Aiming to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Paraguayan Government adopted a series of containment and prevention measures, starting with the enactment of Executive Decree No. 3442, dated March 9, 2020, “By which preventive actions are to be implemented in view of the risk of the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) to the national territory“. Similarly, and within their own scope of competencies, other institutions and branches of the government have taken similar measures.
a) Sanitary Measures
Under the Sanitary Code and criminal rules in force, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (“MSPBS”) issued a number of decisions providing for quarantines and restrictions. In particular, the MSPBS issued Resolution S.G. No. 90, dated March 10, 2020, in further regulation of the Executive Decree No. 3442, and Resolution S.G. No. 99, dated March 17, 2020. These Resolutions establish, among other measures, the following:
1.The Suspension of activities. The following activities are suspended:
(i) Public or private mass events and shows, such as musical concerts, sports related gatherings, political meetings, trade union and social gatherings, religious activities and recreational activities.
(ii) Meetings and gatherings in closed places, such as cinemas, theatres, conference rooms, clubs, discos, casinos, bars and cultural centers. Places where special hygiene and health measures are ordered to be implemented are excluded.
(iii) Attendance at schools at all levels of education, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Science, universities, colleges and other institutions.
(iv) Attendance at sporting events, which from now on may be held “behind closed doors”.
2. The implementation of special hygiene and health measures: Shopping malls, workplaces, industries, public offices, public transportation, transportation terminals, correctional facilities, and similar establishments are ordered to take extreme health, safety and hygiene measures to mitigate the circulation of the virus.
3. The imposition of night-time quarantine: In general, it provides restrictions to traffic and night-time activities from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. This measure began on March 17, 2020, and will last until March 24, 2020, with the possibility of an extension. However, the following are not subject to the restriction:
(i) Workers, in both the private and public sectors, with night work schedules, who are not affected by the previously established suspension of activities.
(ii) Public officials that work in the health care industry.
(iii) Public officials that provide public services that are deemed essential for a community.
(iv) Health care professionals, for the purpose of providing care services.
(v) Individuals requiring transfer to a health service or pharmaceutical establishment.
(vi) Individuals who have children or elders in their care, to move to the home or facility where they are located, or vice versa.
(vii) Public works in progress.
Failure to comply with these measures will result in the application of the sanctions established in the Sanitary Code, and the Criminal Code in force.
4. Extension of Decree No. 3456/20: On March 20, 2020, the Executive Branch issued Decree No. 3478, extending Decree No. 3456 dated March 16, 2020, which declared a State of Health Emergency throughout the national territory; this new decree imposes more restrictive measures on the activities of individuals and companies, specifically as it provides for:
(i) General preventive isolation throughout the national territory, from 00:00 hours on Saturday March 21 to Saturday March 28.
(ii) The extension, until April 12, 2020, of the partial restriction of movement and activities, between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m.
During the validity period of this measure, all inhabitants must remain in their habitual residence or in the residence where they are located, and may only make minimal and essential journeys to stock up on food, medicine and cleaning items.
All persons affected by the activities and services described in Article 2 of the Decree are exempted from this measure. The full text of the Decree is available in the following link:
https://www.presidencia.gov.py/archivos/documentos/decretos_1_20200321125422555%203478_o342kdv9.pdf
b) Tax Measures
In the area of taxation, the Executive Branch issued Decree No. 3457, dated March 16, 2020, while the Secretary of State for Taxation (the “SET”) issued General Resolutions SET No. 44 and 45 dated March 13 and 16, 2020, respectively.
These tax measures provide, inter alia:
1. Non-compliance fines exemption: From March 23 to June 30, 2020, no fines for failure to comply with formal duties (contravention) will be applied to those taxpayers who have fulfilled their tax obligations late.
2. Interest free financing of Personal Income Tax (the “IRP”): An exceptional and transitory regime of Payment Convenience for the IRP is established until April 30, 2020, subject to the following rules:
(i) Initial payment of at least 20% of the financed debt (tax, plus interest, plus fines), which must be paid within 2 days of the application for financing.
