The CAFTA Report
Executive branch hopes for vote on intellectual property
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The CAFTA Report
Executive branch hopes for vote on intellectual property
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Executive branch hopes for vote For The CAFTA Report (Oct. 30, 2008) The executive branch is hoping to get a second and final vote on the intellectual property bill next week. That was the estimate Thursday afternoon from Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, brother to the president and the minister of the Presidencia. Rodrigo Arias was reacting to news that the Sala IV constitutional court had ruled there were no constitutional faults in the proposed law. The free trade treaty with the United States and other Central American states depends on passage of this and 12 other measures to align Costa Rica law to that what was promised in the treaty. All the other measures have become law. "With this law the last project of the agenda of implementation will be voted, and, together with the approval of some regulations that depend on this law, it will be possible that the treaty will enter into effect next Jan. 1," Rodrigo Arias said. His brother, the president, was attending a Latin summit in El Salvador. Rodrigo Arias called on lawmakers, including those who oppose the trade treaty to let the country once and for all turn this page of its history. The treaty, which also includes the Dominican Republic, was signed by representatives of all the nations more than four years ago. Costa Ricans narrowly approved it in a referendum Oct. 7, 2007. The idea of the treaty came from the George Bush administration. The treaty has been divisive for the country. Aligned against it were employees of some of the state monopolies that have lost their exclusivity under the implementation laws. This includes the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the telecommunications and power generating entity. Also includes in the Instituto National de Seguros, the former insurance monopoly. Joining the public employees was a loose confederation of environmentalists, students, socialists and even some farmers. Some unions and anti-free trade groups opposed the treaty in the United States, too. This country saw marches, road blockades, protests in front of the legislative assembly, thousands of examples of graffiti and other acts of protest. The public debate was so shrilled and threats of violence so frequent that former president Abel Pacheco declined to send the treaty to the Asamblea Legislative for ratification. He left that job for the Arias government. As each piece of implementation legislation went to lawmakers, various groups protested. For example, twin pieces of legislation that provide for protecting ownership rights of new plant species provoked extended protests and more graffiti. The Arias government managed to stitch together a two-thirds majority in the legislative assembly, but then had to change the rules for debate to avoid continual filibusters from opponents. And all of these changes underwent Sala IV constitutional court scrutiny. The decision Thursday afternoon by the court was not unanimous. Two magistrates Gilbert Armijo Sancho and Fernando Cruz Castro said that the procedure that brought the measure to the court was constitutionally flawed. The same bill had been there before. The magistrates found at that time that there were unconstitutional sections and that the government had overlooked a requirement to consult with native groups that was demanded by international treaty. That decision meant that the country would miss an Oct. 1 deadline to approve the implementation legislation. Óscar Arias was forced to ask for another extension from the other nations that are parties to the treaty. The extension goes until Jan. 1. Then lawmakers took the offending sections out of the measure to sidestep the constitutional issue. Some 14 opposition lawmakers, as is their right, again referred the measure to the Sal IV for a constitutional opinion. And that was what resulted in the decision Thursday. The measure is "Ley de Reformas de Varias Normas que Regulan Materias relacionadas con la Propiedad Intelectual" and the number is 16.955 |
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