Costa Rica is a country in Central America, which borders Nicaragua and
Panama. Costa Rica has the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Pacific
Ocean on the other. It has an area of 51,100 sq km and a population of
about 50,94,000. Ethnically 73% white or mixed. 72% are Christians and
27% are non-believers. The official language is Spanish, along with
three other recognized languages.
Monopoly is prohibited in the
case of privately owned businesses. However, the authorities may, if
necessary, allocate the state-controlled economic sector only to
themselves in the interest of the state. Consumer rights are paramount.
The normal working hours of the day shall not exceed 8 hours, and the
weekly working hours shall not exceed 48 hours. Normal working hours at
night shall not exceed 6 hours, and weekly working hours shall not
exceed 36 hours. In case of extra working hours, 50% of normal wages
have to be paid. There is a guarantee of at least two consecutive weeks
of compulsory leave each year, and there must be one day off per week.
The right to strike is recognized, but not for state officials. The
right to peaceful assembly in unarmed state is recognized.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
Christianity has been declared the "state religion." Religion has been
used in various activities of the state.
Admirable Articles of Costa Rica's Constitution
Article 1
Costa Rica is a democratic, free, independent, multiethnic and multicultural Republic.
Article 24
The right to intimacy, to freedom and to the secrecy of communications is guaranteed.
The private documents and the communications, written, oral or of any other type[,] of the inhabitants of the Republic[,] are inviolable. Nevertheless, the law, whose approval and reform will require the votes of two-thirds of the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly, will establish in which cases the Tribunals of Justice may order the seizure [secuestro], search [registro], or examination of private documents, when [it] is absolutely indispensible to clarify matters submitted to their cognizance.
Equally, the law will determine in which cases the Tribunals of Justice may order the intervention of any type of communication and will indicate the crimes in the investigation of which the use of this exceptional power [potestad] may be authorized and for [durante] how much time. Likewise, it will specify the responsibilities and the sanctions incurred by the functionaries who illegally apply this exception. The judicial resolutions protected under this norm must be reasoned and may be executed immediately. Their application and control will be the non-delegable responsibility of the judicial authority.
The law will establish the cases in which the competent functionaries of the Ministry of Finance [Hacienda] and of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic may review the books of account and their annexes for tax purposes and to supervise [fiscalizar] the correct utilization of the public funds.
A special law, approved by two-thirds of the total of the Deputies, will determine which other organs of the Public Administration may review the documents specified by that law in relation with the fulfillment of their competences of regulation and surveillance to achieve [conseguir] public purposes. Likewise, it will indicate in which cases that review proceeds.
The correspondence stolen or the information obtained as a result of the illegal intervention of any communication will not produce legal effects.
Article 26
Everyone has the right to meet peacefully and without arms, whether for private business, or to discuss political matters and to examine the public conduct of the functionaries.
Meetings in private premises do not need prior authorization. Those celebrated in public places will be regulated by the law.
Article 27
The freedom of petition, in individual or collective form, before any public functionary or official entity, and the right to obtain prompt resolution[,] are guaranteed.
Article 46
The monopolies of a private [particular] character, and any act, even if originated in a law, which threaten or restrict the freedom of commerce, agriculture or industry, are prohibited.
The action of the State aimed at preventing any monopolistic practice or tendency is of public interest.
The enterprises constituted as de facto monopolies must be submitted to a special legislation.
The approval of two-thirds of the totality of the members of the Legislative Assembly is required to establish new monopolies in favor of the State or of the Municipalities.
Consumers and users have the right to the protection of their health, environment, security and economical interests, to receive adequate and true information; to the freedom of election, and to an equitable treatment. The State will support the organs constituted by them for the defense of their rights. The law will regulate these matters.
Article 58
The ordinary daytime working day may not exceed eight hours a day and forty-eight a week. The ordinary nighttime working day may not exceed six hours a day and thirty-six a week. The work during extraordinary hours must be remunerated with fifty percent more than the stipulated incomes or salaries. Nevertheless, these provisions will not be applied in very qualified cases of exception, that the law determines.
Article 59
All workers will have the right to one day of rest after six consecutive days of work, and to annual paid vacations, of which the extent and opportunity will be regulated by the law, but in no case will include less than two weeks for every fifty weeks of continuous service; all without prejudice to the very qualified exceptions that the legislator establishes.
Article 60 (Part of it)
Both the employers and the workers may freely syndicate themselves, with the exclusive purpose of obtaining and preserving economic, social or professional benefits.
Article 61
The right of employers to lock-out and of workers to strike is recognized, except in the public services, in accordance with the determination made of them by the law and in accordance with the regulations that it establishes, which must overrule any act of coercion or of violence.
Article 66
All employers must adopt in their enterprises the necessary measures for the hygiene and safety of work.
Article 72
The State will maintain, while unemployment insurance does not exist, technical and permanent system of protection for the involuntarily unemployed, and will procure the reintegration of them into work.
Article 129 (Part of it)
The laws are obligatory and take effect from the day that they designate; in absence of this requirement, ten days after their publication in the Diario Oficial.
No one may allege ignorance of the law except in the cases that it authorizes.
Article 160
Whoever is bound by kinship within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity inclusive, to a member of the Supreme Court of Justice[,] may not be elected as a Magistrate.
Facts of Costa Rica's Constitution
Preamble
We, the Representatives of the People of Costa Rica, freely elected Deputies to the National Constituent Assembly, invoking the name of God and reiterating our faith in Democracy, decree and sanction the following:
Article 75
The Roman, Catholic, Apostolic Religion is that of the State, which contributes to its maintenance, without preventing the free exercise in the Republic of other beliefs that do not oppose themselves to the universal morality or good customs.
Article 83
The State will sponsor and organize the education of adults, destined to combat illiteracy and to provide [a] cultural opportunity to those who wish to improve their intellectual, social and economic condition.
Title XVI. The Constitutional Oath
Sole Chapter
Article 194
The oath that the public functionaries must take, according to that provided in Article 11 of this Constitution is the following:
"Do you swear to God and promise to the Fatherland, to observe and
defend the Constitution and the laws of the Republic, and to faithfully
fulfill the duties of your destiny?--Yes, I swear.--If you do so, [may]
God help you, and if not, [may] He and the Fatherland [Patria] call you
to account."
