Dominican Republic 2010 Historical

The territory of the Dominican Republic is inalienable. It is conformed by:

1. The eastern part of the island of Santo Domingo, its adjacent islands and all of the natural elements of its marine geomorphology. Its irreducible terrestrial boundaries are set by the Frontier Treaty of 1929 and its Protocol of Revision of 1936. The national authorities see to the care, protection and maintenance of the markers that identify the course of the frontier demarcation line, in accordance with that provided in the frontier treaty and in the norms of International Law;

2. The territorial sea, the corresponding marine soil and subsoil. The extension of the territorial sea, its baselines, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf shall be established and regulated by the organic law or by agreements of delimitation of maritime frontiers, in the most favorable terms permitted by the Law of the Sea;

3. The airspace over the national territory, the electromagnetic spectrum and the space where it acts. The law shall regulate the use of these spaces in accordance with the norms of International Law.

The security, and the economic, social and tourist development of the Frontier Zone, its road, communicational and productive integration, as well as the dissemination of patriotic and cultural values of the Dominican people, are declared of supreme and permanent national interest. In consequence:

1. The public powers shall draft, execute and prioritize policies and programs of public investment in social works and works of infrastructure to assure these objectives;

2. The regime of acquisition and transference of real property in the Frontier Zone shall be submitted to specific legal requirements that special treatment to the property of Dominicans [masculine] and Dominicans [feminine] and the national interest.

The sustainable use and the protection of frontier rivers, the use of the international highway and the preservation of frontier markers using geodesic points, are regulated by the principles consecrated in the Protocol of Revision of 1936 of the Frontier Treaty of 1929 and the Treaty of Peace, Perpetual Friendship and Arbitration of 1929 subscribed with the Republic of Haiti.

For the government and the administration of the State, the territory of the Republic is divided politically into a National District and into the regions, provinces and municipalities that the law determines. The regions will be conformed by the provinces and municipalities that the law establishes.

The city of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is the National District, capital of the Republic and seat of the national government.

The upper basins of rivers and the zones of endemic, native and migratory biodiversity, are the object of special protection on the part of the public powers to guarantee their management and preservation as fundamental assets of the Nation. The rivers, lakes, lagoons, beaches and national coasts belong to the public domain and are of free access, always observing the respect for the right of private property. The law will regulate the conditions, forms and easements by which individuals will accede to the possession or management of such areas.

Dominicans [feminine] and Dominicans [masculine] are:

1. The sons and daughters of a Dominican mother or father;

2. Those who enjoy the Dominican nationality before the entry into effect of this Constitution

3. The persons born in the national territory, with the exception of the sons and daughters of foreign members of diplomatic and consular delegations, and of foreigners in transit or residing illegally in the Dominican territory. Any foreigner [masculine] or foreigner [feminine] defined as such in the Dominican laws is considered a person in transit;

4. Those born abroad, of Dominican father or mother, notwithstanding having acquired, by place of birth, a different nationality from that of their parents. Once having reached the age of eighteen years, they can express their will, before the competent authority, to assume the double nationality or renounce one of them;

5. Those who contract matrimony with a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine], as long as opting for the nationality of his or her spouse and meet the requirements established by the law;

6. The direct descendants of Dominicans resident abroad;

7. Naturalized persons, in accordance with the conditions and formalities required by law.

Foreigners [feminine and masculine] can be naturalized in accordance with the law; they can neither opt for the presidency or vice-presidency of the powers of the State, nor are they obligated to take up arms against their State of origin. The law shall regulate other limitations for naturalized persons.

The faculty to acquire a foreign nationality is recognized for Dominicans [feminine] and Dominicans [masculine]. The acquisition of other nationality does not imply the loss of the Dominican nationality.

All Dominicans [masculine] and Dominicans [feminine] who have turned 18 years of age and those who are or have been married, but have not reached that age, enjoy citizenship.

Are rights of the citizens [feminine] and of the citizens [masculine]:

1. To elect and be eligible for the offices established by this Constitution;

2. To decide concerning the matters that are proposed by means of referendum;

3. To exercise the right of popular, legislative and municipal initiative, under the conditions established by this Constitution and the laws;

4. To formulate petitions to the public powers to request measures of public interest and obtain a response from the authorities in the time established by the laws dictated in this regard;

5. To denounce the faults committed by public functionaries in the performance of their office.

The rights of citizenship are lost due to irrevocable condemnation in the cases of treason, espionage, and conspiracy; as well as by taking up arms and for assisting or participating in attacks or deliberate damage against the interests of the Republic.

The rights of citizenship are suspended in the cases of:

1. Irrevocable condemnation to a criminal sentence, until the end of it;

2. Legally pronounced judicial interdiction, while it lasts;

3. Acceptance in Dominican territory of public offices or functions of a foreign government or State without the prior authorization of the Executive Power;

4. Violation of the conditions in which naturalization was granted.

Foreigners [masculine] and foreigners [feminine] have in the Dominican Republic the same rights and duties as nationals, with the exceptions and limitations established by this Constitution and the laws; in consequence:

1. They cannot participate in political activities in the national territory, unless to exercise the right of suffrage of their country of origin;

2. They have the obligation to register in the Book of Foreigners, in accordance with the law;

3. They may resort to diplomatic protection after exhausting the recourses and procedures before the national jurisdiction, except as provided in the international conventions.

The Dominican Republic is a member State of the international community, open to cooperation and attached to the norms of international law, in consequence:

1. It recognizes and applies the norms of international, general and American law, in the manner in which its public powers have adopted it;

2. The norms in force of ratified international agreements will govern within the domestic sphere, once they have been published in official manner;

3. The international relations of the Dominican Republic are founded and governed by the affirmation and promotion of its national values and interests, the respect for human rights and for international law;

4. In equal conditions with other States, the Dominican Republic accepts an international juridical order that guarantees the respect for fundamental rights, peace, justice, and the political, social, economic and cultural development of the nations. It undertakes to act in the international, regional and national levels in a manner compatible with the national interests, a peaceful coexistence among peoples and the duties of solidarity with all nations;

5. The Dominican Republic will promote and favor integration with the nations of America, in order to strengthen a community of nations that defends the interests of the region. The State may subscribe to international treaties to promote the common development of the nations, to assure the well being of the people and the collective security of its inhabitants, and to attribute to supranational organizations the competences required to participate in processes of integration;

6. It is in favor of the economic solidarity between the countries of America and supports all initiatives that are in defense of their basic products, raw materials and biodiversity.

The Dominican Republic will have representatives before international parliaments in respect of which it has subscribed agreements that recognize its participation and representation.

To be a representative before international parliaments it is required to be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine] in full exercise of their rights and civil and political duties and to have reached 25 years of age.

The right to life is inviolable from conception to death. The death penalty cannot be established, pronounced or applied, in any case.

The State is founded on the respect for the dignity of the person and it is organized for the real and effective protection of the fundamental rights inherent to it. The dignity of the human being is sacred, innate and inviolable; its respect and protection constitute an essential responsibility of the public powers.

