Constitution of the Republic of Honduras

Honduras is a State of law, sovereign, constituted as a free, democratic, and independent republic to ensure its inhabitants the enjoyment of justice, liberty, culture, and economic and social well-being.

Sovereignty belongs to the people from which all Powers of the State emanate and are exercised by representation. The usurpation of popular sovereignty and the usurpation of the constituted powers are classified as crimes of treason. The responsibility in these cases is imprescriptible and may be brought ex officio or at the petition of any citizen.

No one owes obedience to a usurping government or to those who assume public functions or positions by force of arms or using means or procedures that violate or disregard what this Constitution and the laws establish. The acts performed by such authorities are null. The people have the right to resort to insurrection in defense of the constitutional order.

The form of government is republican, democratic, and representative. It is exercised by three powers: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, complementary and independent and without relationships of subordination. Alternability in the exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is mandatory. The violation of this rule constitutes a crime of treason.

The Government of the Republic must be based on the principles of popular sovereignty, the self-determination of peoples, and participatory democracy, from which national integration is derived, which implies the participation of all political sectors in Public Administration, political stability, and social peace. To strengthen representative democracy, the referendum, plebiscite, and citizen law initiative are established as mechanisms of citizen participation. The referendum shall be called on an ordinary law or a constitutional norm or its reform, approved for ratification or disapproval by the citizens. The plebiscite shall be called requesting citizens to pronounce themselves on constitutional, legislative, or administrative matters, on which the constituted powers have not previously made any decision. The referendum and plebiscite may be held at the national, regional, subregional, departmental, and municipal levels. The following have the initiative to request the referendum or plebiscite:

• 1)

  At least two percent (2%) of citizens registered in the National Electoral Census, in accordance with the data that must be periodically provided by the National Electoral Council to the National Congress;

• 2)

  At least ten (10) Deputies of the National Congress; and,

• 3)

  The President of the Republic in a resolution of the Council of State Secretaries. The National Congress must hear and discuss such petitions, and if it approves them it must issue a decree that determines the extremes of the consultation, ordering the National Electoral Council to convene and direct the consultations to the citizens. The percentages of legislative approval to citizen consultations are determined according to the subject to be consulted in accordance with this Constitution; by simple majority of the total number of members when it comes to laws and ordinary matters, two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of members when it refers to constitutional matters. A Special Law approved by two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of deputies of the National Congress must determine the procedures, requirements, and other necessary aspects for the exercise of citizen participation mechanisms. It is the sole responsibility of the National Electoral Council to convene, organize, and direct citizen consultations and of the Electoral Justice Court to resolve what is appropriate based on its competencies on these matters. Citizen consultations must be held preferably on the same date as general elections. The exercise of suffrage in citizen consultations is mandatory. The result of citizen consultations is binding if at least fifty-one percent (51%) of total participation in the last general election concurs; and, if the affirmative vote achieves the majority of valid votes. The Special Law must determine who has the initiative to request the convocation of a citizen consultation when this is not at the national level, as well as the percentage of participation necessary for it to be valid. The National Electoral Council, once the official result is known within the term indicated by the Special Law, must inform the National Congress within a period of ten (10) days about the result of the consultation. If the initiative submitted to consultation is approved, the sanction of the Executive Power shall not be necessary nor shall veto proceed; consequently, the National Congress shall order the publication of the approved norms. These norms may only be repealed or reformed through the same process of their approval. Consultation on the same topics may not be held in the same or the following Government period.

The official language of Honduras is Spanish. The State shall protect its purity and increase its teaching.

The national symbols are: the flag, the coat of arms, and the anthem. The Law shall establish their characteristics and regulate their use.

The cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, jointly, constitute the capital of the Republic.

The territory of Honduras is comprised between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Republics of: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Its boundaries with these republics are:

• 1)

  With the Republic of Guatemala, those fixed by the arbitral award issued in Washington, D.C., United States of America, on the twenty-third of January of nineteen hundred thirty-three.

• 2)

  With the Republic of Nicaragua, those established by the Honduras-Nicaragua Mixed Boundary Commission in the years of nineteen hundred and nineteen hundred one, according to descriptions of the first section of the dividing line, which appears in the second minutes of the twelfth of June of nineteen hundred and in subsequent ones, until the Portillo de Teotecacinte and, from this place, to the Atlantic Ocean, in accordance with the arbitral award issued by His Majesty the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, on the twenty-third of December of nineteen hundred six, whose validity was declared by the International Court of Justice in judgment of the eighteenth of November of nineteen hundred sixty.

• 3)

  With the Republic of El Salvador, those established in articles sixteen (16) and seventeen (17) of the General Peace Treaty signed in Lima, Peru, on the thirtieth of October of nineteen hundred eighty, whose instruments of ratification were exchanged in Tegucigalpa, Central District, Honduras, on the tenth of December of nineteen hundred eighty. In the pending sections of delimitation, the applicable provisions of the aforementioned treaty shall apply.

The territories situated on land within its territorial limits, interior waters, and the islands, islets, and cays in the Gulf of Fonseca that historically, geographically, and legally correspond to Honduras belong to Honduras, as well as the Bay Islands, the Swan Islands called also Santanilla or Santillana, Viciosas, Misteriosas; and the cays Zapotillos, Cochinos, Vivorillos, Seal or Foca (or Becerro), Caratasca, Cajones or Hobbies, Mayores de Cabo Falso, Cocorocuma, Palo de Campeche, Los Bajos Pichones, Media Luna, Gorda; and the banks Salmedina, Providencia, De Coral, Cabo Falso, Rosalinda, and Serranilla, and others situated in the Atlantic that historically, geographically, and legally correspond to Honduras. The Gulf of Fonseca may be subject to a special regime.

The following also belong to the State of Honduras:

• 1)

  The territorial sea, whose width is twelve (12) nautical miles, measured from the line of lowest tide along the coast;

• 2)

  The zone contiguous to its territorial sea, which extends to twenty-four (24) nautical miles, counted from the baseline from which the width of the territorial sea is measured;

• 3)

  The exclusive economic zone, which extends up to a distance of two hundred (200) nautical miles, measured from the baseline from which the width of the territorial sea is measured;

• 4)

  The continental shelf, which comprises the bed and subsoil of submarine zones, which extends beyond its territorial sea and throughout the natural prolongation of its territory, to the outer edge of the continental margin or to a distance of two hundred (200) nautical miles from the baseline, from which the width of the territorial sea is measured in cases where the outer edge of the continental margin does not reach that distance; and,

• 5)

  As regards the Pacific Ocean, the aforementioned measurements shall be counted from the closing line of the mouth of the Gulf of Fonseca, toward the high sea.

The State exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction in the airspace and in the subsoil of its continental and insular territory, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf. This declaration of sovereignty does not disregard legitimate similar rights of other States on the basis of reciprocity, nor does it affect the rights of free navigation of all nations in accordance with international law, nor the compliance with treaties or conventions ratified by the Republic.

In the cases referred to in the preceding articles, the domain of the State is inalienable and imprescriptible.

Foreign States may only acquire in the territory of the Republic, on bases of reciprocity, the real property necessary for the headquarters of their diplomatic representations, without prejudice to what is established by international treaties.

Honduras adopts as its own the principles and practices of international law that tend toward human solidarity, respect for the self-determination of peoples, non-intervention, and the strengthening of universal peace and democracy. Honduras proclaims as unavoidable the validity and binding execution of international arbitral and judicial awards.

All international treaties must be approved by the National Congress before their ratification by the Executive Branch. International treaties, celebrated by Honduras with other States, once they enter into force, form part of internal law.

When an International Treaty affects a constitutional provision, it must be approved by the procedure governing the reform of the Constitution, and simultaneously the constitutional precept affected must be modified in the same sense by the same procedure before the Treaty is ratified by the Executive Branch.

In case of conflict between the treaty or convention and the law, the former shall prevail.

No authority may celebrate or ratify treaties or grant concessions that injure the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the Republic. Whoever does so shall be prosecuted for the crime of treason. Responsibility in this case is imprescriptible.

Any treaty or convention that the Executive Branch celebrates concerning national territory shall require the approval of the National Congress by a vote of not less than three-fourths (3/4) of the totality of its members.

The Executive Branch may, on matters of its exclusive competence, celebrate or ratify international agreements with foreign states or international organizations or adhere to them without the prior requirement of approval by the Congress, to which it must inform immediately.

Honduran nationality is acquired by birth and by naturalization.

Hondurans by birth are:

• 1)

  Those born in the national territory, with the exception of the children of diplomatic agents;

• 2)

  Those born abroad of Honduran parents by birth;

• 3)

  Those born aboard Honduran warships or aircraft, and those born on merchant vessels located in Honduran territorial waters; and,

• 4)

  The infant of unknown parents found in the territory of Honduras.

Hondurans by naturalization are:

• 1)

  Central Americans by birth who have one (1) year of residence in the country;

• 2)

  Spanish and Ibero-American nationals by birth, who have two (2) consecutive years of residence in the country;

• 3)

  Other foreigners who have resided in the country for more than three (3) consecutive years;

• 4)

  Those who obtain a letter of naturalization decreed by the National Congress for extraordinary services rendered to Honduras;

• 5)

  Immigrants who, forming part of selected groups brought by the government for scientific, agricultural and industrial purposes, after one year of residing in the country, meet the requirements of law; and,

• 6)

  A foreign person married to a Honduran by birth. In the cases referred to in numerals 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, the applicant must previously renounce their nationality and express their desire to adopt Honduran nationality before the competent authority. When there is a treaty of dual nationality, the Honduran who opts for foreign nationality shall not lose Honduran nationality. In the same circumstances, the foreigner shall not be required to renounce their original nationality.

While residing in Honduras, no Honduran by birth may invoke a nationality other than Honduran.

No naturalized Honduran may hold official positions in their country of origin in representation of Honduras.

Neither marriage nor its dissolution affects the nationality of the spouses or their children.

No Honduran by birth may be deprived of their nationality. This right is retained by Hondurans by birth, even when they acquire another nationality. A Special Law called the Law of Nationality shall regulate matters relating to the exercise of political rights and everything else deemed pertinent in this matter.

Honduran nationality by naturalization is lost: 1) By naturalization in a foreign country; and, 2) By cancellation of the letter of naturalization in accordance with the Law.

Foreigners are obligated, from their entry into the national territory, to respect the authorities and comply with the laws.

Foreigners enjoy the same civil rights as Hondurans with the restrictions that, for qualified reasons of public order, security, interest or social convenience, are established by law. Foreigners are also subject to the same ordinary and extraordinary taxes of a general character to which Hondurans are obligated, in accordance with the law.

Foreigners shall not be able to develop in the country political activities of a national or international character, under penalty of being sanctioned in accordance with the law.

Foreigners may not make claims or demand any compensation from the State except in the form and in the cases in which Hondurans could do so. They may not resort to diplomatic channels except in cases of denial of justice. For this purpose, it shall not be understood as denial of justice that a ruling be unfavorable to the claimant. Those who violate this provision shall lose the right to reside in the country.

Foreigners may only, within the limits established by law, hold positions in the teaching of sciences and arts and provide technical or advisory services to the State, when there are no Hondurans who can hold such positions or provide such services.

Immigration shall be conditioned to the social, political, economic and demographic interests of the country. The law shall establish the requirements, quotas and conditions for the entry of immigrants into the country, as well as the prohibitions, limitations and sanctions to which foreigners shall be subject.

All Hondurans over the age of eighteen (18) years are citizens.

Citizens have the following rights:

• 1)

  To elect and be elected;

• 2)

  To hold public office;

• 3)

  To associate for the purpose of forming political parties, to join or withdraw from them; and,

• 4)

  The other rights recognized to them by this Constitution and the laws. Citizens on active duty in the Armed Forces and State security forces may not exercise the right to vote, but shall be eligible in cases not prohibited by Law.

Every Honduran is obligated to defend the homeland, respect the authorities and contribute to the moral and material sustenance of the nation.

Every Honduran shall be registered in the National Registry of Persons.

The duties of a citizen are:

• 1)

  To comply with, defend and ensure compliance with the Constitution and the laws;

• 2)

  To obtain his or her identity card;

• 3)

  To exercise the right to vote;

• 4)

  To hold, unless excused or resignation with justified cause, positions of popular election;

• 5)

  To comply with military service; and,

• 6)

  The other duties established by the Constitution and the laws.

Citizenship is suspended:

• 1)

  By an order of imprisonment, decreed for a crime that deserves a greater penalty;

• 2)

  By a final judgment of conviction, rendered for a crime;

• 3)

  By judicial interdiction.

Citizenship is lost:

• 1)

  By rendering services in time of war to enemies of Honduras or of its allies;

• 2)

  By providing assistance against the State of Honduras to a foreigner or foreign government in any diplomatic claim or before an international tribunal;

• 3)

  By holding in the country, without license of the National Congress, a position of a foreign nation, of the military branch or of a political character;

• 4)

  By restricting the freedom to vote, adulterating electoral documents or employing fraudulent means to circumvent the will of the people;

• 5)

  By inciting, promoting or supporting the continuism or reelection of the President of the Republic; and,

• 6)

  By naturalized Hondurans residing for more than two (2) consecutive years abroad without prior authorization of the Executive Branch. In the cases referred to in items 1) and 2), the declaration of loss of citizenship shall be made by the National Congress, through a detailed proceeding formed for such purpose. For the cases in items 3) and 6), such declaration shall be made by the Executive Branch, through a governmental agreement; and for the cases in items 4) and 5) also by governmental agreement, following a final judgment of conviction rendered by the competent courts.

Citizenship is restored:

• 1)

  By final dismissal of charges confirmed;

• 2)

  By a final judgment of acquittal;

• 3)

  By amnesty or pardon; and,

• 4)

  By serving the sentence.

Suffrage is a right and a public function. The vote is universal, obligatory, equal, direct, free and secret.

Every act by which the participation of the citizen in the political life of the country is prohibited or limited is declared punishable.

The system of proportional representation or majority representation shall be adopted, in the cases determined by law, to declare elected in their positions the candidates of popular election.

Legally registered political parties are institutions of public law, whose existence and free functioning is guaranteed by this Constitution and by law, in order to achieve the effective political participation of citizens.

Political parties are prohibited from attempting to undermine the republican, democratic, and representative system of government.

The State shall contribute to financing the expenses of political parties, in accordance with the law.

Political parties may not receive subsidies or financial assistance from foreign governments, organizations, or institutions.

For the exercise of electoral functions, a National Electoral Council and an Electoral Justice Court are hereby created, autonomous and independent, with no subordination relationships with the Powers of the State or national security, with legal personality, jurisdiction, and competence throughout the Republic. Administrative, technical, and logistical acts and procedures shall correspond to the National Electoral Council, and jurisdictional acts and procedures in electoral matters shall correspond exclusively to the Electoral Justice Court with jurisdiction and competence established by Law. The organization, powers, and functioning of the organisms referred to in this Article are established in this Constitution and in the laws enacted on electoral matters and citizen consultation, whose approval, amendment, or repeal requires a qualified majority of at least two-thirds of the votes of the total number of deputies that make up the National Congress.