(ii) Interest rate of 0% for refinancing.
(iii) Up to 5 monthly instalments.
This Payment Convenience regime does not entail an extension of the normal deadlines for filing the IRP in March, nor a waiver of the interest and penalty for late payment that would be generated by the late payment of the IRP, but a waiver of the financing interest that is applied on the financed amount, which normally implies a capitalization of the tax, interest and penalties, on which the financing interest is applied.
3. Other extensions:
(i) Extend until 06/30/2020 the deadline for External Tax Auditors to obtain the new Qualification Certificate foreseen in the last resolution on External Tax Audit, issued by the SET at the end of 2019.
(ii) Extend until November 2020 the presentation of the external tax audit reports for fiscal years ending on December 31, 2019.
(iii) Extend from 30 to 90 calendar days the validity of the Certificates of Tax Compliance that are issued between March 12 and June 30, 2020.
(iv) Postpone the filing of the Purchase and Sales Books through the Integrated System of Information Collection “Hechauka“, corresponding to March, April and May 2020, for which a regularization schedule will be established in June 2020.
4. Measures announced, pending formalization: The Deputy Minister of Taxation, Oscar Orué, reported that a Decree of the Executive Branch, to be issued soon, would establish the following measures:
(i) Replicate the Payment Convenienve regime established for the IRP by Decree No. 3457 with the Income Taxes from Agricultural Activities (the “IRAGRO”) and Commercial, Industrial and Services Activities (the “IRACIS”), whose next due dates would be April, August and October 2020, according to their year-end.
(ii) Postpone the advance payment of the Corporate Income Tax (the “IRE”), which expires in May 2020, to the month of July of this year.
(iii) Reduction of Value Added Tax (“VAT”) from 10% to 5% for all goods related to the emergency.
c) Customs and Migrations Measures
The Ministry of Interior, through Decrees No. 3458 and 3465, dated March 16 and 17, 2020, respectively, ordered the partial and temporary closure of migration control posts at the border, limiting entry only to nationals, foreigners residing in the country, members of diplomatic missions and international organizations, and restricting their exit from the national territory.
For its part, the Ministry of Finance, through Decree 3471, dated March 18, 2020, ordered the partial amendment of the Annex to Decree 6655/16, in order to adjust import tariffs on sensitive medical inputs for the prevention and mitigation of Coronavirus. The products affected by this amendment are: sodium hypochlorite, disinfectants, surgical gloves, non-woven fabrics for mouthpieces, respiratory devices and gas masks; for these cases, the customs tariff is reduced to 0%. The validity of this measure will be extended until September 30, 2020.
Finally, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MIC”), through Decree No. 3455/20 dated March 13, 2020, established the Register of Exporters and the system of prior licensing for the export of sensitive medical products and inputs; the tariff headings affected by this measure are those corresponding to the following products: Alcohol gel, non-woven fabric mouth caps, filter mouth caps.
d) Administrative and Judiciary Terms
The judiciary and administrative authorities, within the framework of their respective competences, have generally ordered the temporary suspension of all terms corresponding to the proceedings submitted before them. The most important of these decisions include:
1. Ministry of Finance: By General Resolution SET No. 43, dated March 11, 2020, the suspension from March 12 to March 26, 2020 of:
(i) Attention to the public and formalities to be carried out in person, establishing alternative means of distance processing.
(ii) The administrative terms that begin or expire during this period, relating to proceedings of Determination, Application of Sanctions, Administrative Summaries for requests for the return of Tax Credits and Appeals for Reconsideration.
2. National Customs (the “DNA”): By DNA Resolution No. 245, dated March 13, 2020, it was ordered that the procedural terms for summary proceedings be suspended from March 13 to March 26, 2020.
