Paraguay advances project to create DNIT anti-smuggling unit

Paraguayan legislative commissions have advanced a project to establish a General Management for the Prevention, Combat, and Repression of Smuggling and Illicit Trade within the DNIT. The proposal was reviewed with input from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Rural Association of Paraguay, the Paraguayan Industrial Union, and the Paraguayan Importers Chamber.

Senator Luis Pettengill stated that the commissions approved the initiative with modifications to better define its scope. A one-week period has been granted to finalize these corrections to prevent legal ambiguities or potential unconstitutionality before the bill is sent to the Senate plenary.

Additionally, commissions discussed a bill proposed by Senator Colym Soroka regarding the regulation of agricultural biotechnology royalties and amendments to the Patent Law. This proposal faced resistance from various business and commercial sectors, including the Paraguayan-American and Paraguayan-German Chambers of Commerce.