On September 18, 2014, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the United States is proceeding with a labor enforcement case against Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).  The announcement said that:

The United States has engaged extensively with Guatemala in an effort to improve labor law enforcement.  This engagement led to the signing of a groundbreaking Enforcement Plan between the United States and Guatemala in April 2013.  Over the course of the last seventeen months, the United States has worked closely with Guatemala to monitor implementation of the Enforcement Plan.

Guatemala took a number of important steps to implement the Enforcement Plan.  And Ambassador Froman travelled to Guatemala in July 2014 to urge the government to follow through with the remaining steps. There is still room for the United States and Guatemala to work together to resolve the concerns. Even this week, efforts are underway in Guatemala to make progress on key concerns, including on legislation to sanction employers that violate labor laws. The United States will continue to work closely with Guatemala on those efforts and hopes to make further progress on that front and on other critical actions agreed to under the Enforcement Plan. That will include further steps to demonstrate that the legal reforms Guatemala has undertaken are being effectively implemented, leading to concrete improvements on the ground.

The United States is proceeding with the dispute settlement process which had been originally brought in August 2011 when the United States requested the establishment of an arbitral panel under the CAFTA-DR dispute settlement chapter to address Guatemala’s apparent failure to effectively enforce its labor laws.  The United States and Guatemala agreed to suspend the arbitral panel pending the negotiation and implementation of the Enforcement Plan.  United States and Guatemala signed the Enforcement Plan in April 2013.  Over the last 17 months, both countries have been in close contact as Guatemala has taken several steps to implement the measures outlined in the Enforcement Plan. However, Guatemala has still not met the terms of the Enforcement Plan and concerns over the enforcement of Guatemala’s labor laws have not been resolved; therefore the United States is proceeding with the dispute settlement process.