the Secretaries of State shall have the following competencies: 1, 2,…… 13) Public Works, Transportation, Housing and Public Enterprises, now in the Offices of Infrastructure and Public Services (INSEP)". "Concerning the formulation, coordination, execution and evaluation of policies related to transportation, " among others, equally that "The acts of the organs of the Public Administration shall adopt the form of Decrees, Executive Agreements, Resolutions or Orders" and that "The hierarchy of the acts referred to in the preceding Articles shall be as follows: 1. Decrees; 2. Executive Agreements of the President of the Republic; 3. Agreements of the Secretaries of State; and, Agreement of the subordinate organs, according to their order of hierarchy. The Decrees, as well as the Executive Agreements of the President of the Republic and of the Secretaries of State, shall be published in "La Gaceta", Official Gazette of the Republic.
Whereas the Public Administration has as its object to strengthen the State of Law to assure a politically, economically and socially just society, which affirms nationality and promotes the conditions for the full realization of man as a human person within justice, liberty, security, stability, pluralism, peace, representative and participatory democracy and the common good; in accordance with the principles of decentralization, efficacy, efficiency, probity, solidarity, subsidiarity, transparency and citizen participation.
Whereas the National Congress of the Republic, by means of Decree No. of date December of, issued the "Law of Land Transportation of Honduras" published in "La Gaceta", Official Gazette of the Republic in its edition No. of the day of March of 2016; in which the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is created, as a decentralized entity of the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Infrastructure and Public Services (INSEP) and whose primary purpose is to obtain for the users of the public and special service of transportation the greatest and best conditions of quality, safety, comfort, efficiency, economy and representativeness established under the principle of equity regarding the investment made by the providers thereof in accordance with the international treaties on the matter ratified by the State of Honduras, of which it is a signatory; and it must guarantee users representativeness in decision-making.
Whereas land transportation of persons or cargo subject to remuneration through tariff or payment in any of its modalities, is a public service of the State that is provided by itself through the Executive Power or by natural or legal persons, Honduran nationals, whom it has expressly authorized by means of an exploitation permit in the form, conditions and requirements that the Law of Land Transportation and its regulations provide, which is perfected through a contract between the Institute and the Concessionaires.
Whereas to guarantee the efficacy and efficiency of the Land Transportation System, the Institute becomes obligated to coordinate its actions under the principles of unity of criteria, speed and simplification of its procedures, in observance of the Administrative Procedure Law; to supervise and ensure the quality of service by the concessionaires of transportation of persons, cargo and merchandise; for which it must issue the necessary measures to guarantee the continuity and efficiency of the public service and to address the demands of users in the policies for improvement of the quality of the regulated service.
Whereas the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Infrastructure and Public Services (INSEP) as a superior organ may assume knowledge of matters attributed by Law to the competence of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation of Honduras, as a lower hierarchical organ.
Articles
Renew all concessions already granted contained in an exploitation permit with their respective operation certificates, under the same routes, areas of operation and other conditions previously authorized. Said concessions shall be subject to and conditioned upon the results of the legal review of the procedure and requirements observed at the time of their granting; as well as to the conditions and obligations established in the exploitation permits and operation certificates and their causes of extinction indicated in article 49 of the Law of Land Transportation of Honduras. In renewal requests in which the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation finds any indication of irregularity or legal inconsistency in their granting, they shall be processed through the ordinary procedure, requiring what is appropriate or resolving in accordance with law.
The Simplification Procedure for the Regularization of Public and Special Transportation Service shall be applied to expedients that contain renewal requests with or without modifications due to change of motor unit, color, chassis, or any other modification to the physical or mechanical characteristics of the unit. When only authorization of the modification is requested, without an existing renewal request, the operation certificate or corresponding exploitation permit shall be renewed ex officio, including those in which the period of validity has not yet ended. Likewise, the procedure is applicable, except in cases where there is some legal impediment to its processing, in requests for unit increase and first-time requests, subject to prior technical opinion of the following transportation services:
- 1)
Public and Private Cargo Transportation Service, both general and specialized;
- 2)
Special Passenger Transportation Service in the modalities indicated in the Law of Land Transportation; and, 3. Public Passenger Transportation Service in the Mototaxi modality.
Expedients, regardless of their class, modality or category, that contain requests for modifications due to change of fare, change of schedules, change of categories, route extensions, change of chassis, change of axles, change of passenger capacity, or other petitions that require more complex technical analysis and market study, may not be processed through this simplification procedure; however, petitioners may desist from said modification requests in order to carry out their renewal through the Simplification Procedure for the Regularization of Public and Special Transportation Service in order not to delay their renewals and operate legally under the conditions already authorized, presenting subsequently to its resolution, a new request for the technical modifications of route and others aforementioned from which they desisted.
To benefit from the Simplification Procedure for the Regularization of Public and Special Transportation Service, it shall be necessary that the concessionaire who intends to renew their concession has no outstanding fines and that personally or through their legal representative, present themselves at the location designated by the Institute, accrediting the following:
- 1)
To be the holder of the concession or petitioner, as applicable, and be within what is indicated in article 2 of this regulation. In the event that the legal representative of the petitioner presents themselves, their capacity to appear must be verified in the corresponding expedient;
- 2)
Indication of the expedient number or request containing the renewal or any of the procedures authorized to carry out this process; attach proof of submission of documentation to the Institute, copy of the request document with its respective submission stamp. Said information shall be verified against the database and computer systems that the Institute manages for this purpose; and, 3. Clear, legible, current and updated photostatic copy of the Proof of Single Annual Vehicle Rate (Vehicle Inspection Receipt) of the vehicle that will provide the service.
