Guatemala Assessment

This information comes from the assessment conducted in country for the Guatemala report, which was published in January 2005.

Guatemala’s company law is generally sound and covers most internationally recognized business entities. Minority shareholders are generally protected, and the incorporation process is among the more efficient in the region. Mechanisms of corporate governance, however, are weak, particularly with respect to internal controls over company administrators. Moreover, in virtually all instances, judges take an inflexibly formalistic view toward the notion of “lifting the corporate veil”; the legal personality of a company is generally protected even when it has been abused by its officers and directors.