The Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas and dozens of citizens presented the Supreme Court of Justice with a recourse to declare the Sectoral Protected Areas Law No. 202-04 in violation of the Constitution. The coalition says the bill, which seeks to remove the protected status from certain areas of land, violates articles 3, 4, 5, 8, 37, 39, 40 and 41 of the DR?s Constitution, in addition to having critical technical errors that make it inapplicable.
They argued that the term of eight days established in Article 41 of the Constitution is also breached by the proposed law. Article 41 provides eight days for the President to approve or resubmit a law that has been previously vetoed. Furthermore, the environmental groups maintain that the bill contains other features that were never discussed or made known to Congress, nor were these aspects introduced by the Executive Branch in the eight-day term provided by the Constitution or in the subsequent addendums that were drafted beyond this period.
The proposed law contradicts international agreements signed with the Washington Convention for the Protection of Flora, Fauna and Natural Scenery, agreements signed with the UNESCO and the Convention on Biological Diversity, among others.
The Sectoral Protected Areas Law would permit tourist and mining development in areas of National Parks that previously held protected status.