Extraordinary and Temporary Law for Documentary Reorganization of Land Transportation
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 78-2021
- Published: September 16, 2021
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Gazette: 35,719
- Category: Administrative
Summary
This law simplifies procedures at the Honduras Land Transport Institute (IHTT) by allowing renewal of operating certificates with older vehicles without meeting normal age requirements, valid for two years. It benefits public transportation companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, making it easier to legalize their documentation without replacing old vehicle units.
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 foundation and legal framework for the provision of said service, which intends to generate both the greatest and best conditions for users, as well as for the providers of the same.
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, and may therefore grant concessions for their operation, without prejudice to the fact that it may also issue budgetary measures to channel, stimulate and guide private initiative, based on an economic and planned policy.
Whereas the Public Land Transportation Sector of persons has been particularly affected by the global pandemic of Coronavirus (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, they also cannot comply with the requirements 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 in the law.
Whereas due to the suspension and restriction of some constitutional guarantees and, consequently, the functioning of the public transportation service, as a result of the humanitarian and sanitary emergency decreed by the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been losses and other unfavorable economic factors for the land transportation sector of Honduras, for which the support of the State is required 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 budget execution behavior of the funds allocated to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), to date it has not been possible to execute the totality of the funds allocated in Decree No. 100-2017 and its amendments, for which it is necessary to authorize the Ministry of State in the Office of Finance to be able to execute said funds in Fiscal Year 2021, in order to execute the payment of an Exceptional Compensatory Bonus in favor of the Concessionaires of the Public Land Transportation Service of 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 various requests submitted to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) and thereby, when appropriate, timely implement operational reordering measures that guarantee the possession and carrying of the necessary documentation, with which to accredit the concession granted by the concessionaire and that enables the operation of Public Land Transportation of Persons and Cargo.
The Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) is authorized to renew, for one time only, 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 application or other documents activating the concession have been submitted, or whether 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 to vehicular units with the age permitted by law); and, exclusively indexing the same vehicular units authorized in the previous Operating Certificate being renewed; and, operating certificates are authorized to be renewed or issued indexing therein the vehicular units that have been proposed through Unit Change documents or other types of documents, submitted prior to the effective date of this Decree, accrediting in all cases regulated in this Article, the corresponding physical, technical and mechanical review of said vehicular units, certifying that it may continue to provide the Service. Without prejudice to the fact that for the next renewal, the concessionaire must perform and present the unit change in accordance with the vehicle age limit 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, when executing what is authorized in the preceding paragraph, to renew, in turn, ex officio or upon request of the interested party and if so appropriate in the judgment of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), the Operating Permits, charging for them the issuance fees that by law correspond, so that the concessionaires have all the legal documentation properly 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 Person Transportation service in the Mototaxi modality, with units proposed in requests already formally submitted prior to the effective date of this Decree or, those listed or contained in the special registry and/or transportation census that for this purpose the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) has conducted at the national level through the General Inspectorate of Land Transportation (IGTT) and, of which they in turn submit 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 all cases regulated in this Article, the corresponding physical, technical and mechanical review of said units certifying that it may continue to provide the service.
For the purpose 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 prior to the effective date of this Decree, dispensing with the aforementioned Feasibility Study. In any case, the corresponding internal unit of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) or that which is delegated for this purpose, in the Opinion or Report that it issues in this regard, shall make technical assessments on those requests, making use of the information existing in the files of those requests, the databases on the requests and concessions that the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) possesses, being able to verify and confirm what is requested with other authorized concessions or concurrent requests under the conditions in which it is sought or the service is provided, 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 nomenclature proper to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), of all Public Land Transportation concessions of Persons and Cargo, whether they have already submitted the corresponding renewal request or other documents activating the concession or, whether 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 Article 2 above, charging only for one issuance fee that by law corresponds, even though the renewal corresponds to more than one legal validity period, being required to effectively update the legal validity periods of Operating Permits and Operating Certificates, charging only for the issuance fee corresponding 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 which have not been withdrawn from the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) by the interested parties but, whose validity has already ended or, which are about to expire, whether or not paid by the concessionaire, issuing the same with a new period of legal validity. If deemed necessary or appropriate, the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT) may opt to deliver in turn to the interested party, the Concession Contracts, Operating Permit, 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, provided payment of issuance fees if not previously done, otherwise and upon expiration of this period, 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 already renewed by the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT).
All 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 a Board of Directors Act, additional or complementary provisions and those not expressly contemplated within the content of this Law, which in fact 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 must read as follows:
To authorize the Central Government so that through the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance, resources from national funds or through credit be allocated in the budget of the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), with effect in Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020, this being required to be ratified within the Decree approving that budget for an amount of THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE MILLION LEMPIRAS (L.355,000,000.00), of which an amount of ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE MILLION LEMPIRAS EXACT (L.125,000,000.00) was allocated 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 budgetary execution behavior of the funds allocated to the Honduran Institute of Land Transportation (IHTT), the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) is authorized so that an amount of 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) be incorporated in the budget of the 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 preventively returned by Concessionaires of Public Land Transportation of Persons from 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 intended for the payment of an Exceptional Compensatory Bonus in favor of the Concessionaires of the Public Land Transportation Service of 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 the foregoing, the Secretary of State in the Office of Finance (SEFIN) is empowered to perform the necessary budgetary and financial operations, in the General Budget of Income and Expenditures 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 their effective date.
This Decree enters into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Journal "La Gaceta". Given 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 SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICES OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND PUBLIC SERVICES (INSEP) ROBERTO ANTONIO PINEDA RODRIGUEZ THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE LUIS FERNANDO MATA ECHEVERRI