Gustavo González de Vega, president of the Las Americas Free Zone Association, had praise for the consistent legal regime of the Dominican free zone system during a forum on Dominican free zones in Barcelona, Spain. He said free zone exports in the DR make up 57% of total exports, most targeted to the United States. He compared that while in Barcelona, free zones are exempt from customs and consumer taxes (VAT), in the DR these companies also do not pay company taxes. He said free zones have the potential to generate the most jobs and foreign investment.
But he attributed the success of Dominican free zones to the consistency of the rules abiding the sector over the past 50 years. “The best tax incentive is judicial security, because tax exemptions are not good if there is not a guarantee that these be kept over time,” said González de Vega. He said this has been the reason for the success of the free zones in the Dominican Republic.
He was speaking at the forum on “Dominican Free Zones: The entryway to the US market and the rest of the world” held at the auditorium of the Banco Sabadell in Barcelona. The event was sponsored by the Foundation Export to Grow (Fundación Exportar para Crecer) of Spain.
Also speaking at the event were Xavier Ventura Santamans, regional commercial director of the Banco Sabadell; Dominican ambassador in Spain Olivo Rodríguez Huertas; Luisa Fernández, executive director of the National Export Free Zone Council of the Dominican Republic, and José Manuel Torres, executive vice president of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona).
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Armario Libre
Z101 Digital
2 March 2020