Persons are born free and equal before the law, they receive the same protection and treatment from the institutions, authorities and other persons and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities, without any discrimination for reasons of gender, color, age, disability, nationality, family ties, language, religion, political or philosophical opinion, and social or personal condition. In consequence:

1. The Republic condemns all privilege and situation that tends to undermine the equality of the Dominicans [feminine] and the Dominicans [masculine], among whom there should be no differences other than those resulting from their talents or their virtues;

2. No entity of the Republic may concede titles of nobility or hereditary distinctions;

3. The State must promote the juridical and administrative conditions to make equality real and effective and adopt the measures to prevent and combat discrimination, marginalization, vulnerability and exclusion;

4. Women and men are equal before the law. Any act is prohibited whose purpose or effect diminishes or annuls the recognition, enjoyment or exercise in conditions of equality of the fundamental rights of women and men. The necessary measures to guarantee the eradication of inequality and gender discrimination, will be promoted;

5. The State must promote and guarantee a balanced participation of women and men in the candidatures for offices of popular election for the instances of supervision and decision in the public domain, in the administration of justice and in the organs of control of the State.

All persons have the right to liberty and personal security. Therefore:

1. No one shall be remitted to prison or restrained from their liberty without substantiated and written order by a competent judge, except in the case of flagrante delicto;

2. Any authority that executes measures deprivative of liberty is obliged to identify himself;

3. All persons, at the moment of their detention, will be informed of their rights;

4. All detained persons have the right to communicate immediately with their family, lawyer or someone of trust, who in turn have the right to be informed of the place where the detained person is held and the motives for the detention;

5. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be submitted to the competent judicial authority within forty-eight hours of their detention or released. The competent judicial authority shall notify the interested party, within the same time, with the decision dictated to that effect;

6. All persons deprived of their liberty, without cause or without the legal formalities or outside the cases set forth by the laws, shall be immediately released at their own request or of any person;

7. Every person must be released once complying with the imposed sentence or after a release order dictated by the competent authority;

8. No one can be subjected to measures of coercion unless by their own act;

9. The measures of coercion, which restrict personal freedom, have an exceptional character and their application must be proportional to the danger being safeguarded;

10. Physical constraint may not be established for debt that does not come from an infraction of the penal laws;

11. Any person having a detainee in their custody is obligated to present them as soon as the competent authority requires it;

12. The transfer of any detainee from a prison facility to another location without a written and substantiated order from a competent authority is strictly prohibited;

13. No one can be convicted or sanctioned for actions or omissions which when committed did not constitute a criminal or administrative infraction;

14. No one is criminally responsible for the action of another;

15. No one will be obligated to do what the law does not require or prevented from doing what the law does not prohibit. The law is equal for all: it can only order what is just and useful for the community and it cannot prohibit more than what is prejudicial to it;

16. The penalties of deprivation of liberty and the measures of security will be oriented towards the social rehabilitation and reintegration of the convicted person and may not involve forced labor;

17. In the exercise of the sanctioning power established by the laws, the Public Administration may not impose sanctions which imply in a direct or subsidiary form the deprivation of liberty.

Slavery, servitude, and the trade and trafficking in persons, are prohibited in all of their forms.

Every person has the right of respect for their physical, psychic, and moral integrity and to live without violence. They have the protection of the State in the cases of threat, risk or violation thereof. In consequence:

1. No person can be subjected to penalties, torture or degrading procedures involving the loss or reduction of their health, or their physical or psychic integrity;

2. Inter-family and gender violence in all its forms is condemned. The State shall guarantee through the law the adoption of the necessary measures to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women;

3. No one shall be subjected, without prior consent, to experiments and procedures that do not meet internationally recognized scientific and bioethical norms. Neither to medical tests or procedures, except when danger to life is encountered.

Every person has the right to the free development of their personality, without other limitations than those imposed by the juridical order and the rights of others.

Every person has the right to intimacy. The respect and non-interference in the private, family, and home life and to the correspondence of the individual is guaranteed. The right to the honor, to the good name and to the reputation of the person is recognized. Any authority or individual who violates them is obligated to compensate or repair them in accordance with the law. Therefore:

1. The home, the domicile and any private premises of the person are inviolable, except in the cases that are ordered in accordance with the law, by competent judicial authority or in the case of flagrante delicto;

2. Every person has the right to access the information and the data concerning them or their assets that as found in official or private records, as well as to know the destination and the use made of them, with the limitations established by the law. The treatment of personal data and information or its assets must be conducted respecting the principles of quality, legality, loyalty, security and purpose. The person may solicit before the competent judicial authority the updating, opposition to treatment, rectification or destruction of such information that illegitimately affects their rights;

3. The inviolability of correspondence, documents or private messages in physical, digital, electronic or any other type of format, is recognized. They can only be possessed, intercepted or recorded, by order of a competent judicial authority, through legal procedures in the substantiation of issues handled by justice and preserving the secrecy of what is private, and that unrelated to the corresponding process. The secrecy of telegraphic, telephonic, cable, electronic, telematic or that established by other media, is inviolable, unless with an authorization granted by a judge or competent authority in accordance with the law;

4. The handling, use or treatment of data and information of official character collected by the authorities in charge of the prevention, prosecution and punishment of criminal acts, can only be treated or communicated to the public records, after the opening of a trial has intervened, in accordance with the law.

The State guarantees the freedom of conscience and of beliefs, subject to the public order and respect for good customs.

Any person who is in the national territory has the right to transit, reside and exit from it freely, in accordance with the legal provisions.

1. No Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine] shall be deprived of the right to enter the national territory. They also cannot be expelled or exiled from it, except in the cases of extradition pronounced by a competent judicial authority, conforming to the laws and the international treaties in force, concerning the matter;

2. Every person has the right to solicit asylum in the national territory, in case of persecution for political reasons. Those who are in conditions of asylum shall enjoy the protection that guarantees the full exercise of their rights, in accordance with the agreements, norms and international instruments subscribed to and ratified by the Dominican Republic. Terrorism, the crimes against humanity, administrative corruption and transnational offences are not considered political crimes.

Every person has the right to associate for lawful purposes, in accordance with the law.

Every person has the right to assemble, without prior permission, for lawful and peaceful purposes, in accordance with the law.

Every person has the right to freely express their thoughts, ideas and opinions, through any media, without the establishment of prior censorship.

1. Every person has the right to information. This right shall include the freedom to search, to investigate, to receive and to impart information of all kinds, of public character, through any media, channel or path, in accordance with what the Constitution and the law determine;

2. All of the media of information have free access to official and private news sources that are of public interest, in accordance with the law;

3. The professional secret and the clause of conscience of the journalist are protected by the Constitution and the law;

4. Every person has the right to reply and to correction when feeling damaged by disseminated information. This right shall be exercised in accordance with the law;

5. The law guarantees the equal and plural access of all the social and political sectors to the media of communication that are property of the State.

The State recognizes and guarantees freedom of business, commerce and industry. All persons have the right to freely engage in the economic activity of their preference, without any limitations other than those specified in this Constitution and those that the laws establish.

1. Monopolies are not permitted, except in favor of the State. The creation and organization of these monopolies will be made by law. The State encourages and sees to the practice of free and fair competition and will adopt the measures that shall be necessary to prevent the harmful and restrictive effects of monopoly and of the abuse of a dominant position, establishing by law the exceptions for the cases of national security;

2. The State may dictate measures to regulate the economy and promote national plans of competitiveness and encourage the integral development of the country;

3. The State may grant concessions for the time and in the form specified by the law, when it concerns the exploitation of natural resources or the provision of public services, always assuring the existence of considerations or compensations that are suitable for the public interest and the environmental balance.

The State recognizes and guarantees the right to property. Property has a social function that implies obligations. Every person has the right to the pleasure, enjoyment and disposition of their assets.

