Decree 78-2021
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 78-2021
- Published: September 16, 2021
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 35,719
- Category: Administrative
Summary
This temporary law facilitates the renewal of public land transport permits and certificates in Honduras, allowing operators to renew with the same vehicles without meeting age requirements, as an extraordinary measure due to the COVID-19 crisis. It also authorizes the payment of a compensation bonus to urban bus operators in the Central District using unspent budget funds.
Considerations
Whereas the entry into force of Decree No. 155-2015, which contains the Land Transportation Law of Honduras, aims at the establishment of true public order in the land transportation service, regardless of its class, modality, category and subcategory, with the aforementioned legal instrument constituting a support and legal framework for the provision of said service, with which it seeks to generate both the greatest and best conditions for users, as well as for service providers.
Whereas the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras in its Article 332 establishes that, although the exercise of economic activities corresponds primarily to private parties, the State for reasons of public order and social interest, may reserve for itself the exercise of certain services of public interest, such as public transportation of persons, thereby extending concessions for their exploitation, without prejudice to the fact that it could equally issue budgetary measures to channel, stimulate and guide private initiative, based on an economic and planned policy.
Whereas the Public Land Transportation Sector for persons has been particularly affected by the global Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), because they have not been able to operate the service and therefore have not been able to meet their operational obligations, causing expenses and losses in their activities. Consequently, neither can they comply with the requirement of Articles 23 and 48 of Decree No. 155-2015, which contains the Land Transportation Law of Honduras, amended by Legislative Decree No. 61-2019 in the sense that their units comply with the age established by law.
Whereas due to the suspension and restriction of some of the constitutional guarantees and, consequently, the operation of the public transportation service, due to the humanitarian and health emergency decreed by the COVID-19 pandemic, losses and other unfavorable economic factors have occurred for the land transportation sector of Honduras, for which reason it requires the support of the State through extraordinary measures that are beneficial and effective to help sustain its investments and the provision of this priority public service.
Whereas due to the conditions of national emergencies decreed in 2020 and the behavior of budget execution of funds allocated to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), to date the totality of funds allocated in Decree No. 100-2017 and its amendments has not been able to be executed, for which reason it is necessary to authorize the State Secretary in the Office of Finance to be able to execute said funds in the Fiscal Year 2021, with the purpose of executing the payment of an Exceptional Compensatory Bonus in favor of Concessionaires of the Public Land Transportation Service for Persons, in the Urban modality of the Municipality of the Central District of the Department of Francisco Morazán, provided with bus-type units.
Whereas in accordance with Article 205 Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is within the power of the National Congress: To create, decree, interpret, reform and repeal laws.
Articles
The purpose of this Law is to simplify the processing of the different requests submitted to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) and thereby achieve, when appropriate, the timely implementation of operational reorganization measures that guarantee the possession and carrying of the necessary documentation, by which the concession granted by the concessionaire is evidenced and which enables the operation of Public Land Transportation of Persons and Cargo.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to renew, on a sole occasion, the Operating Certificates of any modality of Public Land Transportation of Persons, with the same vehicular units authorized in the previous Operating Certificate being renewed, whether or not the corresponding renewal request or other documents that activate the concession have been submitted, or as of the effective date of this Decree, they are permitted to submit this renewal request (those not previously received by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) for not proposing changes of vehicular units having the age permitted by law); but solely and exclusively by indexing the same vehicular units authorized in the previous Operating Certificate being renewed; and, it is authorized to renew or issue operating certificates by indexing therein the vehicular units that have been proposed through Change of Unit documents or other types of documents, submitted before the entry into force of this Decree, accrediting in all cases regulated in this Article, the corresponding physical, technical and mechanical review of such vehicular units, which certifies that the same may continue providing the Service. Without prejudice to the fact that for the next renewal, the concessionaire must perform and submit the unit change in accordance with the age limit of vehicular units permitted in Articles 23 and 48 of Decree No. 155-2015, amended by Decree No. 61-2019, which contains the Land Transportation Law of Honduras. The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized, in executing what is authorized in the preceding paragraph, to renew, in turn, ex officio or at the request of a party and if it corresponds to the discretion of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), the Operating Permits, charging for the same the issuance rights that by law correspond, so that the concessionaries have all the legal documentation duly issued by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) and corresponding to their concessions; without prejudice to the execution, in turn, of the Concession Contract established by Law.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to resolve first-time requests and legalizations in the Public Transportation service for persons in the Mototaxi modality, with units proposed in requests already formally submitted before the effective date of this Decree or, those listed or contained in the special register and/or transportation census that for this purpose has been conducted at the national level by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) through the General Inspectorate of Land Transportation (IGTT) and, of which they present in turn their corresponding requests as of the effective date of this Decree, that exceed the age established in Articles 23 and 48 of the Land Transportation Law of Honduras, presenting in turn, in all cases regulated in this Article, the corresponding physical, technical and mechanical review of such units that certifies that the same may continue providing the service.