The National Electoral Council is composed of three (3) principal councilors and two (2) alternate councilors, elected by qualified majority of at least two-thirds of the votes of the total number of deputies that make up the National Congress, elected for a term of five (5) years, and may be reelected. To be a councilor of the National Electoral Council, it is required to be: Honduran by birth, over thirty (30) years of age, possess a university degree, be of recognized competence, and be in full exercise of civil rights. Those who have kinship ties within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity among themselves and with the President of the Republic and Designees to the Presidency of the Republic cannot be councilors, nor those who at the time of being elected are nominated or hold popularly elected positions.

The Electoral Justice Court is the highest authority in Electoral Justice matters. No appeal shall lie against its rulings, without prejudice to the provisions of the Law on Constitutional Justice. An Electoral Procedural Law shall regulate the specific competencies, organization, and functioning of the Court.

The Electoral Justice Court is composed of three (3) principal magistrates and two (2) alternates, elected by qualified majority of at least two-thirds of the total number of votes of the deputies that make up the National Congress, and shall be elected for a term of five (5) years, and may be reelected. To be elected a Magistrate of the Electoral Justice Court, the following requirements are necessary:

• 1)

  To be Honduran by birth.

• 2)

  To be a citizen in the enjoyment and exercise of rights.

• 3)

  To be a lawyer with more than ten (10) years of experience in professional practice; and,

• 4)

  To be over thirty-five (35) years of age. Those who incur in the same ineligibilities established for being a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice cannot be magistrates of the Electoral Justice Court.

The principal members of the National Electoral Council and the Electoral Justice Court shall elect in their first session the president and the order of rotation of the presidency, which shall be exercised for a term of one year. No principal member shall repeat in the presidency until the others have exercised it. The Councilors of the National Electoral Council and the Magistrates of the Electoral Justice Court may not carry out or participate directly or indirectly in any partisan activity, nor hold any paid position, except for teaching and medical sciences.

The National Electoral Registry is public, permanent, and inalterable. The registration of citizens, as well as modifications that occur due to death, change of residence, suspension, loss, or restoration of citizenship shall be verified in the periods and with the procedures determined by law.

Criminal action for electoral crimes established by law is public and prescribes in four (4) years.

Ordinary justice, without distinction of jurisdiction, shall have cognizance of electoral crimes and misdemeanors.

The human person is the supreme purpose of society and the State. All have the obligation to respect and protect it. The dignity of human beings is inviolable. To guarantee the rights and freedoms recognized in this Constitution, the institution of the National Commissioner for Human Rights is hereby created. The organization, prerogatives, and powers of the National Commissioner for Human Rights shall be the subject of a special law.

All people are born free and equal in rights. In Honduras there are no privileged classes. All Hondurans are equal before the law. All discrimination by reason of sex, race, class, and any other discrimination harmful to human dignity is declared punishable. The law shall establish the crimes and penalties for the violator of this provision.

The Constitution guarantees to Hondurans and foreigners residing in the country, the right to the inviolability of life, to individual security, to liberty, to equality before the law and to property.

The rights of each person are limited by the rights of others, by the security of all and by the just demands of the general welfare and of democratic development.

The declarations, rights and guarantees enumerated in this Constitution shall not be understood as a negation of other declarations, rights and guarantees not specified, which arise from sovereignty, from the republican, democratic and representative form of government and from the dignity of man.

Laws and governmental dispositions or of any other order shall not be applied that regulate the exercise of the declarations, rights and guarantees established in this Constitution, if they diminish, restrict or distort them. CHAPTER II OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

The right to life is inviolable.

The death penalty is prohibited.

The one who is about to be born shall be considered born for everything that favors him within the limits established by law. The practice of any form of interruption of life by the mother or a third party to the one about to be born is considered prohibited and illegal, to whom the right to life must be respected from conception. The provisions of this Article of the present Constitution may only be reformed by a three-fourths majority of the members of the Plenary of the National Congress, its provisions shall not lose force or cease to be complied with when supposedly abrogated or modified by another constitutional precept. Legal dispositions created after the validity of this Article that establish the contrary shall be null and void.

Every person has the right to have their physical, psychological and moral integrity respected. No one shall be subjected to torture, nor to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments or treatment. Every person deprived of liberty shall be treated with the respect due to the dignity inherent in the human being.

Personal liberty is inviolable and may only be restricted or temporarily suspended in accordance with the laws.

All Hondurans have the right to do what does not harm another and no one shall be obliged to do what is not legally prescribed nor prevented from executing what the law does not prohibit. No person may administer justice to themselves, nor exercise violence to claim their right. No personal service is exigible, nor shall it be rendered gratuitously, except by virtue of law or of a sentence founded in law.

No person may be detained or incommunicado for more than twenty-four (24) hours after their detention, without being released or placed at the order of a competent authority to initiate their trial process. Exceptionally, the competent authority may extend this period to forty-eight (48) hours, when it concerns crimes of complex investigation, due to the multiplicity of related facts, difficulty in obtaining evidence or due to the high number of accused or victims. The measure of exceptionality must be developed in the Criminal Procedural Code. Judicial detention for inquiry shall not exceed (6) six days counted from the moment it occurs.

The emission of thought by any means of dissemination is free, without prior censorship. Those who abuse this right and those who by direct or indirect means restrict or prevent the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions are responsible before the law.

Printing workshops, radioelectric stations, television stations and any other means of emission and dissemination of thought, as well as all their elements, may not be seized or confiscated, nor their operations closed or interrupted by reason of crime or fault in the emission of thought, without prejudice to the responsibilities incurred for these reasons in accordance with the law. No thought dissemination enterprise may receive subsidies from foreign governments or political parties. The law shall establish the penalty corresponding to the violation of this precept. The management of printed, radio or televised newspapers, and their intellectual, political and administrative direction, shall be exercised exclusively by Hondurans by birth.

The right to emit thought cannot be restricted by indirect means or methods, such as the abuse of official or private controls of the material used for the printing of newspapers; of the frequencies, implements or devices used to disseminate information.

The law regulating the emission of thought may establish prior censorship to protect the ethical and cultural values of society, as well as the rights of persons, especially of children, adolescents and youth. The commercial advertising of alcoholic beverages and tobacco consumption shall be regulated by law.

The right to honor, personal privacy, family privacy, and one's own image is guaranteed.

The free exercise of all religions and faiths is guaranteed without any preeminence, provided that they do not violate the laws and public order. Ministers of the various religions shall not hold public office or conduct political propaganda in any form, invoking reasons of religion or using the religious beliefs of the people as a means for such purpose.

The freedoms of association and assembly are guaranteed provided that they are not contrary to public order and good morals.

Every person has the right to gather with others peacefully and without weapons, in public demonstration or in temporary assembly, in relation to their common interests of any kind, without need of notice or special permission. Open-air meetings and those of a political character may be subject to a special permit regime solely to guarantee public order.

Every person or association of persons has the right to submit petitions to the authorities, whether for reasons of particular or general interest, and to obtain a prompt response within the legal time period.

Every person has the right to move freely, to leave, enter, and remain in the national territory. No one may be forced to change their domicile or residence except in special cases and with the requirements that the law establishes.

The right to defense is inviolable. The inhabitants of the Republic have free access to the courts to exercise their actions in the manner established by law.

It is the responsibility of the State to appoint prosecutors for the defense of the poor and to watch over the persons and interests of minors and those lacking capacity. They shall provide them with legal assistance and represent them judicially in the defense of their individual liberty and other rights.

No person may be arrested or detained except by virtue of a written order from a competent authority, issued with legal formalities and for a reason previously established by law. Notwithstanding, a person caught in the act of committing a crime may be apprehended by any person for the sole purpose of delivering them to the authorities. The arrested or detained person must be informed immediately and with complete clarity of their rights and of the facts imputed to them; and furthermore, the authority must allow them to communicate their detention to a relative or person of their choice.

No person may be detained or imprisoned except in the places determined by law.

Every person undergoing trial who is detained has the right to remain separated from those who have been convicted by judicial sentence.

Prisons are establishments of security and social defense. Efforts shall be made therein to rehabilitate the imprisoned person and to prepare them for work.

No violence or coercion of any kind shall be exercised upon persons to force them to testify. No one may be compelled in a criminal, disciplinary, or police matter to testify against themselves, against their spouse or household partner, or against their relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity. Only testimony rendered before a competent judge shall constitute proof. Any statement obtained in violation of any of these provisions is void and those responsible shall incur the penalties established by law.

Every person is innocent until their responsibility has been declared by a competent authority.

No one may be tried except by a competent judge or court with the formalities, rights, and guarantees established by law. Military jurisdiction is recognized for offenses and violations of a military nature. In no case may military courts extend their jurisdiction over persons who are not in active service in the Armed Forces.

When a civilian or a military person of low rank is implicated in a military crime or offense, the competent authority of the common jurisdiction shall have knowledge of the case.

A Formal Processing Order may only be decreed when there exists probative evidence of the existence of a crime and rational indications that the accused is its author or accomplice. A declaration of guilt shall be made in the same manner.

Even with an order of detention, no person may be taken to jail or detained therein if they provide sufficient bail in accordance with the law.

No person shall be punished with any penalty without having been heard and defeated in trial, and without such penalty having been imposed by an enforceable ruling of a judge or competent authority. In cases of attachment and other measures of similar nature in civil or labor matters, as well as in cases of fines or arrest in police matters, the affected party shall always be heard.

No person shall be sanctioned with penalties not previously established by law, nor shall be tried again for the same punishable acts that motivated prior prosecutions.

The law has no retroactive effect, except in criminal matters, when the new law favors the offender or the prosecuted person.

No one may be condemned to infamous, proscriptive or confiscatory penalties. A penalty of deprivation of liberty in perpetuity is established. Penal law shall determine its application for those crimes in the commission of which grave, offensive and degrading circumstances concur, which by their impact cause shock, rejection, indignation and repugnance in the national community. Penalties depriving of liberty for simple crimes and those accumulated for several crimes shall be fixed in Penal Law.

No person may be detained, arrested or imprisoned for obligations not arising from crime or offense.

The home is inviolable. No entry or search may be conducted without the consent of the person who inhabits it or a ruling by a competent authority. Notwithstanding, it may be entered forcefully in case of emergency to prevent the commission or impunity of crimes or to avoid serious harm to persons or property. Except in cases of emergency, the forced entry of a home cannot be conducted from six (6) p.m. to six (6) a.m., without incurring liability. The law shall determine the requirements and formalities for entry, search or forced entry to take place, as well as the responsibilities that may be incurred by whoever carries it out.

Every person has the right to inviolability and secrecy of communications, especially postal, telegraphic and telephone communications, except by judicial ruling. The books and vouchers of merchants and personal documents shall only be subject to inspection or audit by the competent authority, in accordance with the law. Communications, books, vouchers and documents referred to in this article, which are violated or stolen, shall not be admissible in court. In any case, secrecy shall always be maintained regarding matters strictly private that have no relation to the matter subject of the action by the authority.

Honduras recognizes the right of asylum in the form and conditions established by law. When it is appropriate in accordance with the law to revoke or not grant asylum, in no case shall the political persecuted person or the asylee be expelled to the territory of the State that may claim them. The State shall not authorize the extradition of persons convicted for political crimes and related common crimes.

No Honduran may be expatriated or delivered by the authorities to a Foreign State. The exceptions to this provision are cases related to crimes of Drug Trafficking in any of its typologies, Terrorism and any other illicit act of Organized Criminality and when there exists a Treaty or Extradition Agreement with the requesting country. In no case may a Honduran be extradited for political crimes and related common crimes.

The State recognizes, fosters and guarantees the existence of private property in its broadest concept of social function and with no other limitations than those which for reasons of necessity or public interest are established by law.

The right of property does not prejudice the eminent domain of the State.

Confiscation of property is prohibited. Property cannot be limited in any form by reason of political crime. The right to reclaim confiscated property is imprescriptible.

No one may be deprived of their property except for cause of necessity or public interest as qualified by law or by a reasoned resolution based in law, and without prior compensation duly apprised. In case of war or internal commotion, it is not indispensable that the compensation be prior, but the corresponding payment shall be made, no later than two (2) years after the conclusion of the state of emergency.

State lands, communal ejidal lands or privately owned lands situated in the border zone with neighboring states, or in the littoral of both seas, in an extension of forty (40) kilometers toward the interior of the country, and those of the islands, cays, reefs, rocky shoals, rocks, shallows and sand banks, may only be acquired, possessed or held in any capacity by Hondurans by birth, by companies composed entirely of Honduran partners, and by State institutions under penalty of nullity of the respective act or contract. The acquisition of urban property comprised within the limits indicated in the preceding paragraph shall be subject to special legislation. Property registrars are prohibited from registering documents that contravene these provisions.

Every author, inventor, producer or merchant shall enjoy exclusive ownership of their work, invention, trademark or trade name, in accordance with the law.

Taxes shall not be confiscatory. No one is obligated to pay taxes and other levies that have not been legally decreed by the National Congress in ordinary sessions. No authority shall apply provisions in contravention of this precept without incurring the responsibility determined by law.

No natural person who has free administration of their property may be deprived of the right to settle their civil affairs by settlement or arbitration.

The family, marriage, maternity and childhood are under the protection of the State.

The right of man and woman, who have such quality naturally, to marry each other is recognized, as well as the legal equality of spouses. Only civil marriage celebrated before a competent official and with the conditions required by law is valid. The common-law union between persons equally capable of contracting marriage is recognized. The Law shall establish the conditions for it to produce the effects of marriage. Marriage and common-law union between persons of the same sex are prohibited. Marriages or common-law unions between persons of the same sex celebrated or recognized under the laws of other countries shall have no validity in Honduras. The provisions of this Article may only be amended by a three-fourths majority of the members of the plenary of the National Congress. Any legal provisions created after the effective date of this Article that establish the contrary shall be null and invalid.

Divorce is recognized as a means of dissolution of the matrimonial bond. The law shall regulate its causes and effects.

All children have the same rights and duties. No qualifications are recognized regarding the nature of filiation. In no registry or document relating to filiation shall any declaration be entered that differentiates births or indicates the civil status of the parents.

Investigation of paternity is authorized. The law shall determine the procedure.

The right of adoption is recognized for persons united by marriage or common-law union. It is prohibited to place children in adoption with marriages or common-law unions composed of persons of the same sex. The Law shall regulate this Institution.

The elderly deserve special protection from the State.

The family patrimony shall be the subject of special legislation that protects and promotes it.

The State has the obligation to protect childhood. Children shall enjoy the protection provided for in international agreements that protect their rights. Laws for the protection of childhood are of public order and official establishments designed for such purpose have the character of social assistance centers.

Minors, those physically or mentally deficient, those with irregular conduct, orphans and the abandoned are subject to special legislation of rehabilitation, supervision and protection as appropriate.

Parents are obligated to feed, assist, and educate their children during minority, and in other cases where legally applicable. The State shall provide special protection to minors whose parents or guardians are economically unable to provide for their upbringing and education. These parents or guardians shall enjoy preference for the performance of public offices under equal conditions of suitability.

The law shall establish the jurisdiction and special courts that shall hear matters of family and minors. The admission of a minor under eighteen (18) years of age to a jail or penitentiary shall not be permitted.

