Background
On March 2nd, 2020, the Minister of Tourism Public Health and Sport (TPHS) issued a so-called Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) and announced the intention to issue a limited amount of licenses to legally cultivate Cannabis in Aruba.
The REOI is not intended as a public bid for licenses. Third parties are solely invited to express their interest into forming part of the Medicinal Cannabis industry of Aruba. The parties would enter into a commercial relationship with a government entity for which certain minimum requirements apply.
Interested parties should, among others:
- comply with the legal framework as well as certain certification and sustainability requirements.
- comply with the location requirement, i.e. the facility should be located in a zone designated for in- or outdoor agriculture or industrial/pharmaceutical processes in conformity with the Spatial Development Plan for 2019 (ROP 2019) and the draft Spatial Development Plan with Regulations (ROPV).
- Provide information on the manpower for the first 3 years of production.
- Provide information on the expected revenues for the government treasury in the form of license fees, inspection and certification fees, other revenues for the government entity (e.g. dividend payments) and tax revenues.
New deadline for filing: July 31st, 2020
The initial deadline for filing was on April 6th, 2020 at 8 P.M. However, due to the coronavirus crisis the REOI was placed on the back burner and/or was temporarily suspended.
On July 2nd, 2020, the Minister of TPHS announced a new deadline for filing on July 31st, 2020, at 8.00 P.M. The announcement can be found here. The REOI should be substantiated. An unsubstantiated expression of interest or merely claiming to be able to comply with the requirements will be disregarded, according to the announcement.
The REOI should be filed in one (1) electronic copy in ‘ADOBE PDF’ format to MedCan@gobierno.aw.