For purposes of resolving requests that modify the particular conditions of the concession or others for the provision of public person transportation service and that require a Feasibility Study, the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) may resolve and/or authorize these requests, which have been formally submitted before the entry into force of this Decree, disregarding for this purpose the aforementioned Feasibility Study. In any case, the internal unit of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) that corresponds or is delegated for this purpose, in the Opinion or Report that it issues in this regard, shall make the technical assessments on these requests, making use of the information existing in the files of these requests, the databases that it possesses on the requests and concessions of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), being able to purchase and confirm what is requested with other authorized concessions or concurrent requests under the conditions in which it seeks or provides the service, among other technical and legal considerations that it deems pertinent to issue its pronouncement through the corresponding Opinion or Report.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to resolve and/or authorize renewal requests, granting them the proper nomenclature of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), of all Public Land Transportation concessions for Persons and Cargo, whether or not they have already submitted the corresponding renewal request or other documents that activate the concession or, as of the effective date of this Decree, they are permitted to submit this renewal request for Operating Permits and Operating Certificates in relation to the cases regulated in the preceding Article 2, charging only for one issuance right that by law corresponds, even if the renewal corresponds to more than one legal validity period, and must effectively update the legal validity periods of Operating Permits and Operating Certificates, charging only for the issuance right that corresponds to this new legal validity period.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to reprint the Concession Contracts, Operating Permits, Operating Certificates and Special Permits that in practice the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) identifies and determines, and that have not been withdrawn from the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) by the interested parties but, whose validity has already ended or, the same are on the verge of expiring, whether or not they have been paid by the concessionaire, issuing the same with a new legal validity period. If the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) considers it necessary or appropriate, it may opt to deliver in turn to the interested party, the Concession Contracts, Operating Permits, Operating Certificates and Special Permits previously issued and not withdrawn from the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT). It is established that once the Concession Contracts, Operating Permits, Operating Certificates or Special Permits are reprinted, the interested parties shall have a maximum period of up to two (2) months, counted from the date they are notified, personally or electronically or, by the means approved by the Board of Directors of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), that their documents are ready in the delivery area assigned for this purpose by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) so that they proceed to withdraw the same, prior payment of the issuance rights in case they have not done so previously, otherwise and once this period has expired, the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) shall proceed to fully exercise its legal sanctioning powers and even definitive cancellation of these concessions; powers that it may exercise even against inactive concessions or those operating with expired documents, whether or not they have been renewed by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT).
All the provisions contained in the preceding articles may be applied, in everything that corresponds, to Public Land Transportation of Cargo (General and Specialized) and to the Special Transportation Service (STE).
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to approve, through Board of Directors Resolution, additional or complementary provisions and, those not expressly contemplated within the content of this Law, which ultimately make all these provisions effective and applicable, provided that they do not contradict the same.
To amend Article 10 of Decree No. 100-2017, of September 27, 2017, published in the Official Journal "La Gaceta", Edition No. 34,478 of October 30, 2017, amended by Decree No. 59-2019, of July 10, 2019, published in the Official Journal "La Gaceta", Edition No. 35,029 of August 22, 2019 and by Decree No. 114-2020 of August 27, 2020, published in the Official Journal "La Gaceta", Edition No. 35,362 of September 4, 2020, which shall read as follows:
To authorize the Central Government so that through the State Secretariat in the Office of Finance it assigns in the budget of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), resources from national funds or through credit, effective in Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020, and must ratify this matter within the Decree that approves that budget for an amount of THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE MILLION LEMPIRAS (L.355,000,000.00), of which ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE MILLION LEMPIRAS EXACT (L.125,000,000.00) were assigned during the second semester of the year 2019 and during the year 2020 the remaining amount of TWO HUNDRED THIRTY MILLION LEMPIRAS EXACT (L.230,000,000.00). Due to the conditions of the national emergencies decreed in 2020 and the behavior of budget execution of the funds assigned to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), the State Secretariat in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) is authorized so that up to ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE MILLION TWO HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR LEMPIRAS WITH SEVENTY-SEVEN CENTS (L.125,244,194.77) are incorporated in the budget of Fiscal Year 2021 of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), corresponding to the unexecuted balance during Fiscal Year 2020, the values that were reversed in Fiscal Year 2020 and those that were returned preventively by Concessionaries of Public Land Transportation of Persons of the Municipality of the Central District, Department of Francisco Morazán at the request of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation, in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. The amounts stated in the preceding paragraphs shall be destined for payment of an Exceptional Compensatory Bonus in favor of the Concessionaries of the Public Land Transportation Service for Persons, in the Urban modality of the Municipality of the Central District of the Department of Francisco Morazán, provided with bus-type units. For all of the foregoing, the State Secretariat in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) is empowered to perform the necessary budgetary and financial operations, in the General Budget of Income and Expenses of the Republic for the recording of operations derived from the application of this Article...
With the exception of the provisions contained in Article 9, the precepts of this Decree have a validity period of two (2) years counted from the day of its entry into force.
This Decree enters into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Journal "La Gaceta". Done in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session held by the National Congress in a Virtual manner, on the Twenty-seventh day of the month of August of the year two thousand twenty-one. MARIO ALONSO PÉREZ LÓPEZ PRESIDENT JOSÉ TOMÁS ZAMBRANO MOLINA SECRETARY ROSSEL RENÁN INESTROZA MARTÍNEZ SECRETARY To the Executive Branch. Therefore: Let it be executed. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., September 9, 2021. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND PUBLIC SERVICES (INSEP) ROBERTO ANTONIO PINEDA RODRIGUEZ THE STATE SECRETARY IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE LUIS FERNANDO MATA ECHEVERRI
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