U.S. approves Dominican legislation, paving way for Free Trade

http://www.dominicantoday.com 17/08/06

Santo Domingo.- The United States Deparment of Commerce approved almost to the “t” the bill submitted by Dominican authorities for Implementing the Free Trade Agreement with Central America and the United States(DR-CAFTA), according to Guillermo Asencio Chevalier from the Association of Foreign Firms Representatives (ARFE).

Asencio stated that now only approval by the Dominican Congress is pending and affirmed that this was a responsibility of the recently sworn-in congresspersons, adding that, once approved by both governments, it would only be a matter of hours before the accord is enforced.

He said that only minor changes were made to bill 173, but that the fundamentals remained unaltered.

The controversy arose when the U.S. demanded as pre-condition to approval of the DR-CAFTA that a different law be produced, which would have placed in jeopardy critical rights acquired by importers.