Database

Access to public procurement for foreign bidders is restricted to specific cases and conditions. Foreign firms can bid on tenders deemed “international” and on “national” tenders only through the foreign firms’ local legal agents or representatives.

Paraguay has announced plans for a 10% VAT on eCommerce.

The Decree N° 6780/11 establishes 0.5% copyright remuneration payment for equipment and materials such as cell phones, tape recorders, videos or tapes.

According to Panama's de minimis rule goods with a value of up to 69 SDR / 100 USD are exempted from taxes and duties collected by customs. It has been reported that in practice, this threshold is not implemented correctly.

Sanctions for data privacy violations include the suspension or permanent ban of the activities of companies that infringe certain regulations as well as fines of up to 150,000 USD.

The existing regulations follow the constitutional principle that the consent of the lawful owner is required for the transfer of any personal information.

According to the Panamanian labor code, employers must give priority to Panamanian workers, workers married to Panamanian citizens or workers with at least 10 years of experience in Panama.

Employers who want to employ foreign service suppliers must obtain an authorization issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

For independent services suppliers (ISS) and contractual service suppliers (CSS) there are labour market tests.

For intra-corporate transferees (ICT), contractual service suppliers (CSS) as well as independent service suppliers (ISS), there is a quota which states that a maximum 10% of ordinary employees or 15% of specialized employees (experts or technician) can be foreigners. The quota does not count when foreign workers are employed in a headquarter office in Panama.

Cable & Wireless Panamá, S.A., the incumbent telecom operator in Panama, is a state-owned company. Currently, the state of Panama owns 49% of the total shares.

Under the GATS, Panama has made specific commitments only with respect to value-added services and has not adopted the Basic Telecommunications Reference Paper.

Panama's telecommunications market was privatized in 1997 and opened up to competition in January 2003, when the exclusive concession to provide basic telephony services enjoyed by the incumbent (Cable & Wireless Panama, S.A.) was terminated. However, the company is reported to be reluctant to unbundle its local network.

With the Bill No, 510, Panama removed an open ended “fair use” clause on copyright and substituted it with a “closed list” system of narrow and defined limitation and exceptions on copyright infringement.