Tag Archives: Ecuador

CorralRosales > Ecuador

Reform to General Guidelines for Internships

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Labor Ministry through Ministerial Agreement MDT-2021-042, reformed the “General Guidelines for Internships”.

The Agreement establishes that students under a dual training modality may be considered for the mandatory percentage of interns.

Students under dual training are those whose professional training process occurs in educational environments and production or real services environments.

According to the Internship Law, for every 100 regular employees, employers are ordered to hire interns in a number equal to 4% of their employees who hold a professional degree. Consequently, the obligation to hire interns is subject to 2 conditions: (i) company has 100 or more employees; and (ii) at least 4% of such employees hold a professional degree.

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SENADI ignored the existence of renowned marks through an appeal resolution

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The Court of Justice of the Andean Community, a supranational body with competence to ensure compliance with Andean regulations, their uniform application and interpretation in the member countries, in the exercise of its power to interpret Decision 486 of the Andean Community, has repeatedly defined the figure of a renowned trademark or also known as highly renowned. Thus, it has expressly said that: “The notorious trademark regulated in Decision 486, which we can call an Andean notorious trademark, is that which is notorious in any member country of the Andean Community (…). The renowned trademark, for its part, is not regulated in Decision 486, but due to its nature, it receives special protection in all four member countries. “[1] Departing from the interpretation of the Andean Court, the National Service of Intellectual Rights (SENADI), in an appeal resolution, expressly ignored the existence of this figure, arguing that it is not specifically provided for in the Andean regulations.

The renowned trademark, whose special protection has been repeatedly recognized by the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, presupposes its knowledge by not only the specific consumers of the product or service in question, but that this level of knowledge is extended to the general public, even to those who do not consume the products or services protected by the trademark. The special protection on this type of trademarks seeks to prevent third parties’ illicit use of the prestige they possess.

An example of the special protection that the Andean regime grants to highly renowned trademarks is shown in the evidentiary field. Thus, it has been expressly established through numerous preliminary rulings that the renowned trademark does not need to be proven, since it is comparable to what is commonly known as a well-known fact.

Although this special protection is not expressly regulated in Decision 486 of the Andean Community or in the Organic Code of the Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation, as it has been expressly recognized by the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, through preliminary rulings, it forms an integral part of the Andean community law, to which Ecuador is subject to.

In the case at hand, a person applied for the registration of the trademark PIZZAS DEL VALLE[2], to protect the services of bars, cafes, restaurants, catering (international class 43 services). Against this request, a third party, owner of the DEL VALLE trademark, filed an opposition based on the similarities between the signs and the renowned nature of its trademark. In first instance, SENADI just focused on comparing products and services, and concluded that the trademark applied for was registrable. There was no pronouncement on the highly renowned name argued by the opponent.

The opponent filed an appeal in which, among other arguments, he insisted on the absence of a pronouncement on the argument of the highly renowned trademark. On this issue, SENADI pointed out: “As for the appellant’s allegation regarding the highly renowned DEL VALLE trademarks, Community legislation does not recognize the existence of this figure, but only that of notoriety (…)”[3] Within the same decision, it also pointed out that: “this Court denotes the fact that once the file has been reviewed, it has not been verified that the holder has provided sufficient material to verify the veracity of his statements in accordance with the factors stipulated in the regulations, having only limited itself to pointing out that said trademarks are easily recognized by the general consumer. “

The aforementioned Resolution is contrary to the Andean regulations and specifically to the binding preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community regarding the protection of trademarks in the member countries.

This type of decision confirms the need for the intellectual property offices of the member countries to implement permanent updating programs on the development of Andean community law. This would not only avoid damage to users due to an erroneous interpretation of the regulations and lack of application of binding rulings, but it would also raise the level of the decisions issued, so that, in addition to solving a conflict, they become a source of reference, for lawyers and users on intellectual property issues.

[1] Preliminary ruling 07-IP-2020 of May 8, 2020.

[2] Procedure SENADI-2018-61769 of August 29, 2018.

[3] Resolution No. OCDI-2020-1042 of December 23, 2020.

Katherine González H.
Associate at CorralRosales
katherine@corralrosales.com

New deadlines for filing the personal expenses annex

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Regulation NAC-DGERCGC21-00000009 issued on February 4, 2021 and published in the third supplement to the Official Registry 386 of February 5, 2021, the General Director of the Internal Revenue Service established that the personal expenses annex of the fiscal year 2020 may be filed, for this time, until the following dates:

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Special labor regime for private higher education institutions academic staff

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The Labor Ministry by Ministerial Agreement MDT-2020-286 regulated the special labor agreement for private Higher Education Institutions academic staff:

– Scope: Mandatory implementation to hire academic staff on private Higher Education Institutions.

– Term for Regular Staff:  Up to 1 year (continuous or discontinuously) renewable up to 2 years. A 90-day trial period may be agreed.

– Term for Non-Regular Staff: Up to 1 year (continuous or discontinuously). The agreement may be renewed as many times as necessary. A 90-day trial period may be agreed.

– Weekly working day: Up to 40 hours per week, that may be distributed in no more than 6 days a week. A noninterrupted rest of 24 hours per week is guaranteed.

