Tag Archives: Ecuador

Within the current regulatory framework, specific provisions have been incorporated that directly affect the rights and benefits applicable to people with disabilities, their substitutes, and caregivers, as well as those facing rare, orphan, catastrophic, or complex diseases. These reforms cover key aspects related to access to services, labor, education, and health benefits. We highlight the following:

1. Person with Disability: An individual presenting structural or functional, bodily, mental, intellectual, sensory, or psychosocial impairments and limitations in exercising essential daily life activities autonomously.

 

The Law introduces a new category of disability not regulated in the previous statute, namely psychosocial impairments.

 

Previously, applicable regulations determined that the rights of people with disabilities depended on their disability percentage. However, the current law eliminated this classification system, proposing instead that disability be categorized as mild, moderate, severe, very severe, and complete.

 

1. Direct Substitute: A person responsible for the maintenance or care of individuals with severe, very severe, or complete disabilities, related up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and the second degree of affinity.

 

Parents and legal representatives of minors with any type and percentage of disability are also considered direct substitutes.

 

Certification of Direct Substitutes:

 

• People seeking recognition as substitutes for adults with severe, very severe, or complete disabilities must submit a certificate of non-affiliation to the social security under a dependency regime.
• Where certification of substitute status is required by an employer to comply with inclusion quotas, a copy of the employment contract must be submitted.
• People with disabilities may, if deemed necessary, request the withdrawal of substitute status.
• Employers are required to register within 30 days, in the system established by the Ministry of Labor, those employees who have notified them of their substitute status.
• Failure to register may result in a fine of USD 200 per unregistered employee, up to a maximum of 20 Unified Basic Salaries (currently USD 9,400.00).
• Employees are likewise obligated to notify their employer of their substitute status.
• The Ministry of Labor, through the SUT platform, has implemented a complementary system to verify the authenticity of substitute certificates.

 

1. Caregiver: The new law introduces the category of caregiver, defined as the mother, father, legal representative, or guardian authorized to care for a person with a severe, very severe, or complete disability.

 

Caregivers assume responsibility for assisting people with disabilities who, to varying degrees, require support in carrying out daily life activities.

 

This role confers rights distinct from those of substitutes, and caregivers are not included within the inclusion quota.

 

1. Remote Work Authorization: people with disabilities pursuing postgraduate or continued education systems can request to work remotely.

 

1. Labor Inclusion: employers with 25 or more employees must include at least 4% of people with disabilities. Substitute personnel may be included within the quota, provided they do not exceed 25% of the total inclusion required.

 

To fully comply with the quota, employers must apply principles of gender equity and disability diversity, and where operations exist in multiple provinces, distribute included personnel equitably.

 

Noncompliance may result in monetary sanctions of 11 to 15 unified basic salaries or the suspension of activities for up to thirty days.

 

1. Labor Inclusion for Private Security Companies: for the purpose of calculating the inclusion quota, private security and surveillance companies may consider substitutes in operational roles, even exceeding the maximum percentage allowed in other sectors.

 

1. Employment Conditions: people with disabilities must be hired on full-time schedules (8 hours), under contractual modalities deemed stable or permanent by law.

 

Part-time employment is permitted only with medical certification confirming the impossibility of full-time work.

 

1. Job Stability: people with disabilities, as well as those responsible for their maintenance and/or care, enjoy reinforced job stability. Unjustified dismissal entitles them to either reinstatement or additional severance equal to 18 months of the highest salary received from the employer.

 

1. Extended Maternity Leave: in cases of childbirth involving minors with disabilities or severe congenital conditions, maternity leave is extended by three months.

 

1. Leave for Substitutes and Caregivers: individuals responsible for people with severe, very severe, or complete disabilities are entitled to two hours of daily leave for caregiving purposes.

 

1. People with Rare, Orphan, Catastrophic, or Highly Complex Diseases Employment Rights: employees who demonstrate such conditions are entitled to workplace accommodations, including modified schedules, where necessary.

 

1. Rights of Substitutes and Caregivers:

13. Income Tax Deduction: employers may deduct an additional 150% of all remunerations and benefits contributed to social security (IESS) with respect to disabled employees and substitutes exceeding the mandatory inclusion quota.

 

14. Tax Exempt from Vehicle Imports: In the case of used vehicles, the model must correspond to the last three years prior to importation, (between the model year and the year of shipment).

 

The beneficiary may access a new tax-exempt importation five years after the Customs Import Declaration has been cleared.

