Bill 199, submitted on October 6, 2026 by deputy Julio De La Guardia (Cambio Democrático, circuit 2-1, Penonomé), was referred to the Commission on Commerce and Economic Affairs and is at the preliminary stage, pending adoption. The initiative amends Law 8 of 2000, which created the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Authority (AMPYME).

Its article 4 adds a Chapter VIII to Law 8 of 2000 with the MSME legal-guidance service and free public defense. Article 25-C provides that AMPYME give general legal guidance to all registered MSMEs in their disputes with large or multinational companies, and article 25-D reserves the free public defense, which includes advice and representation in administrative proceedings, for beneficiary microbusinesses, defined in the new item 27 of article 4 as those whose annual billing does not exceed fifty thousand balboas (B/.50,000.00), the same threshold of Law 186 of 2020 for the Simplified Income Tax Return. Article 25-E promotes conciliation as the preferred mechanism.

The measure targets the most vulnerable segment of the business fabric: according to the explanatory statement, MSMEs are more than ninety percent of the country's economic units, and a microbusiness billing up to fifty thousand balboas can rarely afford a lawyer to litigate against a large corporation. If approved, these businesses would have a public channel to address abusive clauses, late payments or unilateral contract terminations, without this entailing judicial representation, which the proposal keeps reserved to the Judicial Branch.

The road is long. The bill has not yet been adopted by the committee and must pass three debates, sanction and publication; moreover, article 25-H defers to regulations by the Executive Branch within ninety days of promulgation, and article 6 defers its entry into force to the next fiscal year to include the budget allocation. Nexo Capital will follow the adoption and the processing of Bill 199.