Report by the WTO Secretariat

During the period under review, Guatemala intensified its trade liberalization and economic reform efforts. An important step in this process was the elimination, at the beginning of 2016, of the export performance requirements for production under the free-zone and maquila regimes. At the same time, Guatemala updated its government procurement legislation to ensure greater transparency and efficiency, as well as its legislation governing certain aspects of intellectual property rights protection, and took steps to facilitate trade. A number of challenges remain, however, particularly in the competition policy area, where no legislation has yet been implemented.