Search

The National Energy Secretariat (SNE), established in 2008 and attached to the Ministry of the President's Office, is responsible for overseeing the energy sector. The SNE designs and implements the energy policy contained in the National Energy Plan 2009 2023, whose main objectives are to ensure, within competitive parameters, the availability and sustainable supply of energy, promote the development of renewable sources and the rational use of energy, and strengthen regional integration through interconnections with Central and South America.

To fulfil its plans for saving energy and diversifying its energy sources, Panama grants tax incentives for the construction of new hydroelectric power plants or solar, wind and geothermal energy projects and those that use natural gas or biomass. (…)

(…) In the tender processes for the purchase of energy and capacity, a preference of 5% of the evaluated price is granted to projects that use renewable sources.(…)

(…) In May 2013, Panama experienced a crisis which led to the adoption of energy saving measures and the importation of electricity from the Central American regional market; moreover, in April 2014 measures were taken to reduce energy consumption and prevent a crisis. (…)

(…) The Strategic Plan for the Rational and Efficient Use of Energy, supported by the Fund for the Rational and Efficient Use of Energy , is intended to finance programmes and projects in the private commercial and residential sector and to grant incentives and subsidies for equipment, machinery, materials and spare parts that use less energy and/or recover energy for their own operation. It prohibits, from 2014, the manufacture and importation of equipment with energy efficiency ratings below the minima determined by the Energy Efficiency Ratings Management Committee. Equipment, machinery, structures or appliances that reduce energy consumption, marketed in Panama, must bear a label indicating at least their energy consumption under normal conditions, the normal conditions for calculating energy consumption and their energy efficiency rating

Cabinet Resolution No. 79 of 24 June 2009 approved the updating of the National Maritime Strategy, while rescinding Cabinet Resolution No. 3 of 28 January 2004. The Strategy seeks to turn Panama into an integrated centre of excellence for competitive maritime and logistical services by developing activities that generate value added within a legal framework that promotes and guarantees free enterprise, legal certainty, a competitive market structure and sustainable development. The strategy has six objectives: (…) and (vi) to guarantee environmental sustainability in the development of maritime, logistical and supply chain activities. (…)

4.5.5.4 Panama Canal
Fieldwork under the Expansion Programme began in September 2007. The programme provides for the participation of the National Environment Authority, the preservation of archaeological finds and wildlife rescue work. Several companies of different nationalities are participating in the project. The first contract for construction works was awarded to a Panamanian company in a tendering procedure based on the lowest bid. In 2009, the main contract for B 3,221.6 million was awarded to the Grupo Unidos por el Canal S.A. (GUPCSA) for the design and construction of the new lock complexes.

Table A3.4 Overview of IPR protection in Panama, 2013
Patents
Law/Scope: Law No. 35 of 10 May 1996, as amended by Law No. 61 of 5 October 2012; Executive Decree No. 7 of 17 February 1998 (Regulations).

Comments, limitations and exclusions: (…) The following cannot be patented: plants, animals and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non biological or microbiological processes; plant species and animal species and breeds; biological material existing in nature; living tissue that makes up the human body; and plant varieties. Panama recognizes retroactivity in patents only when a priority right is invoked.

In June 2008 in particular, the price of oil peaked at B 133.88 per barrel, an increase of over 90% compared to 2007. This directly impacted domestic production, as rising international demand for grains such as corn and soybeans for biofuel production drove up the prices of this raw material that is indispensable to agricultural production .

QNV (Qatar National Vision 2030) rests on four development pillars namely: human development, social development, economic development, and environmental development.