3. Judiciary: the Agreement and Decision No. 1.376, dated March 11, 2020, “that Regulates the Activity of the Judiciary during the Health Emergency“, issued by the Supreme Court of Justice, ordered the suspension of all judicial and administrative activities of the Judiciary, as well as the registration terms, between March 12 and March 26, 2020. The following actions are not affected by this suspension:
(i) New actions, motions and consultations of constitutionality derived from the Criminal Court and from trials on constitutional guarantees (amparo, habeas corpus, habeas data).
(ii) Proceedings from the Criminal and Children and Adolescent Courts conducted before the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.
(iii) Emergency precautionary measures, restitution, mistreatment and travel permits (except those for settlement purposes) under the jurisdiction of the Children and Adolescents Court.
(iv) Travel permits for children and adolescents, as well as cases of family violence dealt with by the Peace Courts (or Small Claims Courts).
(v) Hearings for the imposition and review of measures, search warrants, seizure and jurisdictional production of evidence corresponding to the Criminal Courts of Constitutional Guarantees.
(vi) Oral criminal trials that already started, as well as those already scheduled to last until April 2020.
4. Intellectual Property Office (the “DINAPI”): By Resolution DINAPI/RG/No. 02, dated March 11, 2020, it was resolved to suspend all the terms of the files processed before the various Technical Offices of DINAPI for the term indicated by the MSPBS, as a sanitary measure to mitigate the propagation of COVID-19 (April 12, 2020).
5. Social Security Institute (“IPS”): By Resolution. No. 019-029/2020, Minute No. 019/2020, dated March 13, 2020, the IPS ordered the suspension of procedural and administrative terms of the cases under investigation to:
(i) Insured individuals in respect of salary increases.
(ii) Employers and IPS staff regarding alleged commission of serious misconduct.
6. Telecommunications Agency (the “CONATEL”): By Resolution of the Board of Directors No. 574, dated March 19, 2020, CONATEL has ordered the suspension of the attention and reception of the public, the receipt of documents and the calculation of procedural terms before CONATEL, such as administrative summaries and user claims; providing, however, the following measures:
(i) User complaints related to telecommunication services will be received only through the institutional portal.
(ii) Make the email address ccenter@conatel.gov.py and the phone number (+59521) 438-2000 available for urgent intervention requests for CONATEL and requests for renewal of entitlements expiring during the suspension.
(iii) Payments of duties, fees and charges due during the suspension shall be made according to the established procedure (bank account deposit), with the submission of receipts being suspended until the end of the suspension.
7. Competition Agency (the “CONACOM”): By Resolution D/AD No. 20, dated March 17, 2020, the CONACOM Board of Directors ordered that, from March 16 to 29, 2020, the attention to the public and the terms for all files processed before it will be suspended, allowing, however, the electronic filing of documents in accordance with the following:
(i) Make the email address conacom@conacom.gov.py available for the filing and digital processing of the services provided by the institution.
(ii) At the end of the suspension period, the appellants must submit the original documents sent by mail to CONACOM within a maximum of 5 working days, otherwise they will be considered as not having been submitted.
8. National Service for Animal Quality and Health (the “SENACSA”): By SENACSA Resolution No. 325, dated March 18, 2020, the expiration of authorizations, renewals, fees, licenses and fines for services provided or regulated by the entity were extended until May 29, 2020.
e) Labor and Social
Measures have also been taken that affect both, employers and workers, in the public and private sectors, the most important of which are:
1. Exceptional working hours for the Public Administration: Decree No. 3451 of the Executive Branch, dated March 12, 2020, established exceptional working hours for officials of agencies and institutions dependent on the Executive Branch. The aforementioned Decree provides that:
(i) Between March 13 and March 26, 2020, the working hours are Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 14:00.
(ii) Public officials and employees providing emergency medical services and at special times, and officials assigned to public services that are essential to the community, are excluded.
2. Vacations: the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (the “MTESS”), through Resolution No. 499, dated March 17, 2020, established exceptional and transitory measures in relation to the granting of paid leave to workers for the duration of the Declaration of Health Emergency ordered by the Government, in addition to providing the following:
(i) The lack of 15 days forenotice by the employer, as provided for in labor legislation, shall not be considered an obstacle for the granting of worker leave, for the duration of the Declaration of Health Emergency.
