The Constitutional Court partially annulled Law No. 10210, which had amended the Forestry Law to allow certain construction projects in protected areas (riverbanks, watercourses, and bodies of water).
On June 1, 2022, Law No. 10210 came into force, including articles 33 bis and 33 ter to the Forestry Law, authorizing the Water Department to issue the following permits:
- Civil infrastructure in watercourses, as well as in their protection areas, including sewer systems, retaining walls, bridges, aqueducts, and other types of works.
- Low environmental impact recovery and rehabilitation works in protection areas such as hanging bridges, zip lines, observation platforms, among others, for tourism purposes and in the interest of conserving water resources and their ecosystems.
- Additionally, through Transitory Provision II of Law No. 10210, a 24-month moratorium was granted so that existing works in protection areas could obtain the corresponding permit.
To issue these permits, MINAE was required to regulate the law, specifying requirements and procedures. However, the process of reviewing and publishing the regulation was suspended following the filing of a constitutional claim on February 6, 2023, against Articles 33 bis and 33 ter of the Forestry Law.
The action was processed under File No. 23-002032-0007-CO, and the Constitutional Chamber partially upheld the claim. The full resolution is still being drafted, but according to the operative section, the Chamber ruled as follows:
- Article 33 bis: the second paragraph, which authorized low-impact environmental works (bridges, zip lines, and others for tourism), was annulled.
- Article 33 ter: annulled in its entirety.
- Transitory Provision II: annulled in its entirety.
As a result of this Constitutional Court decision, only the works authorized in the first paragraph of Article 33 bis of the Forestry Law may be carried out. In order to obtain a permit for any of those works, interested parties must wait for:
- The issuance of the full resolution by the Constitutional Chamber.
- The draft regulation to the law to be submitted for public consultation, which must be prepared by the Water Directorate and MINAE.
- The approval of the draft by the Regulatory Improvement Directorate of MEIC.
- The official publication of the regulation.
By Luciana Pineda
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