Legal certainty in Ibero-America: "If you promote trust in institutions, investments will come", says Eduardo Rodríguez-Rovira of FIE

Latin Counsel has spoken with Eduardo Rodríguez-Rovira Rodríguez, vice-president of the Board of Trustees of the Fundación Iberoamericana Empresarial (Ibero-American Business Foundation, FIE) about the region’s challenges in term

The VIII Meeting of Multilatin Companies held at the Menéndez Pelayo International University from July 12 to 14 made one idea clear: there is an image, whether fair or not, of legal insecurity in Ibero-America.

The summer course organized by the Ibero-American Business Foundation (FIE) together with other entities in Santander, Spain, served to discuss, among other issues, where this preconception comes from and what to do to reverse it.

"If this image is eliminated, investments could be greatly improved," explains Eduardo Rodríguez-Rovira Rodríguez, vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Ibero-American Business Foundation (FIE) and one of the speakers at the event.

Rodríguez-Rovira, legal partner at Uría Menéndez, believes that strengthening institutions, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is the first step to driving change.

Secondly, he highlights "the awareness that we are facing an Ibero-American legal space" and explains that there is "a set of organizations that have been created spontaneously, which denote that there is a legal community". Judges, ministers of Justice, and notaries, among others, have entities that bring them together. Rodriguez-Rovira exemplifies with the trust generated by the Association of Registrars in Spain, a reputation that he believes could be replicated in other institutions.

Thirdly, Rodríguez-Rovira describes "the need to educate the population on the benefits of compliance" as essential, promoting social acceptance of respect for the rules. He proposes that public or community funds be earmarked to reinforce these ideas in society.

But how does this negative image of legal insecurity originate in the region? For Rodríguez-Rovira, the phenomenon occurs because of untimely regulatory changes and the non-enforcement of rules. "It is not that we have bad laws, it’s that the laws are simply published, but then they are not complied with or it is very difficult to enforce them," he says.
"If you promote trust in institutions, investments will come," he concludes.

At the same time, Rodríguez-Rovira highlights some progress made at the local level and mentions that, during the debate in Santander, attendees applauded that Madrid finally had a single arbitration seat to carry out work in Spanish. "This could help a lot as an alternative to always using North American seats, such as Miami or New York," he says. He also highlighted the arrival of lawyers and law firms specialized in arbitration in the Spanish capital.

The debate on the image of legal certainty is just one of several matters that the FIE is working on together with organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, and the ICO Foundation. "What we intend to do (with the FIE) is to provide Ibero-American summits with an agenda," says Rodríguez-Rovira.

Among the topics they have brought to the table at high-level discussions are the mobility of regional workers, digital transformation, and post-pandemic economic recovery.

In particular, Rodriguez-Rovira names free trade as one of the key aspects to execute. "The European and Latin American blocs are absolutely compatible, in values, in history...," he says, adding "it is vital to move forward with the European Union’s treaties with Mercosur, with Chile, and with Mexico."