Senate approves on second reading the Bill on the Refund of the Tax on the Transfer of Industrialized Goods and Services (ITBIS) to Foreign Tourists.
This bill had been presented by the vice president of the Senate, Santiago José Zorrilla, representative of El Seibo in the Upper House, in 2016, together with the current Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, at that time senator for the province of Puerto Plata, for the PRM party.
A project initiated in 2015
The same project had been under discussion since 2015, when the current Minister of Tourism David Collado, then president of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, stated that the ITBIS refund bill was a necessity in the country and that we should imitate countries such as Spain, Mexico or Colombia.
He stated that it had to be approved in order to achieve the goal of 10 million tourists that former President Medina was pursuing.
In 2020, Orlando Jorge Villegas, deputy for the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM), had submitted the same bill.
The beneficiaries must present an invoice stating their passport number and their payment in the consumption of the merchandise, have a stay in the country of less than 90 calendar days and have made their purchases by cash, credit card or international debit card, in the affiliated establishments.
The purpose of the regulation is to provide for the refund of ITBIS to foreign tourists and non-residents in the country, who make purchases of goods of national or imported production, and to establish penalties to those who falsify information for such refund.
According to the Bill, the piece will stimulate and increase the consumption on the part of the tourists, of the products worked in Dominican Republic, due to the fact that the tourist sector constitutes one of those of greater potential in the country.
NAUTICAL TOURISM
Also, the Senate approved in second reading the Bill of Law of Incentive to the Nautical Tourism of Recreation in the Dominican Republic, an initiative of senators Alexis Victoria (Maria Trinidad Sanchez) and Ginnette Bournigal de Jimenez (Puerto Plata).
The legislative piece aims to promote nautical tourism through the regulation of navigation in boats and nautical artifacts that, for recreational, private, commercial and sporting purposes, is carried out in waters under national jurisdiction; it also includes aspects related to the registration, construction and repair of vessels, as well as the promotion and incentives related to this activity.
SAN CRISTÓBAL, ECOTOURISM PROVINCE
During Wednesday’s legislative work, the Bill that declares San Cristóbal as an Ecotourism Province, proposed by Senator Franklin Rodríguez, was approved in second reading. The purpose of the bill is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and the promotion of cultural manifestations for the benefit of the economic and social development of San Cristóbal.
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