July 2015 - Guzmán Ariza | The Dominican Republic Law Firm

Guzmán Ariza Hires Two New Associates

Guzmán Ariza is pleased to announce the addition of two new associates to the firm: Lidio Duval and William Lora. They join a team of more than 40 legal and accounting professionals working from seven offices across the Dominican Republic.

“We are very excited to welcome Lidio and William to our team,” said Fabio J. Guzmán Ariza, Managing Partner of Guzmán Ariza. “They were both outstanding students in law school and we expect them to show the same dedication to our clients and the practice of law.”

Mr. Duval graduated summa cum laude, at the top of his class, from the UNIBE law school in Santo Domingo, and will be based in the Santo Domingo office of the firm. Mr. Lora is a summa cum laude graduate of UTESA law school in Puerto Plata, where he also headed his law class. He will be working from the Sosúa office of the firm.

Founded in 1927, Guzmán Ariza is the first and only national law firm in the Dominican Republic. With a multilingual and multinational staff, the firm has concentrated its practice since 1985 in servicing the business and personal needs of international clients.

[July 2015]

Pre-clearance Coming to Punta Cana International Airport

Punta Cana could soon become the first Dominican airport to offer pre-clearance facilities for entering the United States. This means that passengers flying out through PUJ would clear US immigration and customs in the Dominican Republic, allowing for an expedited entry into the United States. The facility at the present time is offered in 15 international airports around the world.

Successful Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) preclearance programs are in place in Dublin and Shannon (Ireland); Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

[July 2015]

Guzmán Ariza Invested as Member of the Spanish Royal Academy

Fabio J. Guzmán Ariza was recognized as a corresponding member of the Spanish Royal Academy (Real Academia Española), the premier authority in the world on Spanish language usage, at a ceremony held in Santo Domingo at the Dominican Academy of Letters (Academia Dominicana de la Lengua).

Bruno Rosario Candelier, executive director of the Dominican Academy of Letters praised Mr. Guzmán’s for his many publications on Spanish language issues and for his commitment to improving the quality of legal drafting in Dominican official documents.

[July 2015]

Travel up 8.7 % in June

Travel to the DR in June has consistently increased. In 2013, the total number of travelers arriving to the Punta Cana International Airport in June was 431,554, increasing to 480,847 in 2014 and now to 522,490 in June 2015.

Also, there has been a steady growth per month this year: January (7.5%), February (7.2%), March (7.3%), April (3.8%), May (8.1%), June (8.7%).

Punta Cana is leading as the preferred leisure destination, according to the Central Bank Statistics Department.

[July 2015]

DR Has More Than 400,000 Businesses

The Dominican Republic has around 410,000 businesses, including both formal and informal businesses, according to a survey prepared by the office of Small Business (Pymes) at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Retail shops and stores account for more than 40 % of the businesses across Peravia, La Romana and Espaillat. In La Romana, firms involved in tourism next account for 11.4% of businesses surveyed. While in Peravia and Espaillat, beauty parlors and barber shops are second in importance, with 14.2 % and 12.2%, respectively.

Colmados selling food and beverage prevail, while betting parlors make up 12% of the small businesses in these provinces.

The results of the complete nationwide survey are expected to be available by the end of the year.

[July 2015]