 

15. Local Purchase of Exempt Vehicles: local purchase must be authorized by the Internal Revenue Service within a maximum period of 30 days from the submission of the application. Only new vehicles will be exempt from local taxes. The beneficiary may access a new exemption five years after the local purchase.

 

If it is determined that the conditions for benefiting from the exemption on local vehicle purchases were not met, the Internal Revenue Service will recalculate the tax for the total amount of the exempted values plus the respective interest.

 

16. Exceptional Transfer Clause: if the person with a disability benefiting from the tax exemption is unable to fulfill their financial obligation to the seller of the vehicle due to an emerging personal economic crisis, they may request the transfer of the vehicle within one year from the date of importation or acquisition.

 

To this end, the person with a disability or the person interested in acquiring the vehicle, duly authorized by the beneficiary of the exemption, may request the transfer of ownership of the vehicle from the customs or tax authority, as appropriate, and pay the proportional part of the taxes remaining to complete the five-year period, calculated from the date of submission of the transfer request.

 

To this end, the person with a disability must, by means of a sworn statement before a notary public, justify the reasons for their emerging financial hardship; they will be prevented from benefiting from this exemption again until five years have elapsed from the date of release of the import or acquisition, as applicable.

 

17. Use of Exempt Vehicles: vehicles imported or purchased locally with tax exemption must be driven by the person with a disability who is the beneficiary of the exemption. Extraordinarily, and depending on the condition of the person with a disability, the vehicle may be driven by:

 

• Members of the family unit of the person with a disability, including up to the second degree of consanguinity and first degree of affinity.
• A person outside the immediate family, if they can prove that the person with a disability is under their protection, care, or dependency (e.g., driver) and that the person with a disability is in the vehicle.
• In emergency situations, when the person with a disability is unable to drive the vehicle due to exceptional circumstances, duly justified and verifiable if applicable.

**Legal References:

1. Organic Law for Persons with Disabilities. Published July 3, 2025, Fourth Supplement of the Official Gazette No. 73.
2. Ministerial Agreement MDT-2025-105 “Regulation for the Certification of Direct Substitutes of Persons with Disabilities.” Published August 26, 2025, Third Supplement of the Official Gazette No. 110.
3. Organic Reform Law to Various Legal Bodies to Guarantee the Labor Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Rare, Orphan, Catastrophic, and Highly Complex Diseases, and Their Substitutes. Published June 20, 2025, Fifth Supplement of the Official Gazette No. 64.

 

 

Andrea Moya, Partner at CorralRosales
amoya@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Edmundo Ramos, partner at CorralRosales
eramos@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

María Victoria Beltrán, Associate at CorralRosales
mbeltran@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Through Interministerial Agreement No. 2025-013, issued by the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries together with the Ministry of Tourism, it has been ordered:

 

• The suspension of deadlines and terms for the declaration and payment of the “Eco Delta” and “Potencia Turística” fees, effective September 15, 2025, for a period of two months.
• No interest or penalties will accrue on obligations that fall within the suspension period.
• The obligation to declare and pay remains in force; therefore, airlines must comply with these obligations once the suspension period ends or earlier, if lifted through a new ministerial agreement.

 

Reason for the suspension:

 

This measure is adopted as part of the merger by absorption of the Ministry of Tourism into the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, in order to ensure a proper administrative transition and guarantee due process in tax and collection procedures.

 

Summary of the fees:

 

• Eco Delta: Fee applied to international airline tickets issued in Ecuador, aimed at fostering air connectivity and promoting tourism.

 

• Potencia Turística: Contribution created to finance national tourism development and promotion projects.

Chester Salazar, Senior Associate at  CorralRosales
csalazar@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Veronica Olivo, Associate at  CorralRosales
volivo@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Update of asset thresholds for entities subject to the supervision of the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance, requiring their annual financial statements to be submitted to mandatory external audit.

Supplement No. 118 of the Official Register, dated September 5, 2025, published Resolution No. SCVS-INC-DNCDN-2025-0005 of August 27, 2025, issued by the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance, which, for the purposes of external audit, the amounts that were previously expressed in United States dollars have been replaced with values equivalent to a specific number of minimum wages. In this manner, the thresholds applicable to the assets of domestic entities, as well as branches of foreign corporations or other foreign companies organized as legal entities, shall be adjusted automatically on an annual basis.