1. No person can be deprived of their property, but for justified cause of public utility or of social interest, with prior the payment of its just value, determined by agreement between the parties or issued by a competent tribunal, in accordance with what is established in the law. In case of the declaration of a State of Emergency or of Defense, the indemnification might not be prior;

2. The State shall promote, in accordance with the law, the access to property, especially to titled real property;

3. The allocation of land to useful purposes and the gradual elimination of the large scale ownership of land is declared of social interest. It is a principal objective of the social policy of the State, to promote agrarian reform and the effective integration of the peasant farmer population within the national development process, through the stimulation and cooperation for the renewal of their methods of agricultural production and their technological training;

4. There will be no politically motivated confiscation of the assets of physical or juridical persons;

5. The assets of physical or juridical persons, national or foreign, can only be subject to confiscation or forfeiture, by means of a definitive sentence, if their origin is from illegal acts committed against the public patrimony, as well as those used or derived from activities of illicit trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances or those related to transnational organized crime and of any offense provided for in the penal laws;

6. The law will establish the regime of administration and disposal of seized and abandoned assets in criminal proceedings and in the trials of forfeiture of domain, specified in the juridical order.

The right of exclusive ownership of scientific, literary, and artistic works, as well as inventions and innovations, trade names, trade marks, distinctive logos and other productions of the human intellect by time, is recognized and protected, in the form and within the limitations the law establishes.

Every person has the right to enjoy quality goods and services, receiving objective, accurate and timely information concerning the contents and the characteristics of the products and services used or consumed, under the provisions and norms established by the law. The persons who are injured or harmed as a result, by goods and services of poor quality, have the right to be compensated or indemnified according to the law.

The State shall promote the research and transfer of technology for the production of food and raw materials of agricultural origin, in order to increase the productivity and guarantee food security.

The family is the foundation of the society and it is the basic space for the integral development of persons. It is constituted by natural or legal ties, by the free decision of a man and a woman to contract matrimony or by the responsible will to conform to it.

1. Every person has the right to constitute a family, in which formation and development the woman and the man enjoy equal rights and duties and owe to each other mutual understanding and reciprocal respect;

2. The State guarantees the protection of the family. The asset of the family is inalienable and unattachable, in accordance with the law;

3. The State shall promote and protect the family organization based on the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. The law will establish the requirements to contract it, the formalities for its celebration, its personal and patrimonial effects, the grounds for separation or of dissolution, the regime of assets and the rights and duties between the spouses;

4. Religious marriages will have civil effects within the limits that the law establishes, without prejudice to what is provided in the international treaties;

5. The singular and stable union between a man and a woman, free of matrimonial impediment, that form a home of fact, give rise to rights and duties in their personal and patrimonial relations, in accordance with the law;

6. Maternity, whatever the social condition or civil status of the woman, enjoys the protection of the public powers and creates a right to official assistance in case of need;

7. Every person has the right to the recognition of their personality, to their own name, to the surname of the father and of the mother and to know their identity;

8. All persons have the right from birth to be inscribed gratuitously in civil register or in the book of foreigners and to obtain the public documents that prove their identity, in accordance with the law;

9. All children are equal before the law, they have equal rights and duties and enjoy the same opportunities for social, spiritual and physical development. Any mention concerning the nature of the affiliation in the civil registers and in any document of identity, is prohibited;

10. The State promotes responsible paternity and maternity. The father and the mother, even after separation and divorce, have the shared and unrenounceable obligation to feed, to raise, to form, to educate, to maintain, to provide security to and to assist their sons and daughters. The law will establish the necessary and adequate measures to guarantee the effectiveness of these obligations;

11. The State recognizes housework as an economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and social well being, so for this reason it will be incorporated in the formulation and execution of public and social policies;

12. The State shall guarantee, by law, secure and effective policies for adoption;

13. The value of youths as strategic actors within the development of the Nation, is recognized. The State guarantees and promotes the effective exercise of their rights, through policies and programs that assure in permanent mode their participation in all spheres of national life and, in particular, their training and their access to their first job.

The family, the society and the State, shall prioritize the superior interests of the child [masculine], the child [feminine] and the adolescent; they will have the obligation to assist them and protect them to guarantee their harmonious and integral development and the full exercise of their fundamental rights, in accordance with this Constitution and the laws. In consequence:

1. The eradication of child labor and all forms of abuse or violence against underage persons, is declared of the highest national interest. The children [masculine], the children [feminine] and the adolescents will be protected by the State against all forms of neglect, kidnapping, state of vulnerability, abuse or physical, psychological, moral or sexual violence, commercial, labor, or economic exploitation and dangerous work;

2. The active participation and progress of children [masculine], children [feminine] and adolescents in family, community and social life, will be promoted.

3. The adolescents are active participants within the development process. The State, with the joint participation of the families and the society, will create opportunities to stimulate their productive transition into adulthood.

The family, the society and the State shall concur for the protection and the assistance of persons of the third age and will promote their integration into the working and community life. The State guarantees the services of integral social security and food subsidies in case of indigence.

The State shall promote, protect and assure the enjoyment of all the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the persons with disabilities, in conditions of equality, as well as the full and autonomous exercise of their capacities. The State shall adopt the positive measures necessary to facilitate their family, community, social, labor, economic, cultural and political integration.

Every person has the right to decent housing with the essential basic services. The State must establish the conditions necessary to make this right effective and to promote plans for housing and human settlements of social interest. The legal access to titled real property is a fundamental priority of the public policies that promote housing.

Every person has the right to social security. The State shall stimulate the progressive development of social security to assure the universal access to adequate protection during illness, disability, unemployment and old age.

Every person has the right to an integral health. In consequence:

1. The State must see to the protection of the health of all persons, the access to potable water, the improvement of nutrition, of the health services, the hygienic conditions, the healthy environmental, as well as to procure the means for the prevention and treatment of all diseases, assuring the access to medicines of quality and providing medical and hospital assistance gratuitously to those who require it;

2. The State will guarantee, through legislation and public policies, the exercise of the economic and social rights of the people with lower incomes and, in consequence, will provide its protection and assistance to vulnerable groups and sectors; and, it will combat the social vices with the appropriate measures and with the help of the international conventions and organizations.

Work is a right, a duty and a social function that is exercised with the protection and assistance of the State. It is an essential purpose of the State to promote decent and gainful employment. The public powers will promote the dialogue and joint participation between workers, employers and the State. In consequence:

1. The State guarantees the equality and equity of women and men in the exercise of the right to work;

2. Nobody can prevent the work of others or obligate them to work against their will;

3. Among others, basic rights of the workers [masculine] and the workers [feminine], are: the syndical freedom, social security, collective negotiation, professional training, the respect for their physical and intellectual capacity, to their privacy and to their personal dignity;

4. The organization in unions is free and democratic, it must comply with their statutes and be compatible with the principles consecrated in this Constitution and the laws;

5. Any class of discrimination in the access to employment or during the rendering of a service is prohibited, except as provided by the law for the purposes of protecting the worker [masculine] or the worker [feminine];

6. To resolve labor and peaceful conflicts the right of workers to strike and of employers to the lock-out of private companies are recognized, provided that they are exercised in accordance with the law, which shall provide for the measures to guarantee the maintenance of the public services or of those of public utility;

7. The law shall provide for, as required by the general interest, the working hours, the days of rest and vacations, the minimum salaries and their forms of payment, the participation of nationals in all work, the participation of the workers [feminine and masculine] in the profits of the corporation and, in general, all the minimum measures that are considered necessary in favor of the workers, including special regulations for informal work, at home and any other modality of human labor. The State shall facilitate the means available to the workers [feminine and masculine] to acquire the tools and instruments indispensible for their work;

8. It is the obligation of every employer to guarantee to their workers conditions of safety, sanitation, and hygiene and an adequate work environment. The State shall adopt the measures to promote the creation of instances integrated by employers and workers for the achievement of these goals;

9. Every worker has the right to a just and sufficient salary that permits them to live with dignity and to cover the basic material, social and intellectual needs of themselves and their family. The payment of equal salary for work of equal value is guaranteed, without discrimination of gender or other kind and under identical conditions of capacity, efficiency and seniority;

10. The application of the labor norms concerning the nationalization of labor, is of high interest. The law shall determine the percentage of foreigners who can provide their services to a company as salaried workers.

