The Constitutional Chamber has declared the Jaguar Law, proposed by President Rodrigo Chaves and his administration, unconstitutional. The bill sought to call for a referendum, allowing Costa Ricans to decide on several key issues. The Chamber identified unconstitutional defects in all the articles reviewed, specifically in articles 2, 3, 4, and 5. These defects concern the bill’s impact on the constitutional powers of the Comptroller’s Office.
“Likewise, the Constitutional Chamber finds that in this case, important tools are also taken away so that the Comptroller’s Office may exercise its constitutional functions,” said Fernando Castillo, president of the Chamber.
The government’s proposal aimed to reform the Comptroller’s Office by eliminating the supervision of the legality of controls and the efficiency in the management of public funds. Consequently, the majority of the Chamber ruled that such a proposal was entirely unconstitutional. Judges Castillo, Salazar, and Garro argued that the unconstitutionality arose from removing the authority to ensure efficiency in the management of public funds.
The reform also suggested amending Article 12 of the law governing the Comptroller’s Office to limit its auditing capacity. The current administration has announced the presentation of a revised version of the law before Congress. Chaves stated that the unconstitutional points identified by the Constitutional Court have already been addressed and that the judges “gave the recipe” for making the necessary changes.
“The people of Costa Rica triumphed because the magistrates recognized that the fundamental point of the debate is that the Comptroller’s Office and its hierarchs have co-governed; they have been involved in the active administration of the Government in an unconstitutional manner since 1994; the Chamber says it in a crystalline manner,” said the President during a press conference.
Meanwhile, Laura Fernandez, Minister of the Presidency, asserted that there should be no obstacles to calling a referendum from the Legislative Assembly. “The Legislative Assembly, with this new text completely fine-tuned and chemically pure, has no obstacle whatsoever to prevent it from moving forward. There is no sense in new constitutionality consultations; there should be no more delays because the Chamber was clear,” she stated.