(ii) Employers are encouraged to grant paid leave to their workers, either individually or collectively, to coincide with the duration of the Declaration of Health Emergency.
3. Action Protocol: the MTESS has released the “Protocol of Action in Case of Detection of Individuals with COVID-19 Symptoms“. This protocol gives indications of how to act in case people with COVID-19 symptoms are detected.
In this regard, the MTESS provides that it is important that both employers and workers are made aware of the Protocol. It also states that, in the event of non-compliance with the Protocol by the employers, they will be liable to the sanctions established in the Labor Code, i.e. 10 to 30 times the legal minimum wage, with the MSPBS being responsible for monitoring cases that are positive.
4.Suspension of Employment Contracts: the National Government has publicly spoken out against authorizing employers to agree to the suspension of employment contracts with their employees. In this regard, the following can be cited:
(i) At a press conference held on March 18, 2020, the Minister of MTESS, Carla Bacigalupo, commented that her portfolio already has requests for the suspension of work, but the institutional position and that of all the Ministers of Labor of the Southern Cone, is that the suspension of work contracts should not be authorized, but rather that leave should be granted with pay or in advance.
(ii) IPS issued Resolution C.A. No. 018-001/2020, Minute No. 018/2020 dated March 10, 2020, by which it obliges employers to communicate the reasons for the removal of the insured through the Electronic Information Record (“REI”) system as detailed in Annex I of the resolution, as of the date set by the Employer’s Contribution Directorate.
(iii) In the same Resolution C.A. No. 018-001/2020, Minute No. 018/2020, IPS establishes that it will accept contributions calculated on an amount less than the legal monthly minimum wage for each type of insured contributor when a worker registers more than one entry or exit in the month with the same employer, or when the month immediately following the communication of the worker’s exit, the same employer again communicates his entry.
5. Social Security Payment Convenience: In line with, but not on the occasion of, the COVID-19 epidemic, IPS approved by Resolution C.A. No. 003-001/2020, Minute No. 003/2020 dated January 14, 2020, a promotion for cash payment of contributions and different financing modalities, which basically consist of:
(i) 1% surcharge for late payment on normal and complementary payrolls and/or debt instalments for cash payments, from January 20, 2020, to April 30, 2020; and for the different financing modalities (instalments, consolidation and refinancing) for all employers participating in the REI system, from February 17, 2020, to April 30, 2020, excluding secured instalments.
(ii) Possibility of dividing in 6 and up to 60 instalments any debts with IPS, with an initial payment of 10%, according to a scale of amounts, instalments and annual interest from 10% to 18%, with the cancellation of compensatory interest previously accrued in the case of debt consolidation and/or refinancing.
(iii) As additional benefits of the different financing modalities, the rule cites the exclusion of the Informconf delinquency database, the Certificate of Compliance with Social Security rules, and immediate access to medical coverage and other short-term benefits.
f) Banking and Finance
The Paraguayan Central Bank (the “BCP”) passed Resolution No. 4, Minute No. 18, dated March 18, 2020, titled “Exceptional support measure for sectors economically affected by the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19)” and Resolution No. 10, Minute No. 17, dated March 16, 2020, titled “Temporary and exceptional measure for the disposal of movable and immovable property awarded or received in payment – Amendment“, amending Article 1) of Resolution No. 15, Minute No. 42, dated June 11, 2019.
Resolution No. 9 establishes, among other things, the following measures aimed at providing exceptional support to the sectors affected by COVID-19, from the banking and financial point of view:
1. Default Interruption: Provide as an exceptional measure until December 31, 2020, that the formalization of renewals, refinancing or restructuring of the capital of those loans granted, including accrued interest and other charges until the date of the new agreement or contract, whatever their purpose, to individuals and/or legal entities that on February 29, 2020, do not present a delay of more than thirty (30) days, will interrupt the counting of arrears. For higher risk cases, in order to ensure their financial viability, it will be essential to carry out a prior study of each particular case.