Every person has the right to an integral education, of quality, permanent, in equality of conditions and opportunities, without other limitations than those derived from their aptitudes, vocation and aspirations. In consequence:

1. Education has as its objective the integral formation of the human being throughout his life and must be oriented towards the development of his creative potential and of his ethical values. It seeks the access to knowledge, to science, to technique and to the other assets and values of culture;

2. The family is responsible for the education of its members and has the right to choose the type of education of their minor children;

3. The State guarantees gratuitous public education and declares it obligatory in the initial, basic and intermediate levels. The offer for the initial level will be defined by the law. The higher education in the public system is financed by the State, guaranteeing a distribution of resources that is proportional to the educational offer of the regions, in accordance with what is established by the law;

4. The State shall see to the gratuity and the quality of the general education, the fulfillment of its purposes and the moral, intellectual and physical formation of the learner. It has the obligation to offer the number of lecture hours to assure the achievement of the educational objectives;

5. The State recognizes the exercise of the teaching profession as fundamental for the full development of education and of the Dominican Nation and, consequently, it is its obligation to strive for the professionalism, the stability and the dignifying of the teachers [masculine and feminine];

6. The eradication of illiteracy and the education of persons with special needs and with exceptional capacities, are obligations of the State;

7. The State must see to the quality of higher education and will finance public schools and universities, in accordance with what the law establishes.

It will guarantee university autonomy and academic freedom;

8. The universities will choose their own policies and will be governed by their own statutes, in accordance with the law;

9. The State will define policies to promote and encourage research, science, technology and innovation that support sustainable development, human well being, competitiveness, institutional strengthening and the preservation of the environment. It will support private companies and institutions that invest for such purposes;

10. The investment of the State in education, science and technology shall be increased and sustained, in correspondence with the levels of macroeconomic performance of the country. The law will consign the minimum amounts and the corresponding percentages for such investment. In no case can a transfer be made of the funds consigned to finance the development of these areas;

11. The means of social, public and private communication, must contribute to formation of the citizenry. The State guarantees public services of radio, television and of networks of libraries and informatics, in order to permit the universal access to information. The educational centers shall incorporate the knowledge and application of new technologies and of their innovations, in accordance with the requirements that the law establishes;

12. The State guarantees the freedom of teaching, it recognizes the private initiative in the creation of institutions and services of education and stimulates the development of science and technology, in accordance with the law;

13. In order to make citizens [feminine] and citizens [masculine] conscious of their rights and duties, in all institutions of public and private education, the instruction in social and civic formation, the teaching of the Constitution, of the fundamental rights and guarantees, of the patriotic values and of the principles of peaceful coexistence, will be obligatory.

Every person has the right to participate and act freely and without censorship in the cultural life of the Nation, with full access and enjoyment of the cultural assets and services, to the scientific advancements and to the artistic and literary production. The State shall protect the moral and material interests concerning the works of authors and inventors. In consequence:

1. It shall establish policies to promote and stimulate, within the national and international levels, the diverse scientific, artistic and popular manifestations and expressions of Dominican culture and it will encourage and support the efforts of persons, institutions and communities that develop or finance cultural plans and activities;

2. It shall guarantee the freedom of expression and artistic creation, as well as the access to culture in equal opportunities and will promote the cultural diversity, the cooperation and the exchange between nations;

3. It shall recognize the value of cultural identity, individual and collective, its importance to the integral and sustainable development, to economic growth, innovation and human well being, through the support and dissemination of scientific research and cultural production. It will protect the dignity and integrity of the cultural workers;

4. The cultural patrimony of the Nation, tangible and intangible, is under the protection of the State which will guarantee its protection, enrichment, conservation, restoration and valuation. The assets of the cultural patrimony of the Nation, whether state-owned or having been acquired by the State, are inalienable and unattachable and by such ownership, imprescriptible. The patrimonial assets in private hands and the underwater patrimonial assets will be equally protected against illegal export and plundering. The law shall regulate the acquisition thereof.

Every person has the right to physical education, to sports and to recreation. It corresponds to the State, in collaboration with teaching centers and the sports organizations, to promote, encourage and support the practice and dissemination of these activities. Therefore:

1. The State assumes the activities of sports and recreation as public policy concerning education and health and guarantees physical education and school sports in all the levels of the educational system, in accordance with the law;

2. The law shall provide the resources, stimulation and incentives for the promotion of sports for all [masculine and feminine], as well as the integral care of athletes, the support for high competitiveness sports, and of programs and sports activities in the country and abroad.

The State recognizes collective and diffuse rights and interests, which are exercised within the conditions and limitations established by the law. In consequence it protects:

1. The conservation of the ecological equilibrium, of the fauna and the flora:

2. The protection of the environment;

3. The preservation of the cultural, historical, urban, artistic, architectural and archaeological patrimony.

The prevention of pollution, and the protection and maintaining of the environment for the benefit of the present and future generations, constitute duties of the State. In consequence:

1. Every person has the right, both individually and collectively, to the sustainable use and enjoyment of the natural resources; to live in a healthy, ecologically balanced and suitable environment for the development and preservation of the various forms of life, of the landscape and of nature;

2. The introduction, development, production, possession, commercialization, transport, storage and use of chemical, biological and nuclear and agrochemical weapons that are internationally forbidden, is prohibited, as well as of nuclear residues and toxic and hazardous wastes;

3. The State shall promote, in the public and private sectors, the use of alternative and clean technologies and energy;

4. In the contracts celebrated by the State or in the permits that it grants that involve the use and exploitation of the natural resources, the obligation to preserve the ecological equilibrium, the access to technology and its transfer, as well as the reestablishment of the environment to its natural state, if it is altered as a result, will be considered as included;

5. The public powers shall prevent and control the factors of environmental degradation, will impose the legal sanctions, and the objective responsibility for damages caused to the environment and to the natural resources and will require reparation of them. Likewise, they will cooperate with other nations in the protection of the ecosystems along the maritime and terrestrial frontier.

The acts adopted during the States of Exception that violate protected rights or that unreasonably affect suspended rights are subject to the action of amparo.

The Senate is composed of members elected on the basis of one per each province and one for the National District, with an exercise term lasting four years.

To be a senator [feminine] or senator [masculine] it is required to be Dominican [feminine] of Dominican [masculine] in full exercise of their civil and political rights, to have turned twenty-five years of age, to be a native of the territorial demarcation that elected them or having resided in it for at least five consecutive years. In consequence:

1. The senators [feminine] and the senators [masculine] elected by a demarcation will reside therein during the period for which they are elected;

2. Naturalized persons can only be elected to the Senate ten years after having acquired the Dominican nationality, provided they have resided in the jurisdiction that elects them during the five years that precede their election.