Every child shall enjoy the benefits of social security and education. The child shall have the right to grow and develop in good health, for which purpose special care shall be provided to both the child and the mother from the prenatal period, having the right to enjoy adequate food, housing, education, recreation, sports, and medical services.

Every child must be protected against all forms of abandonment, cruelty, and exploitation. The child shall not be subject to any type of trafficking. The child shall not work before an appropriate minimum age, nor shall be permitted to engage in any occupation or employment that may harm their health, education, or impede their physical, mental, or moral development. The use of minors by their parents and other persons for acts of begging is prohibited. The law shall establish the penalties applicable to those who violate this provision.

The media shall cooperate in the formation and education of the child.

Every child must in all circumstances be among the first to receive aid, protection, and relief. CHAPTER V OF LABOR

Every person has the right to work, to freely choose their occupation and to resign from it, to equitable and satisfactory conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.

The laws governing relations between employers and workers are of public order. Any acts, stipulations, or agreements that imply waiver, diminish, restrict, or distort the following guarantees are null:

• 1)

  The ordinary daytime work day shall not exceed eight (8) hours daily, nor forty-four (44) per week. The ordinary nighttime work day shall not exceed six (6) hours daily, nor thirty-six (36) per week. The ordinary mixed work day shall not exceed seven (7) hours daily nor forty-two (42) per week. All these work days shall be remunerated with a salary equal to that of forty-eight (48) hours of work. Remuneration for work performed in overtime hours shall be made in accordance with what the law provides. These provisions shall not apply in cases of exception, highly qualified, that the law designates.

• 2)

  No worker may be required to perform labor extending more than twelve (12) hours in each period of twenty-four (24) successive hours, except in cases qualified by law.

• 3)

  Equal work corresponds to equal salary without any discrimination, provided that the position, work day, and conditions of efficiency and length of service are also equal. The salary shall be paid in legal tender currency.

• 4)

  Credits in favor of workers for wages, indemnifications, and other social benefits shall be singularly privileged, in accordance with the law.

• 5)

  Every worker has the right to earn a minimum salary, fixed periodically with the intervention of the State, employers, and workers, sufficient to cover the normal needs of their household, in the material and cultural order, taking into account the modalities of each work, the particular conditions of each region and of each labor, the cost of living, the relative aptitude of the workers, and the remuneration systems of the enterprises. Likewise, a professional minimum salary shall be fixed in those activities in which it is not regulated by a collective contract or agreement. The minimum salary is exempt from attachment, compensation, and deductions, except as provided by law regarding family and labor union obligations of the worker.

• 6)

  The employer is obligated to comply with and ensure compliance with legal provisions on hygiene and sanitation in the facilities of their establishments, adopting appropriate safety measures at work that permit prevention of occupational hazards and ensure the physical and mental integrity of workers. Employers of agricultural enterprises are subject to the same system of prevention. Special protection shall be established for women and minors.

• 7)

  Minors under sixteen (16) years of age and those who have reached that age and remain subject to education by virtue of national legislation may not be employed in any work. Notwithstanding, labor authorities may authorize their employment when they consider it indispensable for the subsistence of the minors, their parents, or their siblings, provided that this does not prevent compliance with compulsory education. For minors under seventeen (17) years of age, the work day, which must be daytime, may not exceed six (6) hours nor thirty (30) per week, in any class of work.

• 8)

  The worker shall have the right to enjoy each year a period of paid vacation, the extent and timing of which shall be regulated by law. In any case, the worker shall have the right to cash payment of accrued vacations and those proportional to the period worked. Vacations may not be compensated by money, nor accumulated, and the employer is obligated to grant them to the worker and the worker to enjoy them. The law shall regulate these obligations and establish the exceptional cases permitted to accumulate and compensate vacations.

• 9)

  Workers shall have the right to paid rest on holidays established by law. The law shall determine the class of work in which this provision shall not apply, but in these cases workers shall have the right to extraordinary remuneration.

• 10)

  The right of workers to payment of the seventh day is recognized; permanent workers shall also receive payment of the thirteenth month as a bonus. The law shall regulate the modalities and form of application of these provisions.

• 11)

  Women have the right to rest before and after childbirth, without loss of employment or salary. During the lactation period, they shall have the right to daily rest to breastfeed their children. The employer may not terminate the work contract of a pregnant woman nor after childbirth without previously proving just cause before a competent judge, in the cases and conditions established by law.

• 12)

  Employers are obligated to indemnify the worker for occupational accidents and occupational diseases, in accordance with the law.

• 13)

  The right to strike and lockout is recognized. The law shall regulate their exercise and may subject them to special restrictions in the public services it designates.

• 14)

  Workers and employers have the right, in accordance with the law, to freely associate for the exclusive purposes of their economic-social activity, organizing unions or professional associations.

• 15)

  The State safeguards individual and collective contracts entered into between employers and workers.

The Law guarantees job stability for workers, in accordance with the characteristics of industries and professions and just causes for separation. When unjustified dismissal becomes effective and final through the respective condemnatory judgment, the worker shall have the right, at their election, to compensation in the form of unpaid wages, as damages and losses and to indemnifications legally and conventionally provided; or, to be reinstated to work with recognition of unpaid wages as damages and losses.

Homeworkers are recognized as having a legal status analogous to that of other workers, taking into account the particularities of their labor.

Domestic workers shall be protected by social legislation. Those who provide domestic services in industrial, commercial, social, and equivalent enterprises shall be considered as manual workers and shall have the rights recognized to them.

The Law shall regulate the contracts of workers in agriculture, livestock, and forestry; terrestrial, air, sea and navigable waterways, and railroad transport; petroleum and mining activities; commerce employees and those other activities carried out within particular modalities.

Independent intellectual workers and the result of their activity shall be subject to protective legislation.

All legal disputes arising from relations between employers and workers shall fall under labor jurisdiction. The law shall establish the corresponding norms for said jurisdiction and for the agencies that shall implement them.

Labor laws shall be inspired by harmony between capital and labor as factors of production. The State must protect the rights of workers, and at the same time protect capital and the employer.

The worker may participate in the profits or benefits of his employer, but shall never assume his risks or losses.

Under equal conditions, Honduran workers shall have preference over foreign workers. Employers are prohibited from employing less than ninety percent (90%) of Honduran workers and from paying them less than eighty-five percent (85%) of the total salaries earned in their respective enterprises. Both proportions may be modified in the exceptional cases that the law determines.

In order to enforce labor guarantees and laws, the State shall supervise and inspect enterprises, imposing in such cases the sanctions established by law.

The State has the obligation to promote, organize, and regulate conciliation and arbitration for the peaceful resolution of labor conflicts.

The State shall promote professional training and technical instruction of workers.

The law shall determine which employers, by the amount of their capital or the number of their workers, shall be obligated to provide to these workers and their families, services of education, health, housing, or of another nature. CHAPTER VI SOCIAL SECURITY

Every person has the right to the security of his economic means of subsistence in case of incapacity to work or obtain paid work. Social security services shall be rendered and administered by the Honduran Social Security Institute, which shall cover cases of illness, maternity, family allowance, old age, orphanhood, forced unemployment, work accidents, proven unemployment, occupational diseases, and all other contingencies that affect the capacity to produce. The State shall create institutions of social assistance and welfare that shall function unified in a unitary state system with the contribution of all interested parties and the State itself.

The State, employers, and workers shall be obligated to contribute to the financing, improvement, and expansion of Social Insurance. The social security system shall be implemented gradually and progressively, both with respect to the risks covered and to the geographic areas and categories of protected workers.

The extension of the social security system to workers in urban and rural areas is considered of public utility. CHAPTER VII HEALTH

The right to health protection is recognized. It is the duty of all to participate in the promotion and preservation of personal and community health. The State shall preserve an adequate environment to protect the health of persons. Consequently, access to water and sanitation is hereby declared a human right. Whose use and benefit shall be equitable, primarily for human consumption. Likewise, the preservation of water sources is guaranteed so that these do not put at risk public life and health. The activities of the State and of public and private entities shall be subject to this provision. The law shall regulate this matter.

It is the responsibility of the State, through its departments and organisms constituted in accordance with the law, to regulate, supervise, and control food products, chemical, pharmaceutical, and biological products.

The law shall regulate the production, trafficking, possession, donation, use, and commercialization of psychotropic drugs which may only be destined for health care services and scientific experiments, under the supervision of the competent authority.

The Honduran Institute for the Prevention of Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, and Pharmacological Dependence is hereby created, which shall be governed by a special law.

The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, shall coordinate all public activities of the centralized and decentralized organisms of said sector, by means of a national health plan, in which priority shall be given to the most needy groups. It is the responsibility of the State to supervise private health activities in accordance with the law.

The Executive Branch shall promote integrated programs to improve the nutritional status of Hondurans. CHAPTER VIII EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Education is an essential function of the State for the conservation, promotion and dissemination of culture, which shall project its benefits to society without discrimination of any kind. National education shall be secular and shall be based on the essential principles of democracy, shall instill and foster in students profound feelings of patriotism towards Honduras and shall be directly linked to the process of economic and social development of the country.

Parents shall have the preferential right to choose the type of education they shall provide to their children.

The State has the obligation to develop basic education for the people, creating for this purpose the necessary administrative and technical bodies dependent directly on the State Department of Education.

The eradication of illiteracy is a primary task of the State. It is the duty of all Hondurans to cooperate to achieve this objective.

The State recognizes and protects freedom of research, learning and teaching.

The levels of formal education shall be determined by the respective law, except for the higher education level which corresponds to the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Education at all levels of the formal educational system, except for the higher education level, shall be authorized, organized, directed and supervised exclusively by the Executive Power through the Department of Education, which shall administer the centers of said system that are entirely financed with public funds.

No educational center may offer knowledge of inferior quality to that of the level corresponding to it in accordance with the law.

The Department of Education and the National Autonomous University of Honduras, without prejudice to their respective competencies, shall adopt the measures necessary so that the general programming of national education is integrated into a coherent system, in order that students respond adequately to the requirements of higher education.

The National Autonomous University of Honduras is an autonomous institution of the State, with legal personality, and enjoys the exclusivity of organizing, directing and developing higher and professional education. It shall contribute to scientific, humanistic and technological research, to the general dissemination of culture and to the study of national problems. It shall plan its participation in the transformation of Honduran society. The law and its statutes shall establish its organization, functioning and powers. For the creation and functioning of private universities, a special law shall be issued in accordance with the principles established by this Constitution. Only official academic degrees granted by the National Autonomous University of Honduras shall have validity, as well as those granted by private and foreign universities, all of which shall be recognized by the National Autonomous University of Honduras. The National Autonomous University of Honduras is the only authority to decide on the recognition of professionals who have graduated from foreign universities. Only persons who hold a valid degree may exercise professional activities. Degrees that do not have a university character and whose granting corresponds to the Executive Power shall have legal validity.

The State shall contribute to the maintenance, development and enhancement of the National Autonomous University of Honduras with an exclusive annual allocation not less than six percent (6%) of the Budget of Net Revenues of the Republic, excluding loans and donations. The National Autonomous University of Honduras is exempt from all kinds of taxes and contributions.

Because of its informative and formative character, teaching has a social and human function that determines for the educator scientific and moral responsibilities toward his students, the institution where he works, and society.

The formation of teachers is an exclusive function and responsibility of the State; a teacher shall be understood as one who administers, organizes, directs, imparts or supervises educational work and whose profession is teaching.

Teachers employed in primary schools shall be exempt from all kinds of taxes on the salaries they earn and on the amounts they subsequently receive in the form of retirement benefits.

The law guarantees to professionals engaged in teaching their stability in employment, a standard of living in accordance with their elevated mission, and a fair retirement. The corresponding Statute of the Honduran Teacher shall be issued.

Every natural or legal person has the right to establish educational centers within respect for the Constitution and the law. Labor relations between teachers and owners of private institutions shall be governed by educational laws, without prejudice to the benefits derived from labor legislation.

The owners of farms, factories and other production centers in rural areas are obliged to establish and maintain schools of basic education, for the benefit of the children of their permanent workers, provided that the number of school-age children exceeds thirty (30) and in border zones exceeds twenty (20). 26 Article 164. Interpreted by Decree No. 227-2000 dated November 1, 2000 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 29,373 of January 9, 2001. In the sense that "all those professionals who administer, organize, direct, teach or supervise educational work at the different levels of our national education system enjoy exemption from all types of tax obligations at the national and municipal level, provided that they sustain the profession of teaching." "It is understood that the exemption referred to in this Article covers only the salaries received under the concept of teaching practice defined in the terms described, and the amounts that may correspond to them in the concept of retirement or pension."

ELECTRONIC CENTER OF JUDICIAL DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION

The teaching of the Constitution of the Republic, national history and geography, is mandatory and shall be in charge of Honduran professionals.

The State shall sustain and promote the education of persons with disabilities.

The State shall promote the development of extracurricular education through libraries, cultural centers and all forms of dissemination.

27 Education provided officially shall be free and mandatory. For one year at the pre-basic level and in its entirety at the basic and middle levels, fully funded by the State, which shall establish the mechanisms of compulsion to make this provision effective.

All anthropological, archaeological, historical and artistic wealth of Honduras forms part of the cultural patrimony of the nation. The law shall establish the norms that shall serve as the basis for its conservation, restoration, maintenance and restitution, as the case may be. It is the duty of all Hondurans to watch over its conservation and prevent its removal. Sites of natural beauty, monuments and reserved zones shall be under the protection of the State.

The State shall preserve and encourage native cultures, as well as genuine expressions of national folklore, popular art and crafts.

The State shall foster the fondness and practice of physical culture and sports.

The State shall promote and support the dissemination of productions by national and foreign authors that, being legitimate philosophical, scientific or literary creations, contribute to national development.

The State's social communication media are at the service of education and culture. Private communication media are obliged to contribute to the achievement of such ends.

Mandatory professional licensing is established. The law shall regulate its organization and operation. CHAPTER IX OF HOUSING

Hondurans are recognized the right to adequate housing. The State shall formulate and execute programs of socially-relevant housing. The law shall regulate the rental of housing and premises, the use of urban land and construction, in accordance with the general interest.

The State shall promote, support and regulate the creation of systems and 27 Article 171. Amended by Decree No.273-2011 dated January 19, 2012 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No.32,753 dated February 21, 2012 and Ratified by Decree No.233-2012 dated January 23, 2013, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No.33,033 of January 24, 2013.

ELECTRONIC CENTER OF JUDICIAL DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION mechanisms for the utilization of internal and external resources to be channeled toward the solution of the housing problem.

Credits and internal or external loans that the State obtains for housing purposes shall be regulated by law for the benefit of the end user of the credit.