At the same time as the presentation of the preceding requirements, a change of unit or change of plate may be requested, provided that the unit that will provide the service is the property of the concessionaire or petitioner, or failing that, the original lease contract duly authenticated before a Public Notary is attached. The plate shall be verified in the system managed by the Vehicle Registry in order to corroborate if the information on the receipt matches. In the case of plate change, once the availability of the plate is verified (that it has no blockage, debts, fines, among other criteria defined by the IHTT) and all information and documentation indicated in the preceding article is accredited, prior to the issuance of the payment receipt, concession contract, intelligent card, and corresponding exploitation permit and operation certificate, the procedure established by the Institute of Property through the Vehicle Registry for the change of plate from private to rental must be carried out. The Institute must maintain a control of vehicles with rental plates that, as a consequence of a unit change or any other circumstance, are not found authorized in an operation certificate and are not covered by an exploitation permit, in order to carry out the proceedings that legally correspond and in coordination with the Vehicle Registry, implement what is deemed convenient for the change from rental to private, or if appropriate, proceed to their respective blockage.
Once the requirements indicated in the preceding articles are met, the Institute shall issue the Technical and Legal Opinions, when applicable; the Resolution and the corresponding Payment Receipt which must be paid within a maximum period of thirty (30) calendar days counted from the day following the issuance of the receipt, with the understanding that if it is not paid within this period, the Institute shall be authorized to proceed with the cancellation of the corresponding concession.
Once payment is made, the original payment receipt must be presented together with a simple photocopy of it, and the Institute shall proceed to issue the concession contract, intelligent card, exploitation permit, and corresponding operation certificate. For the delivery of the intelligent card, exploitation permit, operation certificate, and signature of the concession contract and Sworn Declaration, which may only be signed by and the documents received by the holder of the concession or by whom they have expressly granted said powers through the respective General Power of Administration, or if applicable, Special Power for this purpose, duly registered before the Institute of Property or equivalent document granted abroad and legally incorporated to have effect in Honduras, which must be presented at the time of signature and delivery, presenting the original and simple photocopy of said Power.
Upon completion of the procedure indicated in the preceding articles, the requirements indicated in articles 4 and 9 of this regulation, as applicable, must be attached to each expedient, together with the Resolution and photocopy of the concession contract, intelligent card, exploitation permit, and corresponding Operation Certificate. Once the documentation is attached, the General Secretariat of the Institute shall proceed to order ex officio the filing of the expedient and the archiving of the proceedings for having concluded the procedure, which shall be the continuation of the historical expedient of the defunct General Directorate of Transportation (DGT). The Institute must ensure that the expedients granted by it are linked physically and electronically with the expedients issued by the General Directorate of Transportation (DGT) that contain the first-time granting of the concession.
For procedures concerning the public and special cargo transportation service in the specialized category, in addition to what is required in article 4 of this Regulation, the favorable technical opinion issued by the Fire Department of Honduras must be presented, in accordance with Article 40 of the Law of Land Transportation of Honduras. For the authorization or renewal of Permits for the Special Passenger Transportation Service, the applicant must attach a copy of the transportation service provision contract duly authenticated before a Public Notary, in cases where applicable.
For the procedure of plate changes and other processes directly or indirectly linked to the Vehicle Registry of the Institute of Property, action must be taken in coordination with said Institute, which must provide all pertinent collaboration for the achievement of the objectives established by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation to guarantee a legal, clear, and expeditious procedure.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation ex officio may apply the Simplification Procedure for the Regularization of Public and Special Transportation Service, provided that it is within the limits of articles 1 and 2 of this regulation.
Related laws
- Acuerdo Ejecutivo No. 0361 — Prórroga de vigencia del Reglamento para la Simplificación de la Aplicación de la Ley de Transporte Terrestre (Decree 0361, 2021)
- Acuerdo Ejecutivo — Autorización de explotación y aprovechamiento de banco de préstamo de material aluvial Río Yeguare para proyecto de rehabilitación de carretera CA-6 — The State authorizes construction companies to extract materials (sand, gravel) from three specific sites at no cost to build and rehabilitate highways in Honduras. Property owners are obligated to allow this extraction, and those who prevent access or exploitation will commit a crime. Companies must conduct community engagement, protect the environment, and reforest upon completion.
- Acuerdo Ejecutivo — Delegación de funciones de la Subgerencia de Presupuesto a favor de Licenciada Leticia Nohemy Aceituno Rivera — This agreement authorizes Licenciada Leticia Nohemy Aceituno Rivera to temporarily perform the functions of the Budget Sub-management starting July 1, 2021. She will be responsible for preparing budgets, controlling their execution, processing payments, maintaining records, and advising other departments on budget matters.
- Acuerdo Ejecutivo No. 0173 — Autorización de extracción de materiales para Proyecto Carretera Villa de San Antonio Goascorán (Decree 0173, 2017)
- Acuerdo Ejecutivo — Autorización para explotación de banco de material aluvial en proyecto de desazolvamiento y corrección de cauce de Río Choluteca — This agreement authorizes the Municipality of San Antonio de Flores to extract alluvial materials from a quarry located in the Rebalse community for the dredging and channel correction project of the Choluteca River. The State can use these resources without paying landowners, but must comply with environmental technical standards and notify the property owner.