The exclusive attributions of the Senate are:

1. To take cognizance of the accusations formulated by the Chamber of Deputies against the [feminine and masculine] public officials specified in Article 83, numeral 1. The declaration of culpability removes the person from their office, and they may not perform any public function, whether or not of popular election, for a time of ten years. The removed person shall be subject, if that is the case, to be accused and tried by the ordinary tribunals, in accordance with the law. This decision will be adopted with the vote of the two-thirds part of the registry of members;

2. To approve or disapprove the appointments of ambassadors and heads of permanent missions accredited abroad that the President of the Republic submits to it;

3. To elect the members of the Chamber of Accounts from the ternas presented by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of the two-thirds part of the senators present;

4. To elect the members of the Central Electoral Board and their substitutes, with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present;

5. To elect the Defender of the People, his substitutes and his adjuncts, from the ternas presented by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present;

6. To authorize, on prior request of the President of the Republic, in the absence of an agreement that permits it, the presence of foreign troops on military exercises within the territory of the Republic, as well to determine the time and conditions of their stay;

7. To approve or disapprove the sending of troops abroad for missions of peace authorized by international organs, establishing the conditions and duration of such mission.

The Chamber of Deputies will be composed in the following manner:

1. One hundred seventy-eight deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected by territorial circumscription in representation of the National District and the provinces, distributed in proportion to the population density, but in no case less than two representatives for each province;

2. Five deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected at a national level by accumulation of votes, preferably from parties, alliances or coalitions that did not obtain seats and that have reached no less than one percent (1%) of the votes validly emitted. The law will determine their distribution;

3. Seven deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected in representation of the Dominican community abroad. The law will determine their form of election and distribution.

To be a deputy [feminine] or deputy [masculine] the same conditions to be a Senator are required.

The exclusive attributions of the Chamber of Deputies are:

1. To accuse before the Senate the public functionaries [feminine and masculine] elected by popular vote, and those elected by the Senate and by the National Council of the Magistrature, for the commission a grave faults while in exercise of their functions. The accusation can only be formulated with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of the registry of members. When it concerns the President and the Vice President of the Republic, the favorable vote of the three-fourths part of the registry of members will be required. The accused person will remain suspended in their functions from the moment the Chamber declares the accusation as valid;

2. To submit to the Senate the ternas for the election of the members of the Chamber of Accounts with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of those present;

3. To submit to the Senate the ternas for the Defender of the People, his or her substitutes, which cannot be more than two, and the adjuncts, which cannot be more than five, with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of those present.

The refusal of the people summoned to appear or to make the required statements, will be sanctioned by the penal tribunals of the Republic with the penalty provided by the current legal provisions for the cases of contempt of the public authorities, upon request from the corresponding chamber.

If the cited functionary [masculine] or functionary [feminine] does not appear without justified cause or their statements are considered unsatisfactory, the chambers, with a vote of the two-thirds part of the members present, can emit a vote of censure against them and recommend their removal from the office to the President of the Republic or to the corresponding superior hierarchy for breach of a responsibility.

The legislators [feminine and masculine] that exercise the right of initiative in the formulation of the laws, can sustain their motion in the other chamber. In equal manner, the others that have this right can do so in both chambers personally or through a representative.

The Executive Power is exercised in the name of the people by the President [feminine] or the President [masculine] of the Republic, in the condition of head of the State and of government in accordance with what is set forth by this Constitution and the laws.

To be President of the Republic it is required:

1. To be a Dominican [feminine] or Dominican [masculine] of birth or of origin;

2. To have completed thirty years of age;

3. To be in full exercise of the civil and political rights;

4. To not be in active military or police service at least during the three years prior to the presidential elections.

The Executive Power is exercised by the [masculine or feminine] President of the Republic, who will be elected every four years by direct vote without being able to be elected for the following constitutional period.

There will be a [masculine or feminine] Vice-President of the Republic, elected jointly with the President, in the same form and for the same period. To be Vice-President of the Republic the same conditions to be President are required.

The President and Vice-President of the Republic elected in the general elections, will be sworn into their offices on August 16th following their election, the date which ends the period of the outgoing authorities. In consequence:

1. When the President of the Republic cannot be sworn in, due to being outside of the country, due to illness or for any other cause of force majeure, the Vice-President will be sworn in, who will exercise in an interim form the functions of the President of the Republic, and in default of this, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice. Once the cause which has impeded the elected President or Vice-President from assuming their offices has ceased, these will be sworn in and will enter into their functions immediately;

2. If the elected President of the Republic should be absent in a definitive form without taking the oath of office, and such absence was recognized by the National Assembly, the elected Vice-President of the Republic will substitute for him, and in his absence, the form indicated above will proceed.

The elected [masculine or feminine] President and the [masculine or feminine] Vice-President of the Republic, before entering into their functions, will take before the National Assembly, the following oath: "I swear before God and before the people, for the Fatherland and on my honor, to fulfill and uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Republic, to protect and to defend its independence, to respect the rights and the freedoms of the citizens [masculine] and citizens [feminine] and faithfully fulfill the duties of my office."

The [feminine or masculine] President of the Republic directs the internal and foreign policy, the civil and military administration, and is the supreme authority of the Armed Forces, of the National Police and the other security bodies of the State.

1. In the condition of Head of State it corresponds to him to:

a. Preside over the solemn acts of the Nation;

b. Promulgate and publish the laws and resolutions of the National Congress and to see to their faithful execution. To issue decrees, regulations and instructions when necessary;

c. Appoint or dismiss the members of the military and police jurisdictions;

d. Celebrate and sign treaties or international conventions and submit them to the approval of the National Congress, without which they would not be valid or obligate the Republic;

e. To make provisions, in accordance with the law, when it concerns the Armed Forces and the National Police, issued by himself, or through the corresponding ministry, always maintaining his supreme command. To establish the contingent thereof and deploy them for objectives of public service;

f. Take the measures necessary to provide and to guarantee the legitimate defense of the Nation, in case of an actual or imminent armed attack on the part of a foreign nation or foreign powers, having to inform the National Congress concerning the provisions adopted and to solicit the declaration of a State for Defense if it proceeds;

g. Declare, if the National Congress is not meeting, the states of exception in accordance with the provisions of Articles 262 to 266 of this Constitution;

h. Adopt the provisional measures of policing and security necessary in case of violation of the provisions of Article 62, numeral 6 of this Constitution that disrupt or menace the public order, the security of the State, the regular functioning of the public services or of public utility, or that impede the development of the economic activities and that do not constitute the acts provided for in Articles 262 to 266 of this Constitution;

i. Provide, in accordance with the law, all of what is relative to the air, sea, river, land, military, and police zones in matters of national security, with the previous studies conducted by the ministries and their administrative dependencies;

j. Grant pardons on February 27th, August 16th and December 23rd of each year, in accordance with the law and the international conventions;

k. Have arrested or expelled, according to the law, the foreigners whose activities were or might be prejudicial to the public order or to the national security;

l. Prohibit, when it is deemed necessary for the public interest, the entry of foreigners to the national territory.

2. In the condition of Head of Government he has the faculty to:

a. Appoint the ministers and vice-ministers and the other public functionaries that occupy offices of free appointment or whose designation is not attributed to any other organ of the State recognized by this Constitution or by the laws, as well as accepting their resignations and removing them;

b. Appoint the [masculine of feminine] titular members of the autonomous and decentralized organs of the State, as well as to accept their resignations and removing them, in accordance with the law;

c. Change the place of the official residence when it is deemed necessary;

d. Celebrate contracts, submitting them to the approval of the National Congress when they contain provisions concerning the encumbrance of the national revenue, the sale of the assets of the State, the termination of loans or when they stipulate tax exemptions in general, in accordance with the Constitution. The maximum amount of such contracts and exemptions that can be subscribed by the President of the Republic without congressional approval, shall be of two hundred minimum salaries of the public sector;

e. See to the good collection and true investment of the national revenue;

f. Deposit before the National Congress, at the initiation of the first ordinary legislature on February 27th of each year, the reports of the ministries and render account for his administration of the previous year;

g. Submit to the National Congress, no later than the first of October of each year, the Bill of Law of the General Budget of the State for the following year.

