Global Trade Alert

On 15th July 2011, the government of Honduras approved the Investment Promotion and Protection Law. The core scope of this law is to align the treatment of foreign to that of domestic investors with respect to legal protection and participation in production incentive programmes.
The law includes the following changes from prior legislation:

• All domestic and foreign direct investment can now be registered with the Investment Office in the Secretariat of Industry and Commerce. The registration is accompanied with the obtainance of an investment certificates which serves as a guarantee for investment protection under the national law of Honduras. Furthermore, the investment certificates ensure international arbitration rights through CAFTA-DR. 
• Foreign investors may access the ammount of foreign currency as they deem necessary for transfering funds related with their Honduran investments. 
• There is no limitation of foreign ownership except for small firms with capital less than 150,000 lempiras (USD $7538).
• National firms containing foreign ownership and foreign firms must ensure that at least 90 percent of a company's labor force must be Honduran.
• In spite of the fact that according to this law, both foreign and domestic firms can equally enjoy the subsidy incentives provided by the government, majority ownership by Honduran citizens is required for companies that wish to take advantage of the Agrarian Reform Law.