The Social Housing Fund is hereby created, whose purpose shall be the development of housing in urban and rural areas. A special law shall regulate its organization and operation. TITLE IV CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES CHAPTER I HABEAS CORPUS, HABEAS DATA AND AMPARO

The State recognizes the guarantee of Habeas Corpus or Personal Exhibition, and of Habeas Data. Consequently, in Habeas Corpus or Personal Exhibition, any aggrieved person or any other person on behalf of such person has the right to file it; and in Habeas Data, only the person whose personal or family data is contained in the files, registers of public or private nature may file it in the following manner: 1) HABEAS CORPUS OR PERSONAL EXHIBITION: a) When a person is illegally imprisoned, detained, or deprived in any manner of the enjoyment of his or her freedom; and, b) When during detention or legal imprisonment, the detainee or prisoner is subjected to torture, mistreatment, abuse, illegal exaction, and any coercion, restriction, or unnecessary harassment to his or her individual security or to the order of the prison. 2) HABEAS DATA: Every person has the right to access information about himself or herself or his or her property in an expeditious and non-onerous manner, whether contained in databases, public or private registers, and, if necessary, to update, correct and/or suppress it. The secrecy of journalistic information sources shall not be affected. The actions of Habeas Corpus and Habeas Data must be exercised without need of a power of attorney or any formality, verbally or in writing, using any means of communication, in business or non-business hours and free of costs. Only the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction over the guarantee of Habeas Data, and it has the inescapable obligation to proceed immediately to cease any violation of the rights of honor, personal or family privacy, and personal image. The holders of the jurisdictional bodies cannot dismiss the action of Habeas Corpus or Personal Exhibition and equally have the inescapable obligation to proceed immediately to cease the violation of freedom and personal security. In both cases, the holders of the jurisdictional bodies that fail to admit these constitutional actions incur criminal and administrative liability. Authorities that order and agents that execute the concealment of the detainee, or who in any way violate these guarantees incur the crime of illegal detention.

The State recognizes the guarantee of amparo. Consequently, any aggrieved person or any other person on behalf of such person has the right to file an amparo action: 1) In order to be maintained or restored in the enjoyment and benefit of the rights or guarantees that the Constitution, treaties, conventions, and other international instruments establish; and, 2) In order to declare in specific cases that a regulation, fact, act, or resolution of an authority does not bind the party filing the action nor is applicable because it contravenes, diminishes, or distorts any of the rights recognized by this Constitution. When the amparo action is filed before an incompetent Jurisdictional Body, it must remit the original document to the competent Jurisdictional Body. The amparo action must be filed in accordance with the Law. CHAPTER II UNCONSTITUTIONALITY AND REVISION Article 184. Laws may be declared unconstitutional for reasons of form or content. The Supreme Court of Justice has jurisdiction over original and exclusive knowledge and resolution in this matter, and must pronounce judgment with the requirements of final judgments.

The declaration of unconstitutionality of a Law and its repeal must be requested by those who consider themselves injured in their direct, personal, and legitimate interest:

• 1)

  By means of an action that must be filed before the Supreme Court of Justice;

• 2)

  By way of exception, which can be raised in any judicial proceeding; and,

• 3)

  Also, the Jurisdictional Body that knows of any judicial proceeding can request ex officio the declaration of unconstitutionality of a Law and its repeal before issuing a resolution. In the cases contemplated in numerals 2) and 3), the proceedings must be elevated to the Supreme Court of Justice following the procedure until the time of citation for judgment, from which point the judicial proceeding on the partial issue must be suspended pending resolution on the unconstitutionality.

No power or authority can take cognizance of pending cases nor reopen concluded judicial proceedings, except in criminal and civil matters that have been judged, which may be revised at any time in favor of the condemned, at their request, at the request of any person, of the Public Ministry, or ex officio. Any aggrieved person who was a party to the proceeding, or with the right to be called to participate in it, may demand the revision of final sentences in civil matters within the term of six (6) months counted from the day when, having been made the last notification, the sentence became final. The action for revision must be exercised exclusively before the Supreme Court of Justice. The Law must regulate the cases and manner of revision. CHAPTER III RESTRICTION OR SUSPENSION OF RIGHTS

The exercise of the rights established in Articles 69, 71, 72, 78, 81, 84, 93, 99, and 103 may be suspended in case of invasion of national territory, serious disturbance of peace, epidemic, or any other general calamity, by the President of the Republic, in accordance with the Council of Ministers, by means of a decree that shall contain:

• 1)

  The reasons that justify it;

• 2)

  The guarantee or guarantees that are restricted;

• 3)

  The territory that will be affected by the restriction; and,

• 4)

  The time that it shall last. Furthermore, the National Congress shall be convened in the same decree so that, within the term of thirty (30) days, it may know of said decree and ratify, modify, or disapprove it. In case it is already convened, it shall know of the decree immediately. The restriction of guarantees may not exceed a term of forty-five (45) days for each time it is decreed. If before the established term for the restriction expires the causes that motivated the decree have disappeared, it shall cease its effects, and in this case every citizen has the right to request its revision. Upon expiration of the term of forty-five (45) days, the guarantees are automatically restored, except if a new decree of restriction has been issued. The restriction of guarantees decreed in no way shall affect the functioning of State bodies, whose members shall always enjoy the immunities and prerogatives granted to them by law.

The territory in which the guarantees expressed in the preceding article are suspended shall be governed, during the suspension, by the Law of State of Siege, but neither in said law nor in any other law may the suspension of other guarantees than those already mentioned be provided. Nor may new crimes be declared or other penalties imposed than those already established in the laws in force when the suspension is decreed during the suspension.

The Legislative Power is exercised by a Congress of Deputies, who shall be elected by direct suffrage. It shall meet in ordinary sessions in the capital of the Republic on the twenty-fifth of January of each year, without need of convocation, and shall close its sessions on the thirty-first of October of the same year. The sessions may be extended for the time deemed necessary by resolution of Congress, at the initiative of one or more of its members or at the request of the Executive Power. The recesses shall be established in the Organic Law of the Legislative Power.

The National Congress shall meet in extraordinary sessions:

• 1)

  When requested by the Executive Power;

• 2)

  When convoked by its Standing Committee; and 3) When agreed to by more than half of its members. In these cases it shall only deal with the matters that motivated the respective convocation decree.

A number of five (5) deputies may extraordinarily convoke the National Congress to session in any place of the Republic, when the Executive, another authority, force majeure, or act of God prevents its installation or the holding of its sessions.

For the installation of the National Congress and the holding of its sessions, more than half of its members shall be sufficient.

Neither Congress itself, nor any other State authority or private persons may prevent the installation of Congress, the holding of sessions, or decree its dissolution. The violation of this provision constitutes a crime against the Powers of the State.

On the twenty-first (21) of January the deputies shall meet in preparatory sessions, and with the attendance of at least five (5), the Provisional Directorate shall be organized.

On the twenty-third (23) of January the deputies shall meet in their last preparatory session to elect the permanent directorate. The President of the National Congress shall exercise his or her functions for a period of four (4) years and shall be the president of the Standing Committee. The rest of the directorate shall last two (2) years in its functions.

The deputies shall be elected for a period of four (4) years, counted from the date on which the National Congress is solemnly installed. In case of absolute absence of a deputy, the alternate called by the National Congress shall complete the term.

Deputies are obligated to convene in assembly on the dates designated by this Constitution, and to attend all sessions held by the National Congress, except in cases of duly proven incapacity. Deputies who, through unjustified absence or abandonment of sessions, prevent the formation of quorum or cause its dissolution, shall be expelled from the National Congress and shall lose the right to hold public office for a period of ten (10) years.

To be elected deputy, the following are required:

• 1)

  To be Honduran by birth;

• 2)

  To have reached twenty-one (21) years of age;

• 3)

  To be in the exercise of civic rights;

• 4)

  To be a layperson; and 5) To have been born in the department for which the candidate is running or to have resided therein for at least the last five (5) years prior to the date of the call for elections.

The following cannot be elected deputies:

• 1)

  The President and the designates to the Presidency of the Republic;

• 2)

  The Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice;

• 3)

  The State secretaries and subsecretaries;

• 4)

  Military chiefs with national jurisdiction;

• 5)

  The heads of the superior organs of direction, government and administration of the decentralized institutions of the State;

• 6)

  Military personnel on active duty and members of security bodies or any other armed body;

• 7)

  Other public officials and employees of the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch as determined by law, except those who hold teaching positions and health assistance positions;

• 8)

  The Counselors of the National Electoral Council, the Justices of the Electoral Justice Tribunal and the Commissioners of the National Registry of Persons;

• 9)

  The Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Members of the Superior Court of Accounts; Attorney General of the Republic and Deputy Attorney General, Environmental Prosecutor, the Superintendent of Concessions and the National Commissioner of Human Rights;

• 10)

  The spouse and relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity of those cited in items 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9 preceding, and of the secretary and subsecretary of State in the Ministries of Defense and Public Security;

• 11)

  The spouse and relatives of the chiefs of Military Regions, commanders of military units, departmental or sectional military delegates, delegates of security bodies or other armed bodies, within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, when they are candidates for the department where such persons exercise jurisdiction;

• 12)

  The concessionaires of the State for the exploitation of natural resources or contractors for public services or works financed with State funds and those who, for such reasons, have pending accounts with the State; and,

• 13)

  Delinquent debtors to the public treasury. These incompatibilities and disqualifications shall affect those holding the positions indicated within the six (6) months prior to the date of election.

Repealed

The buildings and facilities of the National Congress are inviolable. It is incumbent upon the president of the Board of Directors, or its Standing Committee, to authorize the entry of members of the public force when circumstances require it.

The National Congress shall be composed of a fixed number of one hundred twenty-eight (128) principal deputies and their respective alternates, who shall be elected in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The Deputies shall be representatives of the people; their departmental distribution shall be made on the basis of the quotient designated by the National Electoral Council, in accordance with the law regulating electoral processes. In those departments that have a population smaller than the quotient designated by the National Electoral Council, one Principal Deputy and the respective alternate shall be elected. In those departments that have a population smaller than the quotient designated by the National Electoral Council, one principal deputy and the respective alternate shall be elected.

Deputies in office may not hold paid public positions during the time for which they have been elected, except for teaching positions, cultural positions and those related to professional social assistance services. Nevertheless, they may hold the positions of secretary or subsecretaries of State, president or managers of decentralized entities, head of diplomatic or consular mission, or perform ad-hoc diplomatic missions. In these cases they shall be reincorporated into the National Congress upon ceasing their functions. Alternates may hold public employment or positions without their acceptance and exercise resulting in the loss of such status.

No deputy may lease, directly or indirectly, State property or obtain from the State any contracts or concessions of any kind. Acts in violation of this provision shall produce absolute nullity by operation of law.

The National Congress shall have the following powers:

• 1)

  To create, decree, interpret, reform and repeal laws;

• 2)

  To convene, suspend and close its sessions;

• 3)

  To issue its Organic Law of the Legislative Branch and apply the sanctions established therein for those who violate it;

• 4)

  To convene extraordinary sessions in accordance with this Constitution;

• 5)

  To incorporate its members upon review of credentials and to administer the constitutional oath;

• 6)

  To call upon substitute deputies in case of absolute absence, temporary absence or legitimate impediment of the principal deputies or when the latter refuse to attend;

• 7)

  To conduct the ballot count and declare the election of the President, Designates to the Presidency; and deputies to the National Congress and to the Central American Parliament and the members of Municipal Corporations, when the National Electoral Council shall not have done so;

• 8)

  To accept or reject the resignation of deputies for justified cause;

• 9)

  To elect for the corresponding period and from the list of candidates proposed by the Nominating Board referred to in this Constitution, the Justices of the Supreme Court of Justice;

• 10)

  To interpret the Constitution of the Republic in ordinary sessions, in a single legislature, with two-thirds vote of all its members. By this procedure Articles 373 and 374 of the Constitution may not be interpreted;

• 11)

  To make the election of the Members of the Superior Court of Accounts, Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Counselors of the National Electoral Council and Justices of the Electoral Justice Tribunal, Attorney General of the Republic and Deputy Attorney General, National Commissioner of Human Rights, Superintendent of Concessions, Commissioners of the National Registry of Persons;

• 12)

  To receive the constitutional oath from the President of the Republic and Designates to the Presidency, declared elected, and from the other officials whom it elects; to grant them leave and to admit or reject their resignation and to fill vacancies in case of absolute absence of any of them;

• 13)

  To grant or deny permission to the President, Vice President and Designates to the Presidency of the Republic to be absent from the country for more than fifteen (15) days;

• 14)

  To change the residence of the Branches of State for serious causes;

• 15)

  To conduct the Political Trial in accordance with the procedure established in the Special Law of Political Trial, against public servants and for the causes established in Article 234 of this Constitution;

• 16)

  To grant amnesty for political crimes and related common crimes; outside of this case the National Congress may not issue resolutions by executive grace;

• 17)

  To grant or deny permission to Hondurans to accept positions or decorations from another State;

• 18)

  To decree rewards and grant temporary privileges to the authors or inventors and those who have introduced new industries or improved existing ones of general utility;

• 19)

  To approve or disapprove contracts that involve tax exemptions, incentives and concessions or any other contract that is to produce or extend its effects to the following government period of the Republic;

• 20)

  To approve or disapprove the administrative conduct of the high officials of the Executive Branch, Judicial Branch and of the National Electoral Council, Superior Court of Accounts, Attorney General's Office, Public Ministry, National Commissioner of Human Rights, National Registry of Persons, Decentralized Institutions and all the authorities that under the Constitution of the Republic and the Law the National Congress is responsible for electing, as well as the other Auxiliary and Special Organs of the State.

• 21)

  To appoint special commissions for the investigation of matters of national interest. Appearance upon request of such commissions shall be mandatory under the same enforcement mechanisms observed in judicial procedure;

• 22)

  To interpellate the State secretaries and other officials of the Central Government, decentralized organisms, state enterprises and any other entity in which the State has an interest, on matters relating to public administration;

• 23)

  To decree the restriction or suspension of rights in accordance with what is prescribed in the Constitution and to ratify, modify or disapprove the restriction or suspension that the Executive Branch may have issued in accordance with the law;

• 24)

  To confer the ranks of Major to General of Division, at the proposal of the Executive Branch;

• 25)

  To fix the number of permanent members of the Armed Forces;

• 26)

  To authorize or deny the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the country;

• 27)

  To authorize the Executive Branch the departure of Armed Forces troops to provide services in foreign territory, in accordance with international treaties and conventions;

• 28)

  To declare war and make peace;

• 29)

  To authorize the reception of foreign military missions for assistance or technical cooperation in Honduras;

• 30)

  To approve or disapprove international treaties entered into by the Executive Branch;

• 31)

  To create or suppress positions and to decree honors and pensions for relevant services rendered to the Nation;

• 32)

  To annually approve the General Budget of Income and Expenditures using as a basis the project sent by the Executive Branch, properly itemized and to resolve regarding its modification;

• 33)

  To annually approve the properly itemized budgets of income and expenditures of decentralized institutions;

• 34)

  To decree the weight, standard and type of national currency and the standard of weights and measures;

• 35)

  To establish taxes and contributions as well as public charges;

• 36)

  To approve or disapprove loans or similar agreements related to public credit, entered into by the Executive Branch; In order to contract foreign loans or those that, although negotiated in the country, are to be financed with foreign capital, it is necessary that the respective project be approved by the National Congress;

• 37)

  To establish by means of a law the cases in which the granting of subsidies and subventions for purposes of public utility or as an instrument of economic and social development may proceed;

• 38)

  To approve or disapprove the settlement of the General Budget of Income and Expenditures of the Republic and of the budgets of decentralized and deconcentrated institutions. The Superior Court of Accounts shall pronounce itself on such settlements and summarize its vision regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the public sector, which shall include the evaluation of spending, organization, management performance and reliability of control of internal audits, the chart of accounts and its application;

• 39)

  To regulate the payment of the national debt at the initiative of the Executive Branch;

• 40)

  To exercise control over public revenues;

• 41)

  To authorize the Executive Branch to alienate national property or its application to public use;

• 42)

  To authorize ports; to create and suppress customs houses and free trade zones at the initiative of the Executive Branch;

• 43)

  To regulate maritime, land and air commerce;

• 44)

  To establish national symbols; and 45) To exercise the other powers designated to it by this Constitution and by laws.