3. As Head of State and of Government it corresponds to him to:

a. Appoint, with the approval of the Senate of the Republic, the ambassadors accredited abroad and the heads of permanent missions before international organs, as well as to appoint the other members of the diplomatic corps, in accordance with the Law of Foreign Service, and to accept their resignations and to remove them;

b. Direct the diplomatic negotiations and to receive the foreign Heads of State and their representatives;

c. Grant, or not, authorization to Dominican citizens by which they may exercise offices or public functions of a government or of international organizations in the Dominican territory, and by which they may accept and use decorations and titles granted by foreign governments;

d. Authorize, or not, the town councils to transfer properties and approve, or not, the contracts that involve, when constituted as a guarantee, municipal properties or incomes;

e. The other the attributions set forth in the Constitution and the laws.

The presidential succession will be governed by the following norms:

1. In case of the temporary absence of the President of the Republic the Executive Power will be assumed by the Vice-President of the Republic;

2. In case of the definitive absence of the President of the Republic, the Vice-President will assume the Presidency of the Republic for the time remaining for the termination of the presidential period;

3. On definitive absence of both, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice will assume the Executive Power in an interim manner, and within the fifteen days following the date of having assumed those functions, will convoke the National Assembly to meet within the following fifteen days to elect the new President and Vice-President of the Republic, in one session that can neither be closed nor be declared in recess until having achieved the election;

4. In the case that, for any circumstance, such convocation cannot be made, the National Assembly will meet of plain right, immediately, to complete the election in the previously indicated form;

5. The election will be made through the favorable vote of more than half of the assembly members present;

6. The substitutes of the President and Vice-President of the Republic will be chosen from the ternas [lists of three names] presented to the National Assembly by the superior organ of the political party that made the postulation, in accordance with their statutes, within the time set forth in numeral 3) of this Article. If the time expires without the party having presented the ternas, the National Assembly will conduct the election.

In case of the definitive absence of the Vice-President of the Republic, before or after the oath, the President of the Republic, in a time of thirty days, will present a terna to the National Assembly for his election. If the time expired without the President having presented the terna, the National Assembly will conduct the election.

The [masculine or feminine] President of the Republic cannot travel abroad for more than fifteen days without the authorization of the National Congress.

The [masculine or feminine] President and Vice-President of the Republic can only resign before the National Assembly.

Without prejudice to what is set forth in Article 80, numeral 1) of this Constitution, the [masculine or feminine] President and Vice-President of the Republic, elected or in their functions, cannot be deprived of their freedom.

The Council of Ministers is the organ of coordination of the general affairs of the government and it has as its goal to organize and to expedite the conduct of those aspects of the Public Administration in benefit of the general interests of the Nation and for the serving the citizenry. It will be integrated by the President of the Republic, who will preside over it, the Vice-President of the Republic and the ministers.

The law will create autonomous and decentralized organs in the State, provided with juridical personality, and with administrative, financial and technical autonomy. These organs will be attached to the sector of the administration that is compatible with its activity, under the oversight of the minister [feminine] or minister [masculine] who is the head of the sector. The law and the Executive Power will regulate the policies of de-concentration of the Public Administration services.

The Statute of the Public Function is a regime of public law based in the merit and professionalism for an efficient management and the fulfillment of the essential functions of the State. This statute will determine the form of entrance, promotion, evaluation of performance, permanence and dismissal of the public servants in their functions.

The law will determine the statutory regime required for the professionalization of the different institutions of the Public Administration.

No functionary or employee of the State may perform, in a simultaneous form, more than one remunerated office, except for teaching. The law will establish the modalities of compensation of the [feminine and masculine] functionaries and employees of the State, in accordance with the criteria of merit and the characteristics of the rendering of service.

The dismissal of public servants that belong to the Administrative Career in violation of the regime of the Public Function, will be considered as an act contrary to the Constitution and to the law.

All forms of corruption within the organs of the State are condemned. In consequence:

1. Any person who steals public funds or that by taking advantage of their positions within the organs of the State, its dependencies or autonomous institutions, obtains for himself or for third persons an economic advantage, will be punished with the penalties established by the law;

2. In the same form, the person who provides advantages to their associates, family members, relatives, friends or related persons will be sanctioned;

3. The sworn declaration of the assets of the [feminine and masculine] public functionaries, to whom it always corresponds to prove the origin of their assets, before and after having finalized their functions or at the requirement of the competent authority, is obligatory, in accordance with what is set forth by the law;

4. The penalty of civic degradation will be applied to the persons convicted of crimes of corruption, without prejudice to the other sanctions set forth by the law, and the restitution of that appropriated in an illicit manner will be required of them;

5. The law may provide for periods of prescription of longer duration than the ordinary ones for the cases of crimes of corruption and a regime of restrictive procedural benefits.

The public services are destined to satisfy the needs of the collective interest. They will be declared by law. In consequence:

1. The State guarantees the access to quality public services, directly or by delegation, by means of concession, authorization, association in participation, transfer of actionable property or other contractual modality, in accordance with this Constitution and the law;

2. The public services rendered by the State or by individuals, in the legal or contractual modalities, must respond to the principles of universality, accessibility, efficiency, transparency, responsibility, continuity, quality, reasonableness and equity of rates;

3. The regulation of the public services is the exclusive faculty of the State. The law may establish that the regulation of these services and of other economic activities be the responsibility of the organs created for such purposes.

The juridical persons of public law and their functionaries or agents will be responsible, jointly and severally, in accordance with the law, for the damages and losses caused to physical or juridical persons by an anti-juridical administrative act or omission.

The members of this council, with exception of the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, will remain in these functions for five years, they will cease in the exercise of their jurisdictional functions while being members of such council and may not opt for a new period in the council.

The law will define the functioning and organization of this council.

There will be the Courts of Appeal and their equivalents that the law will determine, as well as the number of judges that must comprise them and their territorial competence.

To be a judge of a Court of Appeal it is required to:

1. Be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine];

2. Be in full exercise of the civil and political rights,

3. Be a bachelor or doctor in Law;

4. Belong to the judicial career and have performed as a Judge of First Instance during the time that the law determines.

The following are attributions of the courts of appeal:

1. To take cognizance of the appeals to the sentences, in accordance with the law;

2. To take cognizance in first instance of the penal causes followed against the judges of first instance or their equivalents; the prosecuting attorneys, the titular members of the autonomous and decentralized organs of the State, the provincial governors, and the mayors of the National District and of the municipalities;

3. To take cognizance of the other matters determined by the law.

There will be the courts of first instance or their equivalents, with the number of judges and the territorial competence that the law determines.

To be a judge of first instance it is required to:

1. Be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine]

2. Be in full exercise of civil and political rights;

3. Be a bachelor or doctor in Law;

4. Belong to the judicial career and have performed as a Justice of the Peace during the time that the law determines.

The law will determine the number of courts of peace or their equivalents, their attributions, territorial competence and the form in which they will be organized.

To be a justice of the peace it is required to:

1. Be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine];

2. Be in full exercise of civil and political rights;

3. Be a bachelor or doctor in Law.

The Administrative Contentious Jurisdiction will be integrated by superior administrative tribunals and by administrative contentious tribunals of first instance. Their attributions, integration, location, territorial competence and procedures will be determined by the law. The superior tribunals may be divided into chambers and their decisions are susceptible of being appealed in cassation.

