SPECIAL LAW FOR MUNICIPAL RESTRUCTURING

SPECIAL LAW FOR MUNICIPAL RESTRUCTURING

SPECIAL LAW FOR MUNICIPAL RESTRUCTURING

Published on february 12 , 2024

Foto de Kelly Melissa Cruz Benítez

Kelly Melissa Cruz Benítez - Legal Collaborator



On June 22nd, 2023, the Special Law for Municipal Restructuring came into effect, eight days after its publication in the Official Gazette. This legislation modifies the number of municipalities in Salvadoran territory, decreasing from the previously known 262 to a total of 44. Despite this reduction, the territorial structure and names of the existing municipalities will be preserved, albeit undergoing a renaming to "districts", organized into groups formed by the newly created 44 municipalities. The provisions of this law are of a special nature; therefore, they will prevail over any others that contradict them.

One of the considerations for the approval of the law establishes that the review of the current structure of municipalities reveals that only 31 municipalities (out of 262) meet the criterion of having a population exceeding fifty thousand people. The majority of the remaining municipalities also do not meet the requirement of having a population center of more than twenty thousand inhabitants, reaching even extreme cases in which several municipalities have less than a thousand residents. From an economic and financial perspective of the municipalities, many of them do not meet the requirement of having adequate own and tax resources to effectively manage local government and provide essential public services to their community. Therefore, according to Article 1 of the law, the territory of El Salvador for its administration will continue to be divided into the current fourteen departments, with forty-four municipalities and two hundred sixty-two municipal districts. The names of these newly established municipalities will be determined according to the department to which they are attached, incorporating the cardinal point indicating their location. The Municipal Council continues to hold the highest authority in the municipality and its districts, chaired by a Mayor and establishing its headquarters in the municipal territory; they will approve the guidelines for the organization and functioning of the districts and their relationship with their municipality. Regarding municipal tax laws and the respective municipal ordinances approved by the Municipal Councils prior to this Law, as well as the general and specific legislation of each municipality, they will remain in force, and will persist until both the Legislative Assembly and the Municipal Councils of the reduced municipalities ratify, reform, or approve new provisions.

The implementation of this restructuring will not affect the validity of the Unique Identity Documents of citizens, personal passports, driver's licenses, or any other document legally issued for Salvadorans or foreigners. Likewise, the deadlines and obligations agreed upon by the municipalities transformed into districts will remain in force.

Finally, the municipal restructuring will be effective for the upcoming Municipal Council elections on March 3rd, 2024. Political parties participating must include in their lists the maximum possible representation of candidates residing in the districts that make up said municipality. Based on the aforementioned law, all municipal denominations in private and public documents issued must now bear the new nomenclature. An example of this would be checks, public deeds, writings accompanying requests to judges, administrative authorities, or others. These must carry as a model, "in the city of San Salvador Centro" or, even more specific, "in the District of San Salvador, Municipality of San Salvador Centro", etc.

email
Last June, the new Instructions for the Prevention, Detection and Control of Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, issued by the Attorney General's Office (FGR), under the framework of the Anti-Money Laundering Law (LCLDA), came into force. In its Article 2, the LCLDA establishes that every person must submit information to the FGR that allows demonstrating the licit origin of any transaction he/she carries out. This leads us to conclude, then, that every person must prepare the manual and internal policies for the implementation of a money laundering prevention system, and the continuous development of these.

What is the difference between the new Instructions and the prevention systems elaborated before it came into force? Article 4 of the Instructions requires individuals to apply a risk-based approach, which consists of identifying, assessing and understanding the risks of their sector and operation, and applying resources aimed at ensuring that they are effectively mitigated. Therefore, it is necessary to update the manuals and policies that companies had developed in the past, so that they have a risk-based approach and comply with the new provisions.

From the manuals prepared, it is necessary to comply with other obligations, among them, to develop due diligence and KYC policies to identify the final beneficiary of the company's business relationships, to detect and mitigate all unusual or suspicious transactions and report them to the FGR (not only cash transactions), to train employees, to keep a historical record of the files analyzed, and above all, to appoint a compliance officer.

Why is it important to comply? Article 8 of the LCLDA establishes that, if there is any encumbrance due to negligence, impertinence or ignorance of the directors or employees of the companies, there will be a sanction of two to four years in jail.

Therefore, as a Firm we recommend:


We offer you our services, in order to comply with these legal obligations, so that your company has the peace of mind and support of a money laundering prevention system.

For more information about how this may affect your company, please contact our specialized team at bvaldez@bvaldezlaw.com  or  benjamin@bvaldezlaw.com