The powers of the Legislative Branch are nondelegable except for the power to receive the constitutional oath from high government officials, in accordance with this Constitution.

The Board of Directors of the National Congress, before closing its sessions, shall designate from among its members nine (9) principal members and their respective alternates who shall form the Standing Committee during recess of the National Congress.

The Standing Committee shall have the following powers:

• 1)

  To issue its Internal Regulations;

• 2)

  To issue opinions and complete the other proceedings in matters that remain pending, so that they may be considered in the subsequent legislature;

• 3)

  To prepare for submission to the consideration of the National Congress the draft bills for reforms to laws that in its judgment demand the needs of the country;

• 4)

  To receive from the Executive Branch the decrees issued in the last ten (10) days of sessions of the National Congress, duly sanctioned;

• 5)

  To receive complaints of violations of this Constitution;

• 6)

  To maintain under its custody and responsibility the Archive of the National Congress;

• 7)

  To publish an edition of all decrees and resolutions issued by the National Congress in its previous sessions, within three (3) months following the closure of the same;

• 8)

  To convene the National Congress to extraordinary sessions at the request of the Executive Branch or when the exigency of the case requires it;

• 9)

  To receive from the Executive Branch the documentation and information relating to economic agreements, credit operations or loans that said Branch intends to enter into, authorize or contract in order to report comprehensively to the National Congress in its forthcoming sessions;

• 10)

  To present to the National Congress a detailed report of its work during the period of its administration;

• 11)

  To temporarily elect, in case of absolute absence, the replacements of officials who must be designated by the National Congress;

• 12)

  To call upon other deputies to join to replace members of the Committee;

• 13)

  To grant or deny permission to the President and Designates to the Presidency of the Republic for more than fifteen (15) days to be absent from the country;

• 14)

  To appoint the special commissions that may be necessary, composed of members of the National Congress; and,

• 15)

  The other powers conferred upon it by the Constitution.

A Special Payroll Office of the Legislative Branch is created, which shall handle the payment of all expenses of the branch.

The Special Payroll Office of the Legislative Branch shall be under the immediate supervision of the Board of Directors of the National Congress, or in its case of the Standing Committee. It is incumbent upon the Board of Directors of the National Congress to appoint the paymaster, who shall provide security in accordance with the law.

The Executive Branch shall include in the General Budget of Expenditures and Income of the Republic, the funds budgeted by the Legislative Branch for its functioning.

The General Treasury of the Republic shall credit by advance quarterly installments the necessary funds to cover the expenses of the National Congress. CHAPTER II ON THE FORMATION, SANCTION, AND PROMULGATION OF LAW

The exclusive right to initiate laws belongs to the Deputies to the National Congress, the President of the Republic, the State Secretaries; as well as the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Electoral Council in matters within their competence and a number of at least three thousand (3,000) citizens under the mechanism of citizen initiative.

No bill shall be subject to a final vote except after three (3) debates held on different days, except in cases of qualified urgency approved by a simple majority of the deputies present.

Every bill, upon approval by the National Congress, shall be sent to the Executive Power, no later than three (3) days after having been voted, so that it may give its sanction in the appropriate case and cause it to be promulgated as law. The sanction of law shall be made with this formula: "Therefore, Let It Be Executed". 54 Article 208 numeral 13. Pursuant to Judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice dated November 11, 2008 on the Claim of Unconstitutionality No. 514-592-2008. Compliance with Judgment through Decree No.166-2008 dated November 18, 2008, published in the Official Journal La Gaceta No. 31,765 dated November 19, 2008. 55 Article 213. Amended by Decree No.200-2018 dated January 24, 2019 and Published in the Official Journal La Gaceta No. 34,856 dated January 28, 2019. Ratified by Decree No.2-2019 dated January 29, 2019 and published in the Official Journal La Gaceta No.34,864 dated February 6, 2019.

If the Executive Power finds it objectionable to sanction the bill, it shall return it to the National Congress within ten (10) days, with this formula: "Return to Congress", setting forth the reasons for its disagreement. If within the stated period it does not object to it, it shall be deemed sanctioned and shall be promulgated as law. When the Executive returns the bill, the National Congress shall submit it to new deliberation and if it is ratified by two thirds (2/3) of votes, it shall pass it again to the Executive Power, with this formula: "Ratified Constitutionally" and the latter shall publish it without delay. If the veto is based on the ground that the bill is unconstitutional, it may not be submitted to new deliberation without first hearing the Supreme Court of Justice, which shall issue its opinion within the time period designated by the National Congress.

When the National Congress votes a bill upon the termination of its sessions and the Executive deems it objectionable to sanction it, it is obliged to give it notice immediately so that it remains in session up to ten (10) days, counted from the date on which the Congress received the bill, and if it does not do so, it must remit it within the first eight (8) days of the subsequent sessions of the Congress.

Sanction shall not be necessary, nor may the Executive Power exercise veto in the following cases and resolutions:

• 1)

  In the elections that the National Congress makes or declares, or in the resignations that it accepts or rejects;

• 2)

  In the declarations of whether or not there is cause for prosecution;

• 3)

  In the decrees that refer to the conduct of the Executive Power;

• 4)

  In the regulations that it issues for its internal regime;

• 5)

  In the decrees that it approves for transferring its seat to another place in the territory of Honduras temporarily or for suspending its sessions or calling extraordinary sessions;

• 6)

  In the Budget Law;

• 7)

  In the treaties or contracts that the National Congress disapproves;

• 8)

  In the reforms that are decreed to the Constitution of the Republic; and, 9. In the interpretations that are decreed to the Constitution of the Republic by the National Congress. In these cases the Executive Power shall promulgate the Law with this formula: "THEREFORE LET IT BE PUBLISHED".

Whenever a bill, which does not proceed from the initiative of the Supreme Court of Justice, has as its object the reform or repeal of any of the provisions contained in the codes of the Republic, it may not be discussed without hearing the opinion of that court. The Court shall issue its report within the time period designated by the National Congress. This provision does not include laws of a political, economic, and administrative nature.

No bill rejected totally or partially may be discussed again in the same legislative session.

Law is binding by virtue of its promulgation and after twenty (20) days have elapsed from the completion of its publication in the official journal "La Gaceta". The time period referred to in this article may, however, be restricted or extended in the same law and, in special cases, another form of promulgation may be ordered. CHAPTER III OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ACCOUNTS

The Superior Court of Accounts is the governing body of the control system for public resources, with functional and administrative autonomy from the Powers of the State, subject only to compliance with the Constitution and the laws. It shall be accountable to the National Congress for the acts executed in the exercise of its functions. The Superior Court of Accounts has as its function the subsequent audit of funds, assets, and resources administered by the Powers of the State, decentralized and deconcentrated institutions, including state or mixed banks, the National Commission of Banks and Insurance, municipalities, and any other special body or public or private entity that receives or administers public resources from internal or external sources. In the performance of its function it shall conduct financial, management, and results control, based on efficiency and effectiveness, economy, equity, truthfulness, and legality. It shall also be responsible for establishing a system of transparency in the management of public servants, the determination of illicit enrichment, and the control of assets, liabilities, and in general, the patrimony of the State. In order to fulfill its function, the Superior Court of Accounts shall have the powers determined by its Organic Law.

The Superior Court of Accounts shall be composed of three (3) members elected by the National Congress, with the favorable vote of two thirds of the total deputies. The members of the Superior Court of Accounts shall be elected for a term of seven (7) years and may not be reelected. It shall correspond to the National Congress to elect the President of the Superior Court of Accounts.

To be a Member of the Superior Court of Accounts, the following are required:

• 1)

  To be Honduran by birth;

• 2)

  To be older than thirty-five (35) years of age;

• 3)

  To be a citizen in the exercise of his or her rights;

• 4)

  To be of recognized honesty and of notorious good conduct; and,

• 5)

  To possess a university degree in the areas of economic, administrative, legal, or financial sciences.

Illicit enrichment is presumed when the increase in the capital of a public official or employee, from the date on which he or she took office, until the date on which he or she ceased to hold office, is notably superior to that which he or she could have normally obtained by virtue of the salaries and emoluments that he or she has received legally, and from the increases of his or her capital or income from any other lawful cause. Illicit enrichment shall likewise be presumed when the public servant does not authorize the investigation of his or her bank deposits or businesses in the country or abroad. To determine the increase referred to in the first paragraph of this article, the capital and income of the official or employee, those of his or her spouse, and those of his or her children shall be considered together. The declaration of assets by public officials and employees shall be made in accordance with law. When the public servant is acquitted, he or she shall have the right to resume his or her office.

The Superior Court of Accounts shall submit to the National Congress, through its President, within the first forty (40) days following the end of the fiscal year, the annual report of its management.

All aspects related to the organization and operation of the Superior Court of Accounts and its dependencies shall be determined by its Organic Law. CHAPTER IV OF THE OFFICE OF THE GENERAL PROCURATOR OF THE REPUBLIC

The Office of the General Procurator of the Republic has the legal representation of the State; its organization and operation shall be determined by Law.

The General Procurator and Sub-Procurator of the Republic shall be elected by the National Congress for four (4) years, and may not be reelected for a subsequent period. They must meet the same conditions and shall have the same prerogatives and incompatibilities established in this Constitution for the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The civil actions resulting from the fiscal oversight interventions of the Superior Court of Accounts shall be exercised by the General Procurator of the Republic, except those related to municipalities which shall be the responsibility of the officials indicated by the laws and, in the absence thereof, by the Office of the General Procurator of the Republic.

The State shall allocate the necessary funds for the adequate organization and operation of the Office of the General Procurator of the Republic. All agencies of the Public Administration shall cooperate with the General Procurator of the Republic in the fulfillment of his/her duties in the manner determined by law. CHAPTER V SECTION I OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY

The Public Ministry is the specialized professional agency responsible for the representation, defense, and protection of the interests of society, functionally independent of the powers of the State and free from all political or sectarian interference. The Public Ministry enjoys administrative, technical, financial, and budgetary autonomy; to this effect, in the General Budget of Income and Expenditures of the Republic, it shall have an annual allocation in a gradual manner until reaching three percent (3%) of current revenues. The Executive Power shall accredit quarterly in advance the corresponding budgetary allocations. The Public Ministry is responsible for the ex officio exercise of public criminal action. In matters of its competence, it shall be exercised by the Office of the General Procurator of the Republic and the actions that correspond to private parties in their case. Likewise, the Public Ministry has the coordination, technical and legal direction of criminal and forensic investigation.

The leadership of the Public Ministry corresponds to the General Prosecutor of the Republic; there shall also be an Adjunct General Prosecutor, who shall substitute the office holder in case of absences, recusal, or disqualification. These officials shall be elected by the National Congress for a period of five (5) years, with the favorable vote of at least two-thirds of its members, from a list of five (5) candidates selected by a Proposing Board, composed in the terms established by Law. To be General Prosecutor of the Republic and Adjunct General Prosecutor, the following requirements are necessary:

• 1)

  To be Honduran or Honduran by birth;

• 2)

  Citizen or citizen in the enjoyment of their rights;

• 3)

  Lawyer or Lawyer duly registered with the bar, with distinguished professional experience of more than ten (10) years or having served as a judge or in the criminal area for at least ten (10) years;

• 4)

  Over forty (40) years of age; and,

• 5)

  Of conduct and moral solvency duly proven. SECTION II OF POLITICAL TRIAL

Political Trial is warranted against the President of the Republic and Presidential Designates, Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, Deputies of the National Congress and Central American Parliament, Municipal Corporations, and all public servants elected by the National Congress, when there exists a serious complaint against them in the performance of their duties, for carrying out actions contrary to the Constitution of the Republic or the national interest and for manifest negligence, incapacity or incompetence in the performance of their duties. Without prejudice to administrative, civil, and criminal responsibility, removal from office shall be the only consequence derived from responsibility decreed by means of a political trial. When the complaint is against the President of the Republic, the processing of the trial and his/her removal must be approved by three-quarters of the totality of the Deputies; in other cases it shall be by two-thirds of the chamber. The President of the Republic may only be removed from office by the National Congress through Political Trial. The implementation of Political Trial and its effects are not subject to jurisdictional control and the Decree issued to this effect does not require approval by the Executive Power. Political Trial consists of two (2) stages: the Investigative Stage which shall last as established in the Special Law issued for this purpose, and the Discussion and Voting Stage, which shall last until five (5) days, counted from the presentation of the report to the Plenary by the Special Commission. CHAPTER VI OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER

The Executive Power is exercised by the President in representation and for the benefit of the people, and in his/her absence, by the Designates to the Presidency of the Republic.

The President and three (3) Designates to the Presidency shall be elected jointly and directly by the people, by simple majority of votes. The election shall be declared by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and in its absence, by the National Congress or by the Supreme Court of Justice as the case may be.

The presidential term shall be four (4) years and shall begin on the twenty-seventh (27) of January following the date on which the election was held.

To be President or Designate to the Presidency, the following requirements are necessary:

• 1)

  To be Honduran by birth;

• 2)

  To be over thirty (30) years of age;

• 3)

  To be in the enjoyment of citizen rights; and,

• 4)

  To be of secular status.

The citizen who has held the position of Executive Power may not be President or Designate. Whoever violates this provision or proposes its reform, as well as those who support it directly or indirectly, shall cease immediately in the performance of their respective duties, and shall be disqualified for ten (10) years for the exercise of all public office.

The following may not be elected President:

• 1)

  The Designates to the Presidency of the Republic; Secretaries and Sub-Secretaries of State, Counselors of the National Electoral Council, Magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal of Justice, Magistrates and Judges of the Judicial Branch, Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Managers, Sub-Managers, Executive Secretaries of Decentralized Institutions; General Procurator and Sub-Procurator of the Republic; Magistrates of the Superior Court of Accounts; who have exercised functions during the six (6) months preceding the date of the election of the President of the Republic;

• 2)

  Chief officers and general officers of the Armed Forces;

• 3)

  Superior chiefs of the Armed Forces and police or state security corps;

• 4)

  Active duty military personnel and members of any other armed body who have exercised their functions during the last twelve (12) months preceding the date of election;

• 5)

  Repealed;

• 6)

  The spouse and relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity of the President and of the Designates who have exercised the Presidency in the year preceding the election; and, 7) The representatives or proxies of companies concessioned by the State, the concessionaires of the State for the exploitation of natural resources or contractors of services and public works financed with national funds, and those who by such concepts have pending accounts with the State.