The following are attributions of the superior administrative tribunals, without prejudice to the others set forth by the law:

1. To take cognizance of the recourses against the decisions in administrative, tax, financial and municipal matters of any administrative contentious tribunal of first instance, or that in essence has that character;

2. To take cognizance of the contentious recourses against the acts, actions and provisions of the administrative authorities that are contrary to the Law, as a consequence of the relations between the Administration of the State and individuals, if these are not heard by the administrative contentious tribunals of first instance;

3. To take cognizance of and resolve in first instance or in appeal, in accordance with the law, the administrative contentious actions that stem from the conflicts arising from the Public Administration and its civil functionaries and employees;

4. The other attributions conferred by the law.

The Public Administration will be represented permanently before the Administrative Contentious Jurisdiction by the General Administrative Procurator and, if it proceeds, by the lawyers that he appoints. The General Administrative Procurator will be appointed by the Executive Power. The law will regulate the representation of the other organs of the State.

The General Administrative Procurator must fulfill the same conditions required to be the Procurator General of the Court of Appeal.

The law will establish the creation of specialized jurisdictions when reasons of public interest or of efficiency of service for the treatment of other matters require it.

In the exercise of its functions, the Public Ministry will guarantee the fundamental rights that assist the citizens [masculine] and the citizens [feminine], it will promote the alternative resolution of disputes, it will establish the protection of victims and witnesses and will defend the public interest guarded by the law.

The law will regulate the functioning of the system of penitentiaries under the direction of the Public Ministry or another organ that is constituted for such effect.

The President of the Republic will appoint the Procurator General of the Republic and also half of his adjunct procurators. To be the Procurator General of the Republic or an adjunct, the same requirements to be a judge of the Supreme Court of Justice are required. The law will set forth the form of appointment of the other members of the Public Ministry.

The Public Ministry is integrated by the Procurator General of the republic, who directs it, and by the other [feminine or masculine] representatives established by the law.

The Public Ministry is organized in accordance with the law, which regulates its non-removability, the disciplinary regime and the other precepts that govern its acts, as well as its school of formation and its organs of government, guaranteeing the permanence of its career members until reaching seventy-five years of age.

The internal government organ of the Public Ministry is the Superior Council of the Public Ministry, which will be integrated in the following manner:

1. The Procurator General of the Republic, who will preside over it;

2. An Adjunct Procurator General of the Republic elected by his peers;

3. A Procurator General of the Court of Appeal elected by his peers;

4. A Prosecuting Attorney or his equivalent elected by his peers;

5. A Supervisor elected by his peers.

The functions of the Superior Council of the Public Ministry are the following:

1. To direct and administer the system of the career of the Public Ministry;

2. The financial and budgetary administration of the Public Ministry;

3. To exercise the disciplinary control over the representatives, functionaries and employees of the Public Ministry, with exception of the Procurator General of the Republic;

4. To formulate and apply the instruments of evaluation of the representatives of the Public Ministry and of the administrative personnel that integrate it;

5. To transfer the representatives of the Public Ministry, provisionally or definitively, from one jurisdiction to another when it is necessary and useful for the service, with the conditions and guarantees set forth in the law, with exception of the [feminine and masculine] adjunct attorneys of the Procurator General of the Republic;

6. To create the administrative offices that are necessary by which the Public Ministry may fulfill the attributions conferred on it by this Constitution and the laws;

7. The other functions conferred on it by the law.

The region is the basic unit for the articulation and formulation of the public policies in the national territory. The law will define all of what is relative to its competences, composition, organization and functioning and will determine the number of these.

The province is the intermediate political demarcation in the territory. It is divided into municipalities, municipal districts, sections and places. The law will define all of what is relative to its composition, organization and functioning and will determine the number of these.

The Executive Power will appoint in each province a civil governor, who will be its representative in that demarcation. In order to be a civil governor it is required to be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine], greater than twenty-five years of age and be in full exercise of the civil and political rights. Their attributions and duties will be determined by the law.

The National District, the municipalities and the municipal districts constitute the base of the local political administrative system. They are juridical persons of Public Law, responsible for their actions, they enjoy their own patrimony, with budgetary autonomy, with normative and administrative powers and of use of territory, established in an express manner by the law and subjected to the power of supervision of the State and to the social control of the citizenry, in the terms established by this Constitution and the laws.

The town councils can establish municipal taxes within the scope of their demarcation that the law establishes in an express manner, as long as they do not interfere with the national taxes, with intermunicipal commerce or of exporting or with the Constitution and the laws. It corresponds to the competent tribunals to take cognizance of the disputes that arise in this matter.

The government of the National District and of the municipalities will be, each one, the responsibility of the town council, constituted by two organs that are complementary between them, the Council of Aldermen and the Office of the Mayor. The Council of Aldermen is an exclusive normative, regulatory and supervisory organ integrated by Aldermen [masculine] and Aldermen [feminine]. These will have substitutes. The Office of the Mayor is the executive organ headed by a Mayor [masculine] or Mayor [feminine], whose substitute will be denominated Vice-Mayor [masculine] or Vice-Mayor [feminine].

The mayors [masculine] or mayors [feminine] of the National District, of the municipalities, as well as the [feminine and masculine] directors of the municipal districts are the legal representatives of the town councils and of the municipal boards. Their attributions and faculties will be determined by the law.

The Organic Law of the Local Administration will establish the scope, requirements and conditions for the exercise of the referendum, the plebiscite and the municipal normative initiative with the goal of strengthening the development of democracy and the local administration.

The members of the Armed Forces and of the National Police, or those who have lost their rights of citizenship or are found suspended in regards to those rights, do not have the right of suffrage.

The Central Electoral Board is an autonomous organ with juridical personality and technical, administrative, budgetary and financial independence, with the main objective of organizing and directing the electoral assemblies for the celebration of the elections and of the mechanisms of popular participation established by this Constitution and the laws. It has a regulatory faculty in the matters of its competence.

In the National District and in each municipality there will be an Electoral Board with administrative and contentious functions. In administrative matters they will be subordinated to the Central Electoral Board. Within contentious matters their decisions are appealable before the Superior Electoral Tribunal, in accordance with the law.

The Superior Electoral Tribunal is the organ competent to judge and decide with definitive character concerning the electoral disputes and also to decide concerning the disputes that arise within the political parties, groups and movements or between them. It will regulate, in accordance with the law, the procedures of its competence and all of what is relative to its organization and administrative and financial functioning.

The Tribunal will be integrated by no less than three and no more than five electoral judges and their substitutes, who will be appointed for a period of four years by the National Council of the Magistrature, which will indicate who among them will occupy the presidency.

The economic regime is oriented towards the search for human development. It is founded in economic growth, the redistribution of wealth, social justice, equality, social and territorial cohesion and environmental sustainability, within a framework of free competition, equality of opportunities, social responsibility, participation and solidarity.

Private initiative is free. The State will procure, together with the private sector, a balanced and sustainable growth of the economy, with price stability, tending to provide full employment and to increase the social well being, thorough the rational use of the available resources, the permanent formation of the human resources and with scientific and technological development.

The State will encourage the economic private initiative, creating the policies necessary to promote the development of the country. Under the principle of subsidiarity the State, on its own account or in association with the private sector and severally, can exercise business activity with the goal of assuring the access of the population to basic goods and services and to promote the national economy.

