Título V. Reformas legales

Article 391 of the Penal Code, Decree Number 17-73 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“Article 391. Terrorism. Commits the crime of terrorism whoever, whether or not integrated in a terrorist organization or structured or unstructured terrorist group, with the purpose of altering the constitutional order, the public order of the State or coercing a legal person of public law, national or international, executes an act of violence, attacks life or human integrity, property or infrastructure, provided that such acts seek to generate a state of terror in the population or in a sector thereof.

Also commits the crime of terrorism whoever carries out any of the acts of terrorism established in the international agreements approved and ratified by the State of Guatemala.

The person liable for said crime shall be sanctioned with penalty of non-commutable imprisonment of ten (10) to thirty (30) years, plus fine of twenty-five thousand dollars (US$ 25,000.00) to eight hundred thousand dollars (US$ 800,000.00) of the United States of America, or its equivalent in national currency. If explosive or nuclear materials are used for the commission of this crime; as well as chemical weapons or microbial agents or other biological agents, or toxins, weapons, equipment or vectors intended to use biological agents or toxins, he or those persons liable shall be sanctioned with double the penalties.

If this crime is committed by gangs (maras or pandillas) constituted as a transnational criminal and terrorist organization, the penalty shall be increased by one third.”

Numeral 4 of Article 474 of the Penal Code, Decree Number 17-73 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“4. To receive, conceal, suppress, render useless, exploit, keep, hide, traffic in or deal in, in any form, objects, effects, instruments, evidence or traces of the crime, except when it concerns the property or money to which the crimes of money laundering or other assets or financing of terrorism refer.”

Subsection (b) of Article 2 of the Law Against Organized Crime, Decree Number 21-2006 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended, to read as follows:

“(b) Those contained in the Comprehensive Law for the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering or Other Assets and of the Financing of Terrorism: money laundering or other assets and financing of terrorism;”

Subsection d) of Article 2 of the Law Against Organized Crime, Decree Number 21-2006 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is repealed.

Subsection b) of Article 3 of the Law Against Organized Crime, Decree Number 21-2006 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended, to read as follows:

“b) Of those contained in the Comprehensive Law for the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering or Other Assets and of the Financing of Terrorism: money laundering or other assets and financing of terrorism;”

Subsection d) of Article 3 of the Law Against Organized Crime, Decree Number 21-2006 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is repealed.

Numeral 4 of Article 3 of the Notarial Code, Decree Number 314 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended, which shall read as follows:

“4. Those who have been convicted of any of the following crimes: falsification, robbery, theft, fraud, fraudulent bankruptcy or insolvency, bribery, prevarication, misappropriation of public funds, money laundering or other assets, terrorism or financing of terrorism.”

Article 110 of the Notarial Code, Decree Number 314 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“Article 110. Any provision issued to create, eliminate or modify the rights and obligations of notaries contained in this Law shall be made as an express reform thereof, so that it preserves its unity of context. In this sense, the creation, elimination or modification of such rights and obligations by means of administrative circulars or Government Agreements is prohibited.

Excepted from the foregoing is that established in the Comprehensive Law for the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering or Other Assets and of the Financing of Terrorism and its regulations.”

Article 45 of the Commercial Code of Guatemala, Decree Number 2-70 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“Article 45. Appointment of administrators. The appointment and removal of the administrative body of all commercial companies or managers in the case of non-share companies shall be made by decision of the partners. This shall be registered in the Mercantile Registry through submission of a notarial record in which the relevant point of the record of the corresponding Assembly is documented.”

Article 125 of the Commercial Code of Guatemala, Decree Number 2-70 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“Article 125. Register of Shares. Companies whose capital is divided into shares shall keep a register of shares or provisional certificates thereof, with at least the following information:

1.Shareholders who are natural persons: full name, nationality and identification document data.

2.Shareholders that are legal persons: full corporate or trade name, identification of the legal person that is a shareholder and the country or jurisdiction under whose laws it was constituted.

3.Shares, participations or contributions held within the patrimony of trusts, legal structures or other legal figure of a patrimonial nature: information permitting their identification, country or jurisdiction under whose laws it was constituted, as well as the person or persons acting as fiduciaries or administrators thereof.

4.The physical address and email address of each shareholder.

5.Where applicable, the calls made and the payments made.

6.Transfers of ownership of shares that are carried out.

7.The conversion of provisional certificates into shares.

8.Exchanges of certificates.

9.Encumbrances affecting the shares.

10.Cancellations of encumbrances and of certificates.

In the cases of numerals 1 and 2, it shall be necessary to specify the number of shares belonging to each shareholder or legal structure or other legal figure of a patrimonial nature, stating the numbers, series, classes and other particulars of the shares.

The said register of shares of the company shall be kept in a book authorized by the Mercantile Registry, which may be physical or electronic, kept updated and under the responsibility of the secretary of the company's administrative body, or where applicable by the Sole Administrator, who shall be empowered to issue certifications of the information contained therein. Said register shall be kept at the registered office of the legal person.

When dealing with shares registered for public stock offering, the person responsible for keeping the shareholder register shall be subject to the provisions of the following paragraph.

Companies shall give notice to the Mercantile Registry by the means established by the latter, of the first registration and other transfers of ownership of shares recorded in its register of shares, within the ten (10) working days following the making thereof, including the information referred to in numerals 1 through 4 of this article. Non-compliance with the provisions established in this article shall be punished with a fine equivalent to five to fifty minimum wages for non-agricultural activities of economic district one, which shall be imposed by the Mercantile Registrar. Commercial companies whose shares are registered for public stock offering are exempt from the obligation established herein, provided that the shareholder register is kept by or for the issuer within the system or records of a securities central depository or a central securities depository and its participants. Information on shareholders of commercial companies whose shares are registered for public offering must contain, at least, the data and record the acts indicated in this article. The Mercantile Registry shall keep and securely safeguard an electronic database with the information provided by the companies pursuant to the preceding paragraph, which shall be confidential in nature; consequently, it may not provide such information to any natural or legal person, public or private, except and solely to the Superintendency of Banks and the Public Prosecutor's Office, exclusively for the exercise of their functions and powers. The Mercantile Registry shall preserve under the same confidential nature the consultations made by said entities, and shall implement optimal instruments, mechanisms and procedures to verify compliance with the provisions of this article.”

Numeral 2 of Article 134 of the Commercial Code of Guatemala, Decree Number 2-70 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“2. To appoint and remove the administrative body, the oversight body, if any, and to determine their respective emoluments.

The registration of the appointment and removal of the administrative body shall be carried out in accordance with Article 45 of this Code.”

Article 74 of the Law Regulating Private Security Services, Decree Number 52-2010 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, is amended to read as follows:

“Article 74. The security of the property and persons of the Bank of Guatemala, as well as the investigations conducted by it in that matter, shall be carried out in accordance with its Organic Law and shall be governed by regulations issued for that purpose by the Monetary Board.

The security of the property and persons of the Superintendency of Banks shall be governed by regulations issued for that purpose by the Monetary Board.”