The President of the Republic, or whoever exercises his/her functions, may not be absent from national territory for more than fifteen (15) days without permission from the National Congress or its Standing Committee.

77,78,79 In temporary absences of the President of the Republic, one (1) of the Designees shall substitute for him in his functions. If the absence of the President were absolute, the designee chosen by the National Congress for that purpose shall exercise the executive power for the time remaining to complete the constitutional period. However, if all three (3) Designees were also absolutely absent, the Executive Power shall be exercised by the President of the National Congress, and, in the absence of the latter, by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, for the time remaining to complete the constitutional period. If the election of the President and Designees shall not have been declared one day before January twenty-seventh (27), the Executive Power shall be exercised exceptionally by the Council of State Secretaries presided over by the State Secretary in the Offices of Interior and Justice. The Council of State Secretaries must convoke elections of supreme authorities within fifteen (15) days following said date. These elections shall be held within a period not less than four (4) nor greater than six (6) months, counted from the date of the convocation. Once elections are held, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal or, in its absence, the National Congress or the Supreme Court of Justice, as the case may be, shall make the corresponding declaration within twenty (20) days following the date of the election, and the elected officials shall immediately take possession of their offices until completing the corresponding constitutional period. 76 Article 240 numeral 6. In accordance with the Ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice dated November 11, 2008 regarding the Constitutionality Appeal No. 514-592-2008. Compliance with Ruling through Decree No.166-2008 dated November 18, 2008, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 31,765 dated November 19, 2008. 77 Article 242 paragraph 3. Interpretation by Decree No.169-86 of October 30, 1986, and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No.25, 097 dated December 10, 1986. In the sense that "the expression -subsequent- that appears in them shall be understood as that which follows immediately". 78 Article 242 paragraph 5. Reformed by Decree No.200-2018 of January 24, 2019 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 34,856 dated January 28, 2019. Ratified by Decree No.2-2019 dated January 29, 2019 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No.34,864 dated February 6, 2019. 79 Article 242 paragraph 6. Reformed by Decree No.412-2002 of November 13, 2002 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 30,017 dated February 20, 2003. Ratified by Decree No.154-2003 dated September 23, 2003 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No.30,253 dated December 1, 2003.

ELECTRONIC CENTER FOR JUDICIAL DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION While the new supreme authorities elected take possession of their respective offices, the Members of the National Congress, the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Municipal Corporations of the concluding period shall continue to perform their functions on an interim basis.

80 If at the beginning of the constitutional period for which he has been elected, the President does not present himself, while he presents himself the Executive Power shall be exercised by the Designee to the Presidency elected by the Congress.

81 The constitutional oath of the President and of the designees to the Presidency of the Republic shall be presented before the president of the National Congress, if assembled, and, in the absence thereof, before the president of the Supreme Court of Justice. In the event that it cannot be presented before the aforementioned officials, it may be presented before any judge of law or peace of the Republic.

The President of the Republic has the general administration of the State; his attributes are:

• 1)

  To comply with and cause to be complied with the Constitution, treaties and conventions, laws and other legal provisions;

• 2)

  To direct the general policy of the State and represent it;

• 3)

  To maintain unimpaired the independence and honor of the Republic, the integrity and inviolability of national territory;

• 4)

  To maintain peace and internal security of the Republic and to repel any attack or foreign aggression;

• 5)

  To freely appoint and remove State secretaries and subsecretaries, and other officials and employees whose appointment is not attributed to other authorities;

• 6)

  To urge the National Congress to extraordinary sessions through the Standing Commission or to propose the extension of ordinary sessions;

• 7)

  To restrict or suspend the exercise of rights, in accordance with the Council of Ministers, subject to what is established in this Constitution;

• 8)

  To direct messages to the National Congress at any time, and obligatorily in person and in writing upon the installation of each ordinary legislature;

• 9)

  To participate in the formation of laws, presenting bills to the National Congress through the State secretaries;

• 10)

  To give the Legislative, Judicial and Supreme Electoral Tribunal the aid and forces they need to enforce their resolutions;82 11) To issue agreements and decrees and to issue regulations and resolutions in accordance with the law; 12) To direct policy and international relations; 13) To celebrate treaties and conventions, to ratify, with prior approval of the National Congress, international treaties of a political or military character, those relating to national territory, sovereignty and concessions, those that entail financial obligations for the public treasury or those that require modification or repeal of any constitutional or legal provision and those that require legislative measures for their execution; 14) To appoint the heads of diplomatic and consular missions in accordance with the Foreign Service Law to be issued, who must be Hondurans by birth, except in the case of an ad-honorem position or joint representations of Honduras with other States; 15) To receive the heads of foreign diplomatic missions, the representatives of international organizations; to issue and withdraw the Exequatur to the Consuls of other States; 16) To exercise supreme command of the Armed Forces in his capacity as commander general, and to adopt the measures necessary for the defense of the Republic; 17) To declare war and make peace in recess of the National Congress, which must be immediately convoked; 18) To generally oversee the official conduct of officials and public employees for the security and prestige of the government and the State; 19) To administer the public treasury; 20) To issue extraordinary measures in economic and financial matters when the national interest so requires, giving account to the National Congress; 21) To negotiate loans, effect their contracting with prior approval of the National Congress when applicable; 22) To formulate the National Development Plan, discuss it in the Council of Ministers, submit it for the approval of the National Congress, direct it and execute it; 23) To regulate tariff rates in accordance with the law; 24) To pardon and commute sentences in accordance with the law; 25) To confer decorations in accordance with the law; 26) To cause the revenues of the State to be collected and to regulate their investment in accordance with the law; 27) To publish quarterly the Statement of Income and Expenditures of the Public Revenue; 28) To organize, direct, guide and promote public education, eradicate illiteracy, disseminate and improve technical education; 29) To adopt measures for the promotion, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation of the health of the inhabitants; 30) To direct the economic and financial policy of the State; 31) To exercise supervision and control of banking, insurance and financial institutions through the National Commission of Banks and Insurance, whose composition and operation shall be governed by a special law, and to appoint the presidents and vice presidents of State banks, in accordance with the law; 32) To issue all measures and provisions within its reach to promote the rapid execution of Agrarian Reform and the development of production and productivity in agriculture; 33) To sanction, veto, promulgate and publish the laws approved by the National Congress; 34) To direct and support the policy of Economic and Social Integration, both national and international, tending toward the improvement of the living conditions of the Honduran people; 35) To create, maintain and eliminate public services and to take the measures necessary for their proper operation; 36) To confer military ranks from second lieutenant to captain, inclusive; 37) To ensure that the Armed Forces are apolitical, essentially professional, obedient and non-deliberative;83 38) To grant and cancel naturalization letters, authorized by the Executive Power, in accordance with the law; 39) To grant pensions, bonuses and Christmas bonuses, in accordance with the law; 40) To grant legal personality to civil associations in accordance with the law; 41) To watch over harmony between capital and labor; 42) To review and set the minimum wage in accordance with the law; 43) To permit or deny, with prior authorization of the National Congress, the transit through Honduran territory of troops from another country; 44) To permit, with prior authorization of the National Congress, the departure of Honduran troops to provide services in foreign territory, in accordance with international treaties and conventions for operations on the maintenance of peace; and, 45) Those others conferred upon him by the Constitution and the laws; CHAPTER VII OF STATE SECRETARIES

84,85 The State Secretaries are organs of the general administration of the country and depend directly on the President of the Republic. The law shall determine their number, organization, competence and operation, as well as the organization, competence and operation of the Council of Ministers.

The State secretaries are collaborators of the President of the Republic in the orientation, coordination, direction and supervision of the organs and entities of the national public administration, in their area of competence.

The decrees, regulations, agreements, orders and dispositions of the President of the Republic must be authorized by the State secretaries in their respective departments or by the subsecretaries in their case. Without these requirements they shall have no legal force. The State secretaries and subsecretaries shall be jointly and severally liable with the President of the Republic for the acts they authorize. Those ministers present shall be liable for the resolutions taken in the Council of Ministers, unless they have reasoned their vote against it.

86 To be a State Secretary or Sub-Secretary, the requirements indicated in numerals 1), 3) and 4) of Article 238 of this Constitution must be met and, furthermore, be at least twenty-five (25) years of age. Sub-Secretaries shall substitute for Secretaries by operation of law.

The following cannot be State Secretaries or Sub-Secretaries: 1) The relatives of the President of the Republic, within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity;87 2) Those who have administered or collected public funds, while they do not have the receipt of solvency of their account; 3) Those who are delinquent debtors of the public treasury; and, 4) Those who are concessionaires of the State, their agents or representatives for the exploitation of natural resources or contractors of services and public works financed with State funds, and those who on such grounds have pending accounts with the State.

The National Congress may call upon the State secretaries and these must answer the interpellations made to them regarding matters relating to public administration.

The President of the Republic convokes and presides over the Council of Ministers. All resolutions of the Council shall be taken by simple majority and in case of a tie, the president shall have double vote. The Council shall meet at the initiative of the President to take resolutions in all matters he deems of national importance and to consider the cases designated by law. The State Secretary in the Office of the Presidency shall serve as secretary.

The exercise of another public office is incompatible with the function of State secretary, except in the case where laws assign other functions to him. The rules, prohibitions and sanctions established in articles 203 and 204 shall apply to State secretaries insofar as applicable.

The State secretaries must present annually to the National Congress within the first fifteen (15) days of its installation, a report of the work carried out in their respective offices.

The administrative acts of any organ of the State that must produce legal effects of a general nature shall be published in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta" and their validity shall be regulated in accordance with what is provided in this Constitution for the effectivity of law. CHAPTER VIII OF THE CIVIL SERVICE

The Civil Service regime regulates the employment and public service relations established between the State and its servants, founded on principles of suitability, efficiency and honesty. Personnel administration shall be subject to scientific methods based on the merit system. The State shall protect its servants within the civil service career.

The law shall regulate the Civil Service and in particular the conditions for admission to the Public Administration; promotions and advancements based on merit and aptitude; the guarantee of permanence, transfers, suspensions and guarantees; the duties of public servants and the remedies against resolutions that affect them.

Neither in the central government nor in the decentralized bodies of the State may any person hold two (2) or more paid public offices simultaneously, except for those who provide health care assistance services and teaching. No official, employee, or public worker who receives a regular salary shall earn per diem or bonification for the provision of a service in fulfillment of their functions.

The provisions of this chapter shall apply to the officials and employees of decentralized and municipal institutions.

Decentralized institutions may only be created by special law and provided that the following are guaranteed:

• 1)

  Greater efficiency in the administration of national interests;

• 2)

  The satisfaction of collective needs of public service, without profit objectives;

• 3)

  Greater effectiveness in the fulfillment of the purposes of the Public Administration;

• 4)

  The economic and administrative justification of the cost of their operation, of the expected performance or utility, or in any case, of the anticipated savings;

• 5)

  The exclusivity of competence, in such a way that their creation does not involve duplication with other bodies of the Public Administration already existing;

• 6)

  The utilization and exploitation of assets or resources belonging to the State; the participation of the State in those areas of economic activities that it considers necessary and convenient to fulfill its purposes of social progress and general welfare; and,

• 7)

  The general legal regime of decentralized institutions shall be established by means of the General Law of Public Administration to be issued.

To create or suppress a decentralized body, the National Congress shall resolve by two-thirds (2/3) of the votes of its members. Prior to the issuance of laws relating to decentralized institutions, the National Congress must request the opinion of the Executive Power.

Decentralized institutions enjoy functional and administrative independence, and to this effect may issue the regulations that are necessary in accordance with the Law. Decentralized institutions shall function under the direction and supervision of the State and their presidents, directors, or managers shall be accountable for their management. The law shall establish the necessary control mechanisms over decentralized institutions.

The spouse, the relatives of the President and the Designates to the Presidency of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity may not be Presidents, General Managers, and General Directors of Decentralized Institutions.

The Presidents, General Directors, and Managers of Decentralized Bodies of the State shall serve for up to four (4) years in their functions and their form of appointment and removal shall be in accordance with their respective creation laws.

Officials of confidence of the Executive are those who, under any title, exercise the functions of directing decentralized bodies; however, the labor relations of the other servants of such institutions shall be regulated by the legal regime applicable to workers in general. The modality, content, and scope of such regimes shall be governed by applicable laws, regulations, and collective bargaining agreements.

Decentralized institutions shall submit to the Central Government the operational plan corresponding to the fiscal year in question, accompanied by a descriptive and analytical report of each of the fundamental specific activities to be carried out, together with a comprehensive budget for the execution of the aforementioned plan. The State Secretariat in the Office of Finance and the Technical Secretariat of Planning and External Cooperation shall separately prepare opinions in order to determine the congruence of such documents with approved development plans. Once approved by the President of the Republic, the opinions shall be sent to the corresponding decentralized institutions. The governing bodies of decentralized institutions shall not approve either the plan or the annual budget unless the modifications proposed in the respective opinion are incorporated thereto.

Decentralized bodies of the State shall send to the Legislative Power, within the first fifteen (15) days of September of each year, the respective detailed annual budget draft proposals for approval.

Decentralized institutions shall present to the Central Government a detailed report of the net results of the financial activities of their prior fiscal year. They shall likewise present a report on the physical and financial progress of all programs and projects under execution. The State Secretariat in the Office of Finance and the Technical Secretariat of Planning and External Cooperation shall evaluate the results of the management of each decentralized entity and shall make the pertinent observations and recommendations.

The Executive Power may dispose of the net profits of decentralized institutions that conduct economic activities by means of the appropriate channel, provided that such disposition does not affect the development of the institutions themselves nor the execution of their priority programs or projects.

The law shall indicate which contracts must be submitted to public bidding by decentralized institutions.

Any substantial modification to the operational plan and budget of a decentralized institution shall require prior favorable opinion from the Technical Secretariat of Planning and External Cooperation and from the State Secretariat in the Office of Finance.

The Armed Forces of Honduras are a permanent national institution of an essentially professional, apolitical, obedient, and non-deliberative character. They are established to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic, maintain peace, the rule of the Constitution, the principles of free suffrage and alternability in the exercise of the presidency of the Republic. They shall cooperate with the National Police in the preservation of public order. In order to guarantee the free exercise of suffrage, the custody, transport, and surveillance of electoral materials and other aspects of the security of the electoral process, the President of the Republic shall place the Armed Forces at the disposal of the National Electoral Council, from one (1) month before the elections, until the declaration of the same.

The Armed Forces shall be constituted by the High Command, Army, Air Force, Naval Force, and the bodies determined by their Constitutional Law.

The Armed Forces shall be subject to the provisions of their Constitutional Law and to the other Laws and Regulations that govern their functioning. They must cooperate with the Secretariats of State, municipalities, and other institutions, at the request of these or of the President of the Republic, in public security tasks, literacy, education, agriculture, environmental protection, roads, communications, health, and agrarian reform. The functions and obligations of the Military Police for Public Order also include the directives that emanate directly from the President of the Republic. They shall participate in international peace missions, based on international treaties; provide logistical support, technical advisory services, in communications and transport; in the fight against drug trafficking; collaborate with personnel and means to face natural disasters and emergency situations affecting persons and property; as well as in programs for the protection and conservation of the ecosystem, academic education, and technical training of its members and other matters of national interest. Furthermore, they shall cooperate with public security institutions, at the request of the Secretariat of State in the Office of Security, to combat terrorism, arms trafficking, and organized crime, as well as in the protection of the branches of State and the Electoral Tribunal, at their request, in their installation and functioning. The Military Police for Public Order (PMOP) is part of the Armed Forces of Honduras, whose functions and obligations are established in its Special Law. Municipalities, zones subject to the special regime of Employment and Development Zones (ZEDE), and other State entities may, in special cases, request the President of the Republic to order the Armed Forces of Honduras to participate in public security tasks and combating crime through the Military Police for Public Order or another body of the same institution.

