The Board of Directors of the Autoridad Marítima of Panama (MPA) has quickly bowed to a request of the President of the Republic of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, deciding yesterday to repeal his resolution no. 012-2026, published in the "Official Gazette" of last August 28, with which the institution had declared access reserved for various technical, administrative and legal documents produced by the MPA, mainly including concessions of port areas and licences for the provision of maritime services, for a period of ten years from the date of classification of the document. After the publication in the "Official Gazette" of the resolution, which the WAP Management Board had adopted on 5 March, Mulino had distanced himself from the decision of the Autoridad Marítima de Panamá and had asked the National Maritime Authority to reconsider the deliberation.

By announcing the repeal of the resolution, the MPA specified that the act had been motivated by the need to protect the interests of the State and safeguard information confidential information whose disclosure could have jeopardized legal proceedings pending and, consequently, the defence of the public heritage. In this regard, as in its resolution, Yesterday the Maritime Authority recalled that Article 8 of the law no. 6 of 22 January 2002 establishes that "the institutions are obliged to provide anyone who requests it information about their operations and activities, with only the exception of confidential and restricted access information" and that, similarly, Article 83 of Law No. 35 of 10 May 1996 recognises the protection of industrial information or commercial information that can be an advantage competitive or economic compared to third parties. The MPA highlighted that, Within this legal framework, its The administration considered that the resolution aimed at protect information whose disclosure could compromise legal and patrimonial interests of the State, without any Intention to restrict the right of access to information recognized by national law.

In particular, in the "Recital" of the resolution, the MPA justified the measure with the need to the administrative procedures in progress, the functions of taxation and control and, above all, the fact that the practices of the Directorate General of Ports and Industries Auxiliary Maritime MPAs contain information of a commercial, contractual and technical services provided by the companies in the context of their relationship with the State. It is therefore a question, According to the Authority, data falling within the notion of secrecy commercial/industrial and which, if disclosed, could damage the competitive position of companies involved in concessions licenses, or sanctioning proceedings. For the authority therefore, Resolution 012-2026 did not introduce a regulatory innovation, but formally applied a mechanism of classification already provided for by the Panamanian law on transparency, justifying it with the protection of the trade secrets of the companies operating with the Autoridad Marítima de Panamá and with the requirement, imposed indirectly by the Supreme Court to Justice by judgment of 28 August 2025, to fix in writing a certain date from which the confidentiality period can start.

The resolution of the MPA and its repeal have a Particular relevance, as well as in the Panamanian context, also in the framework of the international port market given the process of reorganization involving the Panamanian ports of Balboa and Cristóbal, whose management - after the ouster of the Panama Ports Company (PPC) controlled by CK Hutchison Holdings Hong Kong - was awarded respectively to the APM Terminals of the Danish group A.P. Møller-Mærsk and the Terminal Investments Limited (TIL) of the Swiss group MSC in the framework of temporary arrangements in force until 23 July 2027, in expectation that the procedures for long-term concessions (25-30 years) ( of 30 January, 23 and 24 February 2026).