In any contract of the State and of the persons of Public Law with foreign physical or juridical persons domiciled in the country, the subjection of these to the laws and jurisdictional organs of the Republic must be stated. However, the State and the other persons of Public Law can submit the disputes derived from the contractual relation to jurisdictions constituted by virtue of international treaties in force. They can also submit them to national or international arbitration, in accordance with the law.

Business activity, public or private, receives the same legal treatment. The equality of conditions of national or foreign investment is guaranteed, with the limitations established in this Constitution and the laws. The law may concede special treatments to investments that are located in zones of a lesser degree of development or in activities of national interest, in particular those situated in the border provinces.

The State recognizes the support of the popular economic initiatives of the development of the country; it encourages the conditions of integration of the informal sector in the national economy; it encourages and protects the development of the micro, small and medium business, the cooperatives, the family businesses and other forms of communitarian association for work, production, savings and consumption, that generate conditions which allow them to accede to financing, technical assistance and timely training.

The regulation of the monetary and financial system of the Nation corresponds to the Monetary Board as the superior organ of the Central Bank.

The Monetary Board is integrated by no more than nine members including the Governor of the Central Bank, who presides over it, and the members ex-officio, of which the number will not be greater than three.

The Central Bank of the Republic is an entity of Public Law with juridical personality, its own patrimony and with functional, budgetary and administrative autonomy.

The Governor of the Central Bank and the members of direct designation of the Monetary Board will be appointed by the Executive Power, in accordance with the law. During the time of their designation they may only be removed for the causes provided for in it.

The Monetary Board, represented by the Governor of the Central Bank, will have at its responsibility the direction and adequate application of the monetary, exchange and financial policies of the Nation and the coordination of the regulatory entities of the financial system and of the financial market.

The Central Bank, of which the capital is property of the State, is the only issuer of the bills and coins of national circulation and has as its objective to see to the stability of prices.

The national monetary unit is the Dominican Peso.

The bills issued, and the coins minted, by the Central Bank will be the only ones of legal circulation and tender, under the unlimited guarantee of the State and in the proportions and conditions that the law specifies.

The issuance of monetary paper or other monetary sign that is not authorized by this Constitution is prohibited.

By exception to what is established in Article 112 of this Constitution, the modification of the legal regime of the currency or of banking, will require the support of the two-thirds part of the total number of the members of one and the other legislative chamber, unless having being initiated by the Executive Power, at a proposal of the Monetary Board or with the favorable vote of it, in which case it will be governed by the provisions relative to the organic laws.

The preparation of the Bill of the Law of the General Budget of the State corresponds to the Executive Power, which contemplates the probable incomes, the proposed expenses and the financing required, conducted within a framework of fiscal sustainability, and assuring that the public indebtedness is compatible with the capacity for payment of the State.

The Congress can include new elements and modify those that appear in the Bill of the Law of the General Budget of the State or in the Bills of law that distribute funds submitted by the Executive Power, with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present in each legislative chamber.

The National Congress can modify the Bill of the Law of the General Budget of the State, when it is submitted after the date that is referred to in Article 128, numeral 2), literal g), with the absolute majority of the members of the registry of members in each chamber.

No distribution of public funds will be valid, if it has not been authorized by the law and ordered by a competent functionary.

The law that orders, authorizes a payment or engenders a pecuniary obligation to the charge of the State will neither have validity nor effect, except when that same law identifies or establishes the resources necessary for its execution.

It corresponds to the State to conduct an equitable allocation of the public spending in the territory. Its planning, programming, execution and evaluation shall respond to the principles of subsidiarity and transparency, as well as for the criteria of efficiency, priority and economy.

When Congress has not approved the Bill of the Law of the General Budget of the State by December 31st at the latest, the Law of the General Budget of the State of the previous year will govern, with the adjustments set forth in the Organic Law of the Budget, until its approval is produced.

Annually, in the month of April, the general account of incomes and expenditures of the Republic conducted during the year, will be published.

The Executive Power, with prior consultation of the Economic and Social Council and with the political parties, will prepare and submit to the National Congress a strategy of development, which will define the vision of the Nation for the long term. The process of planning and public investment will be governed by the corresponding law.

The Multi-Annual National Plan of the Public Sector and its corresponding updates will be remitted to the National Congress by the Executive Power, during the second legislature of the year in which the period of government is initiated, with prior consultation of the Council of Ministers, to take cognizance of the programs and projects to be executed during its term. The results and impacts of its execution will be conducted within a framework of fiscal sustainability.

The tax regime is based on the principles of legality, justice, equality and equity so that any citizen [masculine] or citizen [feminine] can comply with the maintenance of the public expenses.

Individuals can only acquire, through concessions authorized by the law or contracts approved by the National Congress, the right to benefit, throughout the entire time stipulated by the concession or the contract and fulfilling the obligations imposed on them by one or the other, from exemptions, exonerations, reductions or limitations in taxes, contributions or fiscal or municipal rights, that arise from specific works or businesses so made as to attract the investment of new capital for the promotion of the national economy or for any other objective of social interest. The transfer of the rights granted by means of contracts will be subject to ratification on the part of the National Congress.

The Office of the General Controller of the Republic is the organ of the Executive Power that guides the internal control, it exercises the internal supervision and the evaluation of the due collection, management, use and investment of the public resources and authorizes the orders of payment, with prior verification of the compliance with the legal and administrative procedures, of the institutions within its scope, in accordance with the law.

The Chamber of Accounts is the superior external organ of fiscal control of the public resources, of the administrative processes and of the patrimony of the State. It has juridical personality, technical character and enjoys administrative, operative and budgetary autonomy. It will be composed of five members, elected by the Senate of the Republic from the ternas presented to it by the Chamber of Deputies, for a period of four years and they will remain in their functions until their substitutes are appointed.

To be the member of the Chamber of Accounts it is required to be a Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine] in full exercise of civil and political rights, to be of recognized ethical and moral solvency, to have reached the age of thirty years old, to be accredited with a university degree and to be enabled for professional exercise of the career, preferably in the areas of accounting, finance, economics, law or related areas, and the other conditions determined by the law.

Its attributions will be, aside from those conferred by the law:

1. To examine the general and particular accounts of the Republic;

2. To present to the National Congress the reports concerning the supervision of the patrimony of the State;

3. To audit and analyze the execution of the General Budget of the State approved every year by the National Congress, taking as a base the state of the collection and investment of the incomes presented by the Executive Power, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws, and to submit the corresponding report to it on April 30th of the following year at the latest, for its cognizance and decision.

4. To issue norms of obligatory character for the inter-institutional coordination of the organs responsible for the control and audit of the public resources.

5. To conduct special investigations at the requirement of one or both of the legislative chambers.

The custody, supervision and control of all the arms, munitions and other military equipment; war materiel and equipment that enters the country or that is produced by the national industry, corresponds to the Armed Forces, with the restrictions established by the law.

The Central Electoral Board will submit to referendum the reforms within sixty days following its formal reception.

The approval of the reforms to the Constitution by way of referendum requires more than half of the votes of the voters and that the number thereof exceeds thirty percent (30%) of the total number of citizens [masculine] and of citizens [feminine] that integrate the Electoral Registry, the total being the voters that express themselves either for the "YES" or for the "NO".

If the result of the referendum should be affirmative, the reform will be proclaimed and published in its entirety with the reformed texts by the National Revisory Assembly.

The municipal authorities elected the third Sunday of February of every four years will take possession on April 24th of the same year.

When an elective functionary ceases in the exercise of an office due to death, resignation, disqualification or other cause, the person who will substitute for him will remain in the exercise of the office until completing the period.

This Constitution will enter into force starting from its proclamation by the National Assembly and its full and immediate publication is ordered.