A special law shall regulate the functioning of military courts.

Citizens between the ages of eighteen and thirty years shall provide military service on a voluntary basis in times of peace, under the modality of an educational, social, humanitarian, and democratic system. The State has the faculty to call to arms, in accordance with the Military Service Law. In case of international war, all Hondurans capable of defending and providing service to the nation are soldiers.

The President of the Republic shall exercise direct command of the Armed Forces in his/her capacity as Commander General in accordance with this Constitution, the Constitutional Law of the Armed Forces, and other applicable laws.

The orders issued by the President of the Republic must be obeyed and executed in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic and the principles of legality, discipline, and military professionalism.

The Secretary of State in the Office of National Defense shall be the citizen who meets the requirements established by this Constitution and other Laws; the Chief of the Combined General Staff of the Armed Forces shall be a General or superior officer with the rank of Colonel of the Arms or its equivalent, in active service, with merit and leadership; born in Honduras and must meet the requirements determined by Law. No person who is a relative of the President of the Republic or his/her legal substitutes within the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity may be Chief of the Combined General Staff.

The Secretary of State in the Office of National Defense shall be appointed or removed freely by the President of the Republic; in the same manner shall the Chief of the Combined General Staff of the Armed Forces be, who shall be selected by the President of the Republic from among the members composing the Commanders' Council, in accordance with what is established by the Officers' Ranking prescribed in the Constitutional Law of the Armed Forces.

In case of temporary absence of the Chief of the Combined General Staff of the Armed Forces, the Deputy Chief of the Combined General Staff shall perform his/her functions, and if this person is also absent or the position is vacant, the General or superior officer designated by the President of the Republic from among the remaining members of the Commanders' Council shall provisionally perform the functions; in the absence of all the above-mentioned, by the General or superior officer with the rank of Colonel in the Arms or its equivalent, designated by the President. In case of permanent absence of the Chief of the Combined General Staff, the President of the Republic shall make the respective appointments in the terms set forth in Articles 279 and 280 of this Constitution. While the appointment of the Chief of the Combined General Staff is being made, the vacancy shall be filled by the Armed Forces officer who is performing the functions.

The appointments and removals of Armed Forces personnel in the administrative order shall be made in accordance with the Law of Public Administration. In the operational area, the appointments and removals shall be made by the Chief of the Combined General Staff, in accordance with the organizational structure of the Armed Forces, in accordance with their Constitutional Law and other applicable legal provisions, including enlisted personnel and auxiliary personnel.

The Combined General Staff of the Armed Forces is the superior technical body for advisory services, planning, coordination, and supervision, dependent on the Secretariat of State in the Office of National Defense and shall have the functions assigned in the Constitutional Law of the Armed Forces.

For reasons of national defense and security, the territory of the Republic shall be divided into military regions, which shall be headed by a Chief of Military Region, their organization and functioning shall be in accordance with what is provided in the Constitutional Law of the Armed Forces.

The Commanders' Council of the Armed Forces is the advisory body in all matters related to the Institution. It shall act as a decision-making body in matters within its competence and as the Superior Court of the Armed Forces in matters submitted to its knowledge. The Constitutional Law of the Armed Forces and its Regulation shall regulate its functioning.

The Commanders' Council of the Armed Forces shall be composed of the Chief of the Combined General Staff, who shall preside over it, the Deputy Chief of the Combined General Staff, the Inspector General, and the Commanders of Force.

The National Defense and Security Council is hereby created; a special law shall regulate its organization and functioning.

In Military Training Centers, aspirants to Officers of the Armed Forces shall be educated at the higher level. Training Centers shall be organized for the different branches and services in accordance with the needs of the Institution. Technical Schools for Training and Instruction shall also be organized, in conformity with the purposes of voluntary, educational, social, humanistic, and democratic military service.

The National Defense College is hereby established as the highest center of study of the Armed Forces, responsible for the training of selected military and civilian personnel, so that, in joint action of the political, economic, social, and military fields, they may participate in national strategic planning.

Military ranks shall be acquired only through rigorous promotion in accordance with the respective Law. Military personnel shall not be deprived of their ranks, honors, and pensions except in the manner established by Law. Promotions from Second Lieutenant through Captain inclusive shall be granted by the President of the Republic at the proposal of the Secretary of State of the Office of National Defense; promotions from Major through Major General inclusive shall be granted by the National Congress at the proposal of the Executive Branch. The Joint General Staff of the Armed Forces shall issue a prior opinion before conferring promotions of officers.

For the protection, welfare, and security of all members of the Armed Forces, the Military Benefit Institute shall function, an organism that shall be presided over by the Chief of the Joint General Staff and in accordance with the provisions of the Law of the Military Benefit Institute.

The manufacture, importation, distribution, and sale of weapons, ammunition, and similar articles shall be reserved as an exclusive power of the Armed Forces.

The National Police is a professional permanent institution of the State, apolitical in the partisan sense, of a purely civil nature, responsible for safeguarding the preservation of public order, the prevention, control, and combating of crime; protecting the security of persons and their property; executing the resolutions, dispositions, mandates, and legal decisions of authorities and public officials, all with strict respect for human rights. The National Police shall be governed by special legislation.

The national territory is divided into departments. Their creation and limits must be decreed by the National Congress. Departments are divided into autonomous municipalities administered by corporations elected by the people, in accordance with the law. Without prejudice to what is established in the two preceding paragraphs, the National Congress may create zones subject to special regimes in accordance with Article 329 of this Constitution.

The Central District is formed by the former municipalities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela in a single municipality.

The law shall establish the organization and functioning of municipalities and the requirements for being a municipal official or employee.

Municipalities shall freely appoint the employees of their offices, including police agents, which they shall finance with their own funds.

In the exercise of their exclusive functions and provided they do not contravene the laws, municipal corporations shall be independent of the powers of the State, and shall answer before the courts of justice for the abuses they commit individually or collectively, without prejudice to administrative responsibility.

The economic and social development of municipalities must form part of national development programs.

Every municipality shall have sufficient municipal lands that assure its existence and normal development.

Taxes and contributions that tax income from investments made within the respective municipal jurisdiction shall be paid into the municipal treasury, as well as the participation that corresponds to it from the exploitation or industrialization of natural resources located within its municipal jurisdiction, unless reasons of national convenience require that they be given other purposes.

For the exclusive purposes of promoting the improvement and development of communities, citizens shall have the right to associate freely in municipal boards (patronatos), and to establish federations and confederations. The law shall regulate this right. CHAPTER XII OF THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

The power to administer justice emanates from the people and is administered gratuitously in the name of the State, by independent magistrates and judges, solely subject to the Constitution and the laws. The Judicial Branch is composed of a Supreme Court of Justice, Courts of Appeal, Courts, by tribunals with exclusive jurisdiction in areas of the country subject to special regimes created by the Constitution of the Republic and other agencies as designated by law. The power to administer justice in electoral matters and citizen consultations corresponds to the Electoral Justice Court, created in this Constitution in the cases and with the limitations indicated by law. In no trial shall there be more than two (2) instances; the judge or magistrate who has exercised jurisdiction in one of them, may not hear it in the other, nor in extraordinary remedy in the same matter, without incurring liability. Nor may spouses and relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity judge in the same case.

It is incumbent upon the jurisdictional bodies to apply the laws to concrete cases, to judge and execute what has been judged. Exceptional jurisdictional bodies may never be created. The jurisdictional authorities of the Special Development Regions are excepted from this provision. The judges of these courts shall be appointed by the National Congress by qualified majority of two-thirds (2/3) of the total of its members, at the proposal of the authorities of the Administration of the Special Development Region in question.

When their intervention is requested in legal form and in matters within their competence, judges and magistrates cannot refrain from judging under the pretext of silence or obscurity of the laws.

The jurisdictional bodies shall require, if necessary, the assistance of the public force for the enforcement of their rulings; if it is denied or not available, they shall demand it from citizens. Whoever unjustifiably refuses to provide assistance shall incur liability.

The law, without prejudice to the independence of judges and magistrates, shall provide what is necessary to ensure the correct and normal functioning of the jurisdictional bodies, providing effective means to meet their functional and administrative needs, as well as the organization of auxiliary services.

The Supreme Court of Justice is the highest jurisdictional body; its jurisdiction comprises the entire territory of the State and has its seat in the capital, but may temporarily move it, when it so determines, to any other part of the territory. The Supreme Court of Justice shall be composed of fifteen (15) magistrates. Its decisions shall be taken by the majority of the total of its members.

To be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, the following requirements are required:

• 1)

  To be Honduran by birth;

• 2)

  To be a citizen enjoying and exercising his rights;

• 3)

  To be a lawyer and notary duly registered;

• 4)

  To be thirty-five (35) years of age or older; and,

• 5)

  To have been the holder of a jurisdictional body for five (5) years, or to have exercised the profession for ten (10) years.

The following may not be elected magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice: 1) Those who have any of the disqualifications to be Secretary of State; and, 2) Spouses and relatives to each other in the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity.

The magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be elected by the National Congress, with the favorable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the total of its members, from a list of candidates not less than three (3) for each of the magistrates to be elected. Once the proposal is presented with the total of the magistrates, their election shall proceed. In case the qualified majority is not achieved for the election of the complete list of magistrates, direct and secret voting shall be held to elect individually the magistrates that are lacking, as many times as necessary, until obtaining the favorable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members. The magistrates shall be elected from a list of candidates proposed by a nominating board that shall be composed as follows:

• 1)

  A representative of the Supreme Court of Justice elected by the favorable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the magistrates;

• 2)

  A representative of the Bar Association, elected in assembly;

• 3)

  The National Commissioner of Human Rights;

• 4)

  A representative of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), elected in assembly;

• 5)

  A representative of the faculty bodies of schools of legal sciences, whose proposal shall be made through the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH);

• 6)

  A representative elected by organizations of civil society; and,

• 7)

  A representative of confederations of workers. A law shall regulate the organization and functioning of the nominating board.

The organizations that make up the nominating board shall be summoned by the president of the National Congress, no later than October thirty-first (31) of the year prior to the election of the magistrates, and must deliver their proposal to the Permanent Commission of the National Congress on January twenty-third (23) as the maximum deadline, in order to be able to hold the election on January twenty-fifth (25). If, once the nominating board has been summoned, it does not make proposals, the National Congress shall proceed to the election by qualified majority of the total of its members.

The Supreme Court of Justice has the following attributes:

• 1)

  To direct the Judicial Branch in the power to administer justice;

• 2)

  To hear proceedings initiated against the highest officials of the State and Deputies;

• 3)

  To hear in second instance matters that the Courts of Appeal have heard in first instance;

• 4)

  To hear cases of extradition and others that must be tried in accordance with International Law;

• 5)

  To hear Habeas Corpus, Habeas Data, Cassation, Amparo, Revision, and Unconstitutionality remedies, in accordance with the Constitution and the Law;

• 6)

  To authorize the exercise of the notary profession to those who have obtained the title of lawyer;

• 7)

  To hear in first instance the preliminary investigation against magistrates of the courts of appeal;

• 8)

  To issue its internal regulations and others that are necessary for the fulfillment of its functions;

• 9)

  The other powers conferred upon it by the Constitution and the laws;

• 10)

  To prepare the draft budget of the Judicial Branch jointly with the Council of the Judiciary and of the Judicial Career, and send it through the President to the National Congress;

• 11)

  To fix the division of territory for jurisdictional purposes; and,

• 12)

  To create, suppress, merge, or transfer the courts, courts of appeal, and other agencies, with prior favorable opinion of the Council of the Judiciary and of the Judicial Career.

The term of magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice shall be seven (7) years from the date they take their oath of office, and they may be reelected. In case of death, incapacity that prevents the performance of the office, substitution for legal causes, or resignation; the magistrate who fills the vacancy shall occupy the office for the remainder of the term and shall be elected by the National Congress, by the favorable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the total of its members. The substitute shall be elected from the remaining candidates proposed by the nominating board at the beginning of the term.

The Supreme Court of Justice shall fulfill its constitutional and legal functions under the presidency of one of its magistrates. For the election of the president of the Court, the magistrates elected to the National Congress assembled in plenary session shall select, no later than twenty-four (24) hours after their election and by the favorable vote of two-thirds (2/3) of its members, the magistrate whose name shall be proposed to the National Congress of the Republic for his election as such. This election shall be held in the same manner with the vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the total of the members of the National Congress. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice shall serve in his functions for a term of seven (7) years and may be reelected. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice shall exercise the representation of the Judicial Branch and in that capacity shall act in accordance with the decisions adopted by the Court in plenary session.

The Supreme Court of Justice is organized in chambers, one of which is the Constitutional Chamber, composed of five (5) Magistrates; when the decisions of the chambers are made by a unanimous vote, they must be rendered in the name of the Supreme Court of Justice and have the character of final. When there is no unanimity in the decision-making of the matter, the magistrates who have participated in the Chamber shall not be part of the Plenary. The Constitutional Chamber has the following attributes: 1) To hear, in accordance with this Constitution and the law, Habeas Corpus or Petition for Personal Appearance, Habeas Data, Amparo, Unconstitutionality, and Revision remedies; and, 2) To resolve conflicts between the Powers of the State, including the Supreme Electoral Court, as well as between the other entities or bodies that the law may indicate; sentences in which the unconstitutionality of a norm is declared are of immediate execution and have general effects, and therefore repeal the unconstitutional norm, and must be communicated to the National Congress, which shall have it published in the Official Gazette. The Regulations shall establish the organization and functioning of the Chambers.

The Judicial Council and Judicial Career Council is hereby created, whose members, organization, scope and powers shall be the subject of a Law. Which shall be approved by a two-thirds majority vote of all Deputies of the National Congress. Judges and Magistrates may not be removed, suspended, transferred, demoted, or retired except for the causes and with the guarantees provided by Law. The term of members of the JUDICIAL COUNCIL AND JUDICIAL CAREER COUNCIL shall be five (5) years and may be reelected for one additional period, and must provide their service on a full-time and exclusive basis. The members of the Council who are part of the Supreme Court of Justice are excepted, who shall serve during the period for which they were elected. The Law shall establish its organization, scope and powers.

The Judicial Branch enjoys complete administrative and financial autonomy. In the General Budget of Income and Expenditures of the Republic, it shall have a current allocation of no less than three percent (3%) of current revenues. The Executive Branch shall accredit, by quarterly advances, the budgeted appropriations corresponding thereto.