Under these amendments, the following entities are required to submit their annual financial statements to external audit review:

1. a) Domestic mixed-economy companies, corporations, and simplified joint-stock corporations with the participation of public entities or private legal entities with a social or public purpose, whose assets exceed two hundred seventy-three (273) minimum wages.
2. b) Branches of foreign corporations or enterprises organized as legal entities and established in Ecuador, provided that their assets exceed two hundred seventy-three (273) minimum wages.
3. c) Domestic corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships limited by shares, and simplified joint-stock corporations whose assets exceed one thousand three hundred sixty-six (1,366) minimum wages.
4. d) Entities subject to the control and oversight of the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance, which are required to file consolidated financial statements.

For purposes of the Regulation on External Audit, “assets” shall mean the total assets recorded in the statement of financial position submitted by the respective company to the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance in the prior fiscal year.

These amendments shall apply from the statement of financial position corresponding to the fiscal year 2025.

Milton Carrera, Partner at CorralRosales
mcarrera@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

In the Third Supplement to the Official Registry No. 112 of August 28, 2025, the Organic Law on Social Transparency was published.

The Fifth Amending Provision modifies the Mining Law (the “Law”) as follows:

Exploration Stage of the Mining Concession

Before the expiration of the initial exploration period, if the concessionaire wishes to continue mining exploration activities, it must request approval from the Sectoral Ministry to transition to the advanced exploration period for a term of four years. This request must include: an express waiver of part of the concession area; and evidence of compliance with the minimum activities and investments required during the initial exploration period.

For concessions obtained through auction or tender, the concessionaire must also demonstrate compliance with:

1. The minimum investment amounts established by law; and
2. The committed investment declared in its financial bid for each concession granted.

If the Sectoral Ministry fails to issue the corresponding resolution within sixty (60) days from the approval of the request, advanced exploration shall be deemed authorized.

Caducity of Mining Rights

In the administrative process for the caducity of a mining concession due to any of the causes established in the Law, the timeframe for the concessionaire to prove compliance with its obligations, submit defenses, and provide supporting evidence is reduced from forty-five (45) to fifteen (15) days.

If an administrative resolution determines that obligations remain outstanding, the concessionaire will have fifteen (15) days (previously forty-five) to remedy the non-compliance. Failure to do so within this period will result in the Sectoral Ministry declaring the forfeiture of mining rights through a reasoned resolution.

Caducity of mining rights shall also be declared automatically, without the need for further administrative proceedings, if the environmental authority has determined and notified the existence of environmental damage.

New Cause of Caducity for Non-Payment

Within the grounds of caducity due to non-payment of fees, royalties, and other rights or taxes established under this Law and its Regulations, administrative fees are now expressly included, broadly and without specific limitation

New Cause of Caducity for Breach of Economic Commitments

A new unnumbered article following Article 177 establishes that mining concessions obtained through auction or tender shall be terminated if the concessionaire fails to comply with either the minimum investment amounts or the committed investment set forth in its financial bid.

Verification Process of Minimum Investment and Committed Investment

The Ninth Transitory Provision instructs the Mining Regulation and Control Agency, within ninety (90) days, to verify whether mining concessions obtained through auction or tender have complied with the minimum investment amounts and the committed investment proposed in the financial bid. The results must be reported to the Sectoral Ministry to initiate, if applicable, forfeiture proceedings.

 

Carlos Torres, Senior Associate at CorralRosales
ctorres@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

The National Court of Justice, through Resolution No. 15-2025, has issued a new binding jurisprudential precedent in labor law matters.

The Specialized Chamber for Labor Law identified a recurring issue in several cases where the plaintiff’s (employee’s) testimony as a party was considered, on its own, sufficient evidence to prove the facts alleged in their complaint.

The analysis was grounded on the principles of evidence assessment established in the Organic General Code of Processes (COGEP), which mandate that evidence must be evaluated as a whole and in accordance with the rules of sound judicial discretion (sana crítica). Consequently, the plaintiff’s statement as a party cannot be the sole piece of evidence sufficient to prove the facts alleged in the complaint.

Binding Jurisprudential Precedent

The Plenary of the National Court has resolved to declare the following point of law as a binding jurisprudential precedent:

“In labor law matters, the plaintiff’s testimony as a party does not, by itself, constitute suitable and sufficient evidence to prove the facts alleged in the complaint. Therefore, for said testimony to acquire evidentiary sufficiency, it must be corroborated by external, objective data that allows it to be subjected to an examination of credibility, verisimilitude, and reliability.”

Effects of the Resolution

• This precedent is of mandatory compliance for all judges in the country, including the National Court of Justice itself.
• The resolution entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette (September 1, 2025).