– Special leave regime: The Higher Education Institutions may grant, at the employee´s request, a special leave with or without payment.

If the leave is without payment, the employee is not entitled to labor and social benefits. The employment relationship is suspended; therefore, no seniority will be generated during it.

– Termination of the agreement: The employment relationship ends once the term has concluded, without any other formality.

– Termination for cause: Under Labor Code provisions to terminate an employment relationship with cause, prior Labor Ministry authorization (“Visto Bueno”), the following definitions shall be included:

  • Indiscipline: Breach of terms to return in cases of licenses or mobility.
  • Ineptitude: If employee obtains results below the minimum for 2 consecutive times or 3 times throughout his/her career. The term for request the Labor Ministry authorization will run from the date on the employer’s decision to separate the employee.

– SUT´s registration: Within a period of 15 days upon its execution.

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Amendments to the tax regime for small businesses

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Executive Decree 1240 issued on February 3, 2021 by the President of the Republic amended the Internal Tax Regime Regulations regarding the Tax Regime for Small Businesses.

It establishes that, in order to calculate the income tax, taxpayers subject to such regime must apply a 2% rate over the net sales derived from the business activity subject to this regime and subtract: (i) the income tax withholdings made in the same period with respect to the activities subject to the regime; and, (ii) the income tax credit.

It is also stated that taxpayers subject to the regime, that in the fiscal year 2020 did not obtain any profit (calculated before paying the income tax) from the economic activities subject to the regime, may:

1. Pay the applicable income tax for the fiscal year 2020 until November 2021; and,
2. Pay the applicable income tax for the fiscal year 2021 until March 2022.

Those taxpayers who have paid the tax with interest and penalties will not be entitled to request a reimbursement.

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Case highlight: CorralRosales´s Brand Protection Team has made history once again in the fight against counterfeiting

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Great news for Ecuador

The National Service of Intellectual Property Rights (SENADI) confirmed the adoption of border measures on the import of a container with more than 600,000 counterfeit goods of different marks, especially cell phone accessories and packaging, which would have been ready to be assembled and distributed across our country.

Customs in Manzanillo, Mexico, warned about the existence of a container in transit, with Guayaquil as its final destination, which contained suspicious goods corresponding to counterfeit goods of the best-known cell phone marks. CorralRosales followed the container’s route, which included previous transit through Cartagena de Indias-Colombia and the Port of Callao-Peru, constantly making sure that the cargo was not released at these ports or that it returned to its origin, which would have prevented the border measure.

Prior to the arrival of the container at the Port Terminal of Guayaquil, CorralRosales requested the National Customs Service of Ecuador to allow them to carry out an inspection in order to determine its origin and, especially, whether or not it contained counterfeit goods. Once the verification was completed, the local IP office (SENADI) was asked to adopt a border measure to prevent the nationalization of the container, as it contained counterfeit products, which was accepted by the IP authority. The process continues through an ongoing Administrative Action. Infringers may face a fine of up to US$ 56,800 once the Administrative Action is concluded, as well as the definitive seizure of the goods.

The historic decision made by IP authorities and the actions of CorralRosales guaranteed the intellectual property rights of the owners of the affected marks, as well as the rights of potential consumers of the counterfeit goods, as possible damage to electronic equipment was prevented and even catastrophes were avoided, such as fires and more*.

This action was possible thanks to the international cooperation of our partners and the coordination between the public and private sectors, which allowed the most important border measure in the history of Ecuador.

CORRALROSALES

Foreign shareholders information

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Regulation NAC-DGERCGC21-00000005 issued on January 21, 2021 by the General Director of the Internal Revenue Service establishes the transitory regime applicable in 2021 for filing information of foreign shareholders.

Prior to the enactment of the Law of Modernization of the Companies Law, on December 10, 2020, limited liability companies and corporations were required to submit to the Superintendence of Companies, in the month of January of each year, the list of foreign shareholders.

The aforementioned Modernization Law established that this information had to be filed before the Internal Revenue Service, in accordance with the terms and conditions established for such purpose.

However, Regulation NAC-DGERCGC21-00000005 issued by the Internal Revenue Service establishes that, for this one time only, companies must file this information through the web portal of the Superintendence of Companies (www.supercias.gob.ec) until January 31, 2021.

Compliance with this obligation does not exempt taxpayers from filing the Shareholders’ Annex (APS).

