The Ministry of Labor has issued the technical regulations for applying the preferential employment principle under the Law for Integrated Planning in the Circumscribed Special Amazon Territory[1]. The Agreement establishes:
- Applicability:
- Applies to all employers who perform economic activities in the provinces of the Amazon region.
- Employees resident in the Circumscribed Special Amazon Territory:
- Employers will hire residents of the provinces of the Amazon region, who must make up at least 70% of the total number of employees, with the exception of activities where the necessary skilled labor cannot be filled this way.
- Employers must use the platform on the Social Employment Network (Red Socio Empleo – RSE in Spanish) of the Ministry of Labor.
- The percentage of employees who must be resident in Amazon provinces will be calculated in respect of the company’s employees who are under an indefinite contract.
- The Ministry of Labor will regularly monitor the variation of personnel according to monthly reports by the registered employers. The percentage must be maintained up to the end of each fiscal year.
- Skilled labor is the person who has a recognized level of specialization and holds a professional degree or certificate of competence and who has the characteristics, skills or occupational profile required by the individual or legal entity looking to fill a position.
- Amazon residents are those who belong to Amazonian communities and nationalities, who were born in the circumscribed territory, who have been a resident for the past 6 years as a minimum, or who have been registered voters in the circumscribed territory for the past three electoral processes.
- Employees belonging to Amazonian communities and nationalities
- Private employers with more than 25 employees must hire at least 10% of their workforce under indefinite contracts from Amazonian communities and nationalities; this obligation will be met progressively according to the table below:
| Year | Percentage of Compliance |
| 2019 | 4% |
| 2020 | 6% |
| 2021 | 8% |
| 2022 onwards | 10% |
[1] Agreement No. MDT-2019-040, published in Official Register Supplement No. 431 on February 19, 2019.
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