Panama is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

It is reported that there is a need to increase transparency and accountability in the judicial process and government procurement and that there is a historical inability of the Panamanian government to pay suppliers and contractors that is a liability that foreign companies endure when doing business with the government. On the other hand, allegations of corruption surrounded purchases made during Panama’s State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when procurement procedures were abbreviated to permit rapid responses.

Panama is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). However, the country has been an observer of the WTO GPA since 1997.

Art. 12 of Law No. 22 states that in those minor procurements in which several bidders participate, the local company must have priority in the award, provided that it complies with all the requirements and demands of the bidding documents and the proposed price is not greater than 5% in relation to the lowest price proposal submitted by a non-local company, in which case the one with the best price must be chosen. Art. 6 of Executive Decree No. 439 further elaborates on the provision mentioned above.

Art. 10 of Law No. 22 provides that the State must promote the competitive participation of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in certain acts of contractor selection carried out by public institutions. Art. 88 of Executive Decree No. 439 further elaborates on the provision mentioned above, stating that in the case of minor procurement acts, the entity must select the proposal submitted by the micro or small enterprises, provided that it complies with the requirements and demands of the tender documents and the proposed price is not greater than 5 % in relation to the lowest price proposal submitted by another type of enterprise.

Art. 13 of Law No. 22 states that in the acts of selection of contractors for the acquisition of goods and services, the bidding entities may carry out public acts, for which they must consider, in the first instance, the viability, availability and quality of the goods and services produced within the territory of Panama. Arts. 5 and 7 of Executive Decree No. 439 further elaborate on the provisions mentioned above.

Panama is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996, but is not a signatory of its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Venezuela has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

Venezuela has adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

Venezuela has not signed the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

The Decree 2,092 and the Consumer and User Protection Law of 2004 provide a comprehensive consumer protection framework that applies to online transactions. According to Art. 3 of the Consumer and User Protection Law, all legal acts entered into between suppliers of goods and services and consumers and users, related to the acquisition and leasing of goods, the contracting of public or private services, and any other legal business of economic interest for the parties, are subject to the provisions of the Law.

It is reported that the de minimis threshold, that is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties, is USD 100, below the 200 USD threshold recommended by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Venezuela’s new laws, resolutions, decrees, government appointments, and other official data are published in the Official Gazette. It is reported that the Gazette does not publish anything similar to notices of proposed rulemaking, so there is no regular official mechanism for inviting comments on proposed changes to technical regulations. The Gazette also does not publish new technical regulations. The full contents of a new technical regulation must be obtained directly from the government agency that created it. The same holds true for new standards themselves, available only by request from either the FONDONORMA (a private non-profit association) or SENCAMER (a body of the Ministry of Commerce). The relationship between the two bodies has deteriorated in the past few years, which has led to confusion and a lack of a normative standards regime.

It is reported that the certification process for goods is expensive. The Venezuelan Commission for Industrial Standards normally requires certification from independent laboratories located in Venezuela but at times will accept a certificate from independent laboratories elsewhere.
Resolution No. 253 lists the foreign entities or organizations recognized by the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) for the homologation and certification of telecommunications equipment: (European Union, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States, Industry Canada of Canada, Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) of Brazil, Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (COFETEL) of Mexico, and the Comisión Nacional de Comunicaciones (CNC) of Argentina) (Art. 3). CONATEL is limited to administrative homologation based on the acceptance of the homologation certificates of the aforementioned entities.
On the other hand, Art. 4 establishes that certification bodies or organizations that issue certificates or declarations of conformity, approval or homologation, on behalf or by authorization of the approval bodies or organizations indicated in the previous article, either by designation or by Mutual Recognition Agreements, shall also be considered as recognized.