2.Transactions in installments: To provide that, for transactions in installments, the obligation to cancel the entire transaction shall not apply, having parties the choice to renew, refinance, partially restructure installments and grace periods of up to one (1) year – counted from the date of the new agreement or contract – for the amortization of capital and interest, applying to the new agreement the guarantees originally established, if any.
3.Forecasting: provides that financial institutions must make forecasts for the balance of the portfolio benefiting from the measure referred to in point 1 (default interruption), by a percentage equivalent to the minimum forecast established in Resolution No. 1, Minute No. 60, dated September 28, 2007, which establishes the Rules for the Classification of Assets, Credit Risks, Forecasts and Accrual of Interest, for the customer’s risk category, as of the date of the new agreement or contract.
4.Deferral of Charges: authorizes the deferral of charges generated by the established provisions, which will be gradually recognized in the financial entity’s results within a period not exceeding thirty-six (36) months.
5. Balance Weighting: provides that, for the purposes of debtors classification, the balances of credits benefited by Resolution No. 9 shall not be weighted with the other credit operations of the same or of a different nature that have been granted to each client and that have not benefited from these exceptional measures.
6.List of Beneficiaries: require financial institutions to submit to the Superintendency of Banks a list of customers who have benefited from the exceptional measures laid down in this Resolution.
7. Establish that the additional portion of the debit balance, resulting from the increase in credit granted during the validity of the measures set forth in the preceding articles, be classified as Category IV Assets with 0.50 weighting, for the determination of indicators of equity solvency.
8. Authorize financial institutions to formalize renewals or refinancing without new additional documentation and using the documentation of pre-existing operations, with the exception of operations with large commercial debtors or those agreed upon with single maturity. As soon as customers pay the first instalment of renewed or refinanced operations, these conditions will be considered tacitly accepted by the customers. Institutions must inform their clients of the procedure to be followed to reverse the credit rescheduling, in the event that the clients decide not to make use of this derogation
Resolution No. 10 established as a transitional measure, exceptionally and after studying each case in particular, that the assets, real estate and personal property, awarded or received in payment by financial institutions in the period between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2020, inclusive, be disposed of within a period of two (2) years and eight (8) months. Likewise, Resolution No. 10 maintains in force the other terms of Resolution No. 15, Minute No. 42, dated June 11, 2019, “Temporary and exceptional measure for the disposal of real estate and personal property foreclosed or received in payment“.
g) Other Measures
In addition to all measures above, the Executive Branch also issued Decree No. 3468, dated March 18, 2020, exempting airlines operating scheduled domestic and international commercial air transport flights from payment of flight protection, operation and parking fees to the National Civil Aviation Authority (“DINAC”), but not for overflights, for the period from March 18 to March 26, 2020.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that the Government does not rule out the possibility of declaring a State of Emergency. Although this is still a remote possibility.
From VOUGA ABOGADOS we will be constantly monitoring the measures that the Government will adopt against the spread of COVID-19.
For more information about the Decrees and Resolutions indicated in this article, you can click on the following links:
https://www.presidencia.gov.py/decretos/
https://www.mspbs.gov.py/index.php
https://portal.ips.gov.py/sistemas/ipsportal/
http://www.migraciones.gov.py/
If you wish to obtain more information about these laws or topics related to banking and/or financial matters, please do not hesitate to contact Carlos Vouga (cvouga@vouga.com.py) and Cynthia Fatecha (cfatecha@vouga.com.py); for tax matters with Andrés Vera (avera@vouga.com.py); administrative and judicial with Mirtha Dos Santos (mdsantos@vouga.com.py) and Silvia Benítez (sbenitez@vouga.com.py); and for labor matters with Perla Alderete (palderete@vouga.com.py), or your regular contact at VOUGA ABOGADOS.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Measures adopted by the Government