Guayaquil waives up to 100% of traffic interest and fines

The M. I. Municipal Council of Guayaquil approved the Ordinance regulating the remission of interest, costs, and surcharges of the garage fee and traffic violations provided for in municipal ordinances administered by the Municipal Public Company of Transit and Mobility of Guayaquil. The regulation was published in the Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1663, on Friday, September 25, 2026, and benefits taxpayers with vehicles held in Vehicle Retention Centers and those with outstanding fines.

The ordinance was discussed and approved in extraordinary and ordinary sessions on September 10 and 17, 2026, in the first and second debates, and sanctioned on September 17, 2026, by economist Tatiana Coronel Flores, Acting Mayor of Guayaquil, with the certification of lawyer Paulo Roberto Salas Plúas, Secretary of the M. I. Municipal Council of Guayaquil. The act was signed in the “Dr. José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri” City Hall and comes into effect upon its publication in the Official Registry.

Staggered condonation according to the payment term

The percentage of remission depends on how quickly the taxpayer pays the owed principal or signs a payment facility agreement:

• Up to 30 days after the ordinance is published: 100% of interest, costs, and surcharges.
• Up to 60 days after the ordinance is published: 75%.
• Up to 90 days after the ordinance is published: 50%.

If the payment facility agreement is breached, the Municipal Public Company of Transit and Mobility of Guayaquil, EP (EPMTMG, EP) will execute the total debt and nullify the remission, charging interest, costs, and surcharges in full.

Which debts are included and which are excluded

The scope of application covers two blocks:

• Tax obligations generated by the garage fee for vehicles held in the Vehicle Retention Centers of the EPMTMG, EP.
• Non-tax obligations generated until December 31, 2025, by traffic violations provided for in municipal ordinances administered by the EPMTMG, EP, solely regarding interest, surcharges, and costs.

Obligations derived from contraventions typified in the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code are expressly excluded and may not apply for remission under any concept.

Requirements for pending processes and coercive collections

Those who have pending procedures or processes in administrative or judicial venues must withdraw from them and pay the principal or sign an agreement, presenting the proof of withdrawal at the User Service Centers of the EPMTMG, EP. If the obligated party signed the agreement without withdrawing, the company will summon them so that, within a term of ten days, they clarify whether they persist in their claim; if they maintain it or do not respond, the remission will not be granted.

Natural and legal persons with debts in coercive execution may apply before the attachment, and the lifting of precautionary measures will proceed when there is an up-to-date payment agreement or the total principal has been paid. Those who have already suffered effective collections through attachments, auctions, or foreclosures may not benefit.

Background and Execution

Traffic competence was transferred to the Municipality of Guayaquil through Resolution No. 006-CNC-2012, dated April 26, 2012, from the National Council of Competencies. The EPMTMG, EP was created by ordinance published in the Municipal Official Gazette No. 38, on July 30, 2012, with reforms in 2014, 2020, and 2024; the garage fee was incorporated in the seventh reform of the vehicle technical inspection ordinance, published in Official Gazette No. 54, on January 24, 2017, and its administration and collection were assigned to the company in the sixteenth reform, published in Municipal Official Gazette No. 4, on August 1, 2023.

The execution of the ordinance is entrusted to the EPMTMG, EP, which will exercise the powers of the tax authority. Payments made extinguish the obligations and constitute express recognition of their validity, therefore there will be no place for refunds for undue or excess payment. Taxpayers with previous current agreements may apply if they complete the total payment of the principal.

The measure relieves the financial burden of thousands of owners of impounded vehicles and offenders with accumulated fines, and offers a three-month window with decreasing incentives to regularize their situation before the Municipality.

Source: Official Registry, Special Edition No. 1663, September 25, 2026, Municipal Ordinances, p. 24 (official reference: Special Edition No. 1663).