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Regulations issued by the superintendency for the control of market power

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Three regulations were issued by the Antitrust Authority (“SCPM”) and published in the Supplement of Official Gazette No. 374.
1. Reform of the Guidelines for Administrative Procedures:
(i) Regulates the process of meetings that precede the mandatory filing for antitrust clearance of economic concentration operations, determining that the meetings will be recorded and do not exempt the applicant from submitting the notification within 8 calendar days after the conclusion of the agreement leading to the economic concentration operation.
(ii) It establishes specific times for analysis by the National Intendancy for Control of Economic Concentrations (in the investigation stage) and in the Resolution Board (in the resolution stage), both in Phase 1 (resolution within 25 business days following the declaration of completeness of the filing) or Phase 2 processes (resolution within 60 business days following the declaration of completeness of the filing).
(iii) Determines the criteria to be considered by the National Intendancy for Control of Economic Concentrations to evaluate the innocuousness of an economic concentration operation and based on this, the determination of a resolution in Phase 1 or Phase 2.
(iv) Regulates information requests and the sanctioning procedure applicable for infractions of the Organic Law for Regulation and Control of Market Power that do not constitute anticompetitive practices (for example: breach of duty to collaborate, non-delivery of information required in the times and form determined by the Antitrust Authority, or failure to comply with corrective measures).
(v) Modifies the disposition and evaluation of corrective measures regime. The most relevant change being that the implementation of corrective measures is not mandatory every time a sanction is imposed, but that these measures will be imposed only when they are deemed necessary to restore the market.
2. Guidelines for the identification and review of regulatory barriers
Regulates the procedure to be applied by the National Competition Advocacy Office for the identification and review of regulations that impose illegitimate or disproportionate restrictions/entry barriers. This procedure, which can only be initiated by the SCPM´s own decision, has a maximum duration of 90 days from the date when the start of the analysis is resolved.
The legal review is composed of two stages: (i) a legality analysis by which the authority´s competence to issue the regulation under review, and (ii) a review of the consistency of said regulation with the existing regulation considering the hierarchy of norms.
If the reviewed regulation passes the legal analysis, the reasonableness and proportionality of the restriction it imposes will be analyzed in the second stage, weighed against the protected legal asset: the public interest. For this analysis, its suitability, necessity, and proportionality in the strict sense must be determined.
If it is determined after these analyses that the reviewed regulation is illegal or that it imposes an unreasonable barrier to entry, the Antitrust Authority will propose to the issuing Authority its elimination or modifications aimed to correct the undesirable effects.
3. Comprehensive modification of the guidelines for the filing fee for review of economic concentration operations
Prior to this modification, the fee to be paid for the analysis of economic concentration operations was determined based on the financial statements of the immediately preceding fiscal year of the entity over which the change of control that gives rise to the economic concentration operation falls. It corresponded to the highest resulting value of the following alternatives:
  • 0.25% of income tax
  • 0.005% of total revenue
  • 0.01% of the asset value
  • 0.05% of equity
With the modification (i) the calculation method is simplified with the determination of a base fee that will be defined on a yearly basis by the SCPM, based on the real costs of the analysis of economic concentration operations and (ii) solves the inconvenience for operations submitted from January to April of each year, period in which there are no audited financial statements, by expanding the possibility of calculating the fee based on the financial statements of the second immediately preceding year.
The simplification of the calculation occurs as follows:
(i) Considers a scale for applying the base fee, which is applied only based on the income of the entity that bears the change of control that gives rise to the economic concentration operation:

(ii) Determines that the rate applicable to the analysis of economic concentration operations notified for information purposes (not mandatory filing) is half the base fee, regardless of the value of the total revenue.

(iii) Allows payment via wire transfer.

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Unified basic salary and minimum wages for economic sectors 2021

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The Ministry of Labor by Ministerial Agreements: MDT-2020-249 of November 30, 2020 and MDT-2020-282 of December 22, 2020, resolved to maintain for 2021, the same values of the unified basic salary (“SBU”) and the minimum wages for economic sectors of the year 2020.

The Authority underpins its decision considering that the registered inflation at the end of 2020 was negative (-0.73%), therefore, an increase in minimum wages for 2021 is not justified.

In this regard, the SBU for 2021 is $400.00.

Current regulations provide that in no case will a SBU be set lower than that of the previous year.

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CORRALROSALES

Income tax payment for taxpayers subject to the microenterprises regime

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Regulation NAC-DGERCGC21-00000002 issued on January 6, 2021 by the General Director of the Internal Revenue Service and
published in the Official Registry 366 on January 8, 2021, approved the tax form 125 for the semi-annual payment of income tax for taxpayers subject to the microenterprises tax regime.

The tax form 125 and its instructions were published on January 14, 2021 on the IRS website at the link:
https://www.sri.gob.ec/web/guest/formularios-e-instructivos 

Taxpayers subject to the tax regime for micro enterprises must file an income tax return each semester basis, even if: (i) they are subject to file a monthly value-added tax return; or, (ii) they have not obtained income related to the regime.

During January 2021 and only for this occasion, taxpayers who belong to this regime are required to declare and pay the income tax of the first and second semester of 2020 accumulated.

In order to liquidate the tax, the taxable base is equal to the net sales from the business activity subject to this regime and the rate is equal to 2%. Any income tax withholdings may be reduced if applied during the same fiscal year and if related to the activities subject to the regime.

The tax form must be filed in the months of January and July each year depending on the ninth digit of the tax ID. Taxpayers whose ninth digit o is 1, 2 or 3 may -only for this occasion- file the tax return and pay the income tax applicable to the first and second semester of the 2020 on different days, according to the following calendar:

Taxpayers subject to the microenterprises tax regime that have also been qualified by the IRS as special taxpayers may – only for this occasion- file the tax return and make the payment of the income tax applicable to the first and second half of 2020, until January 19, 2021.

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