Ecuador Updates Status of May 24 and October 12 Public Holidays

Sources: El Comercio, El Universo, our post of April 7, and Ecuador public holidays.

Regular readers of this blog will recall that the Ecuador government has recently confirmed the Executive Decree 2369 of January 12, 2007, which enshrines the moving, in 2007, of the public holiday of the Battle of Pichincha to Friday May 25, and of the public holiday for the Independence of Guayaquil to Friday October 12, leaving May 24 and October 9, 2007, as normal working days.

However, late yesterday, the Ecuador government has announced that, although the compulsory time off work (descanso obligatorio) associated with these 2 public holidays would still be moved to Friday May 25 and Friday October 12, as per Executive Decree 2369, the government had decided that all civic, educational and military celebrations associated with the commemoration of these 2 public holidays would occur on the corresponding fixed dates, that is to say on Thursday, May 24, and Tuesday October 9.

Analysis: What this likely means is that, in addition to the public holidays to be observed on May 25 and October 12, 2007, government services and agencies can be assumed to be functioning on a public holiday schedule, on both May 24 and October 9, 2007.