Mateo Zavala, Associate at CorralRosales
mzavala@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

 

The Law of Social Transparency, published in Official Gazette Third Supplement No. 81 on August 28, 2025, establishes the following tax reforms:

 

1. Income Tax on the Distribution of Dividends

The profits or dividends distributed by resident companies or permanent establishments in Ecuador will be subject to a single income tax. This tax will be withheld by the company making the distribution.

The applicable tax rate is 12%; however, it is reduced or increased in the following cases:

1. 10% if the distribution is made to individuals and companies that are not residents of Ecuador.
2. 14% in the following cases:
   1. If the distribution is made to non-resident entities when: (i) in the ownership chain, there is a resident in a tax haven or low-tax jurisdiction; and (ii) the beneficial owner is a tax resident in Ecuador.
   2. If the local entity distributing the dividend fails to comply with the obligation to disclose its ownership structure.

Dividends distributed to another resident company or permanent establishment in Ecuador are not considered taxable income.

If the dividend recipient is an individual resident in Ecuador, the equivalent of 3 unified basic salaries (USD 1,410 for 2025) will be considered exempt with respect to each company distributing dividends, within the same tax period.

Dividends distributed between January 1 and August 28, 2025, will be consolidated with global income and subject to the regular income tax payment.

 

1. Income Tax Advance on Undistributed Profits

Companies and permanent establishments with tax residence in Ecuador that, by July 31 of each tax year, do not distribute accumulated profits from previous years, shall pay on that balance the following rates:

BRACKET FROM TO RATE 1 – $100,000.00 0.00% 2 $100,000.01 $1,000,000.00 0.75% 3 $1,000,000.01 $10,000,000.00 1.25% 4 $10,000,000.01 $100,000,000.00 1.75% 5 $100,000,000.01 $500,000,000.00 2.25% 6 $500,000,000.01 Onwards 2.50%

 

In the case of financial and insurance institutions, the amount of profits that cannot be distributed due to orders from the supervisory authority shall not be taken into account.

If the company distributes dividends within the following 2 years, the amount paid may be used as a tax credit for withholding tax applicable to the dividend distribution.

If the company distributes dividends or capitalizes undistributed profits within the following 2 years, the amount may be used as a tax credit for the company’s income tax payment, and the excess may be refunded.

If the entity does not distribute dividends or capitalize its profits within the following 2 years, the amount paid cannot be credited against any tax, will not be refundable, and must be recorded as a non-deductible expense.

Investment funds, trusts, and mixed-economy companies with state participation are not obliged to pay this advance. Companies that have recognized investments in other companies using the equity method are not subject to the advance payment with respect to the undistributed profits of the companies they own.

This advance payment will apply as of the 2025 tax year.

Andrea Moya, Partner at CorralRosales
amoya@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Mateo Bravo, Associate at CorralRosales
mbravo@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

 

Pursuant to Agreement No. 027-CG-2025, published in the Official Gazette No.  83, on July 17, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller General of the State has amended several regulations governing the procedures for the pre-determination and determination of culpable civil liability.

 

The amended regulations include: (i) Organic Statute for Organizational Management by Processes; (ii) Regulations for the Preparation, Processing, and Approval of Government Audit Reports; (iii) Substitute Regulations on the Execution of Documents; and (iv) Regulations on the Determination of Liability.

 

A summary of the amendments is provided below:

 

1.The National Director for the Pre-determination of Liability may refrain from pre-determining civil liability when the amount involved does not exceed US$20,000. For higher amounts, prior authorization from the Deputy Comptroller General of the State shall be required

 

2. In deciding not to pre-determine civil liability, at least the following criteria shall be taken into account: (i) contradiction or inconsistency between the liability suggested in the audit report and other sections of the report, supporting documentation, or applicable regulations; (ii) absence of evidence demonstrating economic harm; (iii) preparation of the audit report under regulations not in force at the time of the audited actions; and (iv) restitution or payment of the amounts stated in the report by the audited parties.

 

3.If, during the approval process, the approval period expires, the work order shall be canceled and the audit rescheduled.

 

4.Evidence such as on-site inspections, expert reports, acknowledgment of documents, or similar forms shall be admissible, provided they comply with applicable procedural legislation and are conducted by experts accredited by the Judiciary Council.

 

Hugo García Larriva, Partner at CorralRosales
hgarcia@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144

Mario Fernández, Associate at CorralRosales
mfernandez@corralrosales.com
+593 2 2544144