Judges and magistrates shall provide their services exclusively to the Judicial Branch. They may not, therefore, practice the legal profession independently, nor provide legal advice or counsel to any person. This prohibition does not include the performance of teaching positions or ad-hoc diplomatic functions. Judicial officials and auxiliary personnel of the Judicial Branch, in the jurisdictional and administrative areas, may not participate for any reason whatsoever in partisan political activities of any kind, except to cast their personal vote. Nor may they unionize or strike. No judicial official or employee, civilian or military, is obliged to comply with illegal orders or those that imply the commission of a crime.

In case of incompatibility between a constitutional norm and an ordinary legal norm, the former shall apply. CHAPTER XIII ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE AND ITS SERVANTS

Servants of the State have no more powers than those expressly conferred upon them by law. Any act executed outside the law is null and void and implies responsibility.

Every public official upon taking office shall make the following legal oath: "I promise to be faithful to the Republic, to comply with and enforce the Constitution and the laws".

Officials are custodians of authority, legally responsible for their official conduct, subject to the law and never above it.

If the public servant in the exercise of his office violates the law to the detriment of private parties, he shall be civilly and jointly liable together with the State or with the state institution in whose service he is, without prejudice to the action for recovery that the latter may exercise against the responsible servant in cases of fault or willful misconduct. Civil responsibility does not exclude the deduction of administrative and criminal responsibilities against the infractor.

Actions to establish civil responsibility of servants of the State prescribe within the term of ten (10) years; and to establish criminal responsibility in double the time indicated by criminal law. In both cases, the period of prescription shall begin to run from the date on which the public servant ceased to hold the office in which he incurred responsibility. There is no prescription in cases where by willful and deliberate action or omission and for political motives the death of one (1) or more persons is caused.

The action to prosecute infractors of the rights and guarantees established in this Constitution is public, and shall be exercised without bond or any formality and by simple report.

The law shall regulate the civil responsibility of the State, as well as the joint civil, criminal and administrative responsibility of servants of the State. TITLE VI OF THE ECONOMIC REGIME CHAPTER I OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM

The Economic System of Honduras is founded on principles of efficiency in production and social justice in the distribution of wealth and national income, as well as on the harmonious coexistence of the factors of production that make possible the dignification of work as the principal source of wealth and as a means of realization of the human person.

The State promotes economic and social development, which must be subject to strategic planning. The Law regulates the system and planning process with the participation of the Powers of the State and political, economic and social organizations, duly represented. To carry out the function of promoting economic and social development, and to complement the actions of other agents of this development, the State, with a medium and long-term vision, must design concertedly with Honduran society a planning plan containing precise objectives and the means and mechanisms to achieve them. Medium and long-term development plans must include strategic policies and programs that guarantee the continuity of their implementation from their conception and approval to their conclusion. The National Plan, comprehensive development plans and programs incorporated in them are mandatory for successive governments. Employment and Economic Development Zones. The State may establish zones of the country subject to special regimes, which have legal personality, are subject to a special fiscal regime, may assume obligations provided they do not require the guarantee or joint surety of the State, enter into contracts until the fulfillment of their objectives in time and during various governments and enjoy functional and administrative autonomy that must include the functions, powers and obligations that the Constitution and the laws confer on the municipalities. The creation of a zone subject to a special regime is an exclusive power of the National Congress, by qualified majority, following an approving plebiscite by two-thirds, in accordance with what is established in Article 5 of the Constitution. This requirement is not necessary for special regimes created in zones with low population density. Zones of low population density are understood to be those where the number of permanent inhabitants per square kilometer is less than the average for rural zones calculated by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which must issue the corresponding opinion. When the National Congress approves the creation of zones subject to special regimes, it must guarantee that the judgment issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on September 11, 1992, is respected where applicable, and what is provided in Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 19 of the Constitution of the Republic concerning territory. These zones are subject to national legislation in all matters related to sovereignty, administration of justice, national defense, foreign relations, electoral issues, issuance of identity documents and passports. The Gulf of Fonseca shall be subject to a special regime in accordance with International Law, as established in Constitutional Article 10 and this Article; the Honduran coasts of the Gulf and the Caribbean Sea remain subject to the same constitutional provisions. For the creation and operation of these zones the National Congress must approve an Organic Law, which can only be modified, reformed, interpreted or repealed by a two-thirds favorable vote of the members of the National Congress, it is also necessary to hold a referendum or plebiscite for the persons who inhabit the zone subject to special regime when its population exceeds one hundred thousand inhabitants. The Organic Law must expressly establish the applicable regulations. The authorities of the zones subject to special regimes have the obligation to adopt the best national and international practices to guarantee the existence and permanence of the appropriate social, economic and legal environment to be competitive internationally. For the resolution of conflicts within the zones of the country subject to special regimes, the Judicial Branch through the Judicial Council must create courts with exclusive and autonomous jurisdiction over them. Judges of the zones subject to special jurisdiction shall be proposed by the special zones to the Judicial Council, which shall appoint them following a competitive process from a proposed list of a special commission formed in the manner indicated by the Organic Law of these regimes. The Law may establish compulsory arbitration for the resolution of conflicts of natural or legal persons residing within the areas covered by these regimes for certain matters. Courts of the zones subject to a special legal regime may adopt legal systems or traditions from other parts of the world provided they guarantee equal or better protection of constitutional principles of Human Rights protection prior to approval by the National Congress.

The national economy is based on the democratic and harmonious coexistence of diverse forms of property and enterprise.

The State recognizes, guarantees and promotes the freedoms of consumption, savings, investment, occupation, initiative, commerce, industry, business contracting and any others that emanate from the principles that inform this Constitution. However, the exercise of said freedoms may not be contrary to social interest nor harmful to morality, health or public safety.

The exercise of economic activities corresponds primarily to private parties. However, the State, for reasons of public order and social interest, may reserve for itself the exercise of certain basic industries, exploitations and services of public interest and may enact economic, fiscal and public security measures and laws to channel, stimulate, supervise, guide and supplement private initiative, based on a rational and planned economic policy.

State intervention in the economy shall be based on public and social interest, and shall be limited by the rights and freedoms recognized by this Constitution.

Commercial companies shall be subject to the control and supervision of a Superintendency of Companies, whose organization and functioning shall be determined by law. Cooperatives shall be subject to the agency and in the form and scope established by the applicable law.

The State shall organize its external economic relations on the basis of fair international cooperation, Central American economic integration, and respect for the treaties and agreements it executes, insofar as they do not oppose the national interest.

Foreign investment shall be authorized, registered and supervised by the State. It shall be complementary and never substitutive of national investment. Foreign companies shall be subject to the laws of the Republic.

Small-scale industry and commerce constitute the patrimony of Hondurans and their protection shall be the subject of a law.

The law shall regulate and promote the organization of cooperatives of any kind, provided that the fundamental economic and social principles of this Constitution are not altered or evaded.

Monopolies, monopsonies, oligopolies, hoarding and similar practices in industrial and commercial activity are prohibited. Temporary privileges granted to inventors, discoverers or authors as intellectual property rights, patents of invention and trademarks shall not be considered monopolies.

The technical and rational exploitation of the natural resources of the nation is declared to be of public utility and necessity. The State shall regulate their use in accordance with social interest and shall establish the conditions for their grant to private parties. Reforestation of the country and forest conservation are declared to be of national convenience and collective interest.

The law may establish restrictions, modalities or prohibitions for the acquisition, transfer, use and enjoyment of state and municipal property for reasons of public order, social interest and national convenience. CHAPTER II OF CURRENCY AND BANKING

Monetary emission is the exclusive power of the State, which shall exercise it through the Central Bank of Honduras. The banking, monetary and credit regime shall be regulated by law. The State, through the Central Bank of Honduras, shall be responsible for the formulation and development of the monetary, credit and exchange rate policy of the country, properly coordinated with the planned economic policy.

The Central Bank of Honduras shall regulate and approve the granting of loans, discounts, guarantees and other credit operations; commissions, gratuities or bonifications of any kind that banking, financial and insurance institutions grant to their majority shareholders, directors and officials. Likewise, it shall regulate and approve the granting of loans, discounts, guarantees and other credit operations to companies in which those parties have majority participation. Any violation of the provisions of this article shall be sanctioned in accordance with the regulatory standards issued by the Central Bank, without prejudice to civil or criminal liability that may correspond. CHAPTER III OF AGRARIAN REFORM

Agrarian reform is an integral process and an instrument for transforming the agrarian structure of the country, intended to replace latifundia and minifundia with a system of ownership, possession and exploitation of land that guarantees social justice in the countryside and increases the production and productivity of the agricultural sector. The execution of Agrarian Reform is declared to be of public necessity and utility.

Agrarian reform constitutes an essential part of the nation's global development strategy, therefore other economic and social policies that the Government approves shall be formulated and executed in harmony with it, especially those relating to, among others, education, housing, employment, infrastructure, commercialization and technical and credit assistance. Agrarian reform shall be executed in such a way as to ensure the effective participation of peasants, on equal terms with other production sectors, in the process of economic, social and political development of the nation.

It is the duty of the State to enact measures for the protection of the rights and interests of indigenous communities existing in the country, especially regarding the lands and forests where they are settled.

Agricultural production must be directed preferentially toward satisfying the food needs of the Honduran population, within a policy of adequate supply and fair prices for both producer and consumer.

The agrarian reform plans of the National Agrarian Institute and other decisions of the State in agrarian matters shall be formulated and executed with the effective participation of legally recognized organizations of peasants, farmers, and ranchers.

The expropriation of property for purposes of agrarian reform or expansion and improvement of municipalities or any other purpose of national interest as determined by law shall be made through fair market compensation by cash payments and, as applicable, agricultural debt bonds. Such bonds shall be of mandatory acceptance, shall enjoy sufficient guarantees from the State, and shall have the nominal values, redemption periods, interest rates, and other requirements that the Agrarian Reform Law determines.

The property subject to expropriation for purposes of agrarian reform or expansion and improvement of municipalities shall consist exclusively of rural properties and their useful and necessary improvements that are attached thereto and whose separation could impair the productive economic unit. CHAPTER IV OF THE FINANCIAL REGIME

The tax system shall be governed by the principles of legality, proportionality, generality, and equity, in accordance with the economic capacity of the taxpayer. CHAPTER IV OF PUBLIC FINANCE

Public finance comprises:

• 1)

  All movable and immovable property of the State;

• 2)

  All its active credits; and, 3. Its liquid assets.

Financial obligations of the State are: 1. Debts legally incurred for current or investment expenses, arising from the execution of the General Budget of Income and Expenditures; and, 2. Other debts legally recognized by the State.

Fiscal or patrimonial property may only be awarded or disposed of to persons and in the form and conditions determined by law. The State reserves the power to establish or modify the demarcation of zones of control and protection of natural resources in the national territory.

The administration of public funds is the responsibility of the Executive Branch. For the receipt, custody, and disbursement of such funds, there shall be a general treasury service. The Executive Branch may, however, delegate to the Central Bank the functions of tax collector and depository. The law may also establish special payment services.

The State guarantees only the payment of public debt contracted by constitutional governments in accordance with this Constitution and the laws. Any rule or act that violates the provisions of this article shall subject those who infringe it to civil, criminal, and administrative liability, which shall be imprescriptible.

Authorizations for external and internal borrowing by the Central Government, decentralized agencies, and municipal governments, which include State guarantees and endorsements, shall be regulated by law.

Local governments may conduct internal credit operations under their exclusive responsibility, but shall require the authorizations indicated by special laws.

Public taxation, expenditure, and borrowing must be proportional to the gross domestic product, in accordance with law.

Contracts that the State enters into for the execution of public works, acquisition of supplies and services, purchase or lease of property shall be executed after public bidding, open competition, or auction in accordance with law. Excepted are contracts intended to address needs caused by a state of emergency and those which by their nature can only be entered into with a specific person. CHAPTER VI OF THE BUDGET

Financial resources of the State are:

• 1)

  Income received from taxes, fees, contributions, royalties, donations, or any other source;

• 2)

  Income from state enterprises, mixed capital enterprises, or those in which the State has social participation; and, 3. Extraordinary income from public credit or any other source.

All fiscal revenues and expenditures shall be recorded in the General Budget of the Republic, which shall be voted annually in accordance with the planned economic policy and the annual operational plans approved by the Government.

All ordinary fiscal revenues shall constitute a single fund. No revenue may be created for a specific purpose. Notwithstanding, the law may allocate revenues to service the public debt and provide that the proceeds from certain taxes and general contributions be divided between the national treasury and that of the municipalities, in proportions or amounts previously designated. The law may likewise, in accordance with planned policy, authorize certain state or mixed enterprises to collect, administer, or invest financial resources derived from the exercise of economic activities that correspond to them.

No commitment may be made or payment effected outside the allocations voted in the Budget, or in contravention of budgetary norms. The violators shall be responsible civilly, criminally, and administratively.

The Executive Branch, under its responsibility and provided that the National Congress is not in session, may contract loans, alter the destination of an authorized allocation, or open additional credits to meet urgent needs or unforeseen circumstances in the case of war, internal unrest, or public calamity, or to meet international commitments, of which it shall give a detailed accounting to the National Congress in the subsequent legislature. It shall proceed in the same manner when it concerns obligations of the State arising from final and conclusive sentences, for the payment of labor benefits, when there is no allocation or it has been exhausted.

The Budget shall be voted by the Legislative Branch based on the Project presented by the Executive Branch.

The Budget project shall be presented by the Executive Branch to the National Congress within the first fifteen (15) days of the month of September of each year.

The Organic Budget Law shall establish the matters concerning the preparation, elaboration, execution, and liquidation of the budget. When at the close of a fiscal year the Budget for the new fiscal year has not been voted, the corresponding budget from the previous period shall continue in force.

The law shall determine the organization and functioning of the General Supply Office of the Republic.

Repealed

The preventive oversight of the execution of the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Republic shall be the responsibility of the Executive Branch, which must specially: 1. Verify the collection and oversee the safekeeping, commitment, and expenditure of public funds; and, 2. Approve all expenditure of public funds, in accordance with the Budget. The law shall establish the procedures and scope of this oversight.

The preventive oversight of decentralized institutions and municipalities shall be verified in accordance with what is determined by the respective laws.

The reform of this Constitution may be decreed by the National Congress, in ordinary sessions, with two-thirds (2/3) of the votes of the totality of its members. The decree shall designate for such purpose the article or articles to be reformed, which must be ratified by the subsequent ordinary legislature by an equal number of votes, in order to take effect.

In no case may the preceding article, the present article, the constitutional articles that refer to the form of government, to the national territory, to the presidential term, to the prohibition on being reelected President of the Republic for the citizen who has held it under any title, and that referring to those who cannot be presidents of the Republic for the subsequent term, be reformed.

This Constitution shall not lose its force nor cease to be complied with by act of force or when supposedly derogated or modified by any other means or procedure other than those that it itself provides. In these cases, every citizen, whether or not invested with authority, has the duty to collaborate in the maintenance or reestablishment of its effective force. Those responsible for the acts referred to in the first part of the preceding paragraph shall be tried according to this same Constitution and the laws enacted in conformity with it, as shall the principal officials of the governments that are subsequently organized, if they have not contributed to immediately reestablish the rule of this Constitution and the authorities constituted in conformity with it. The Congress may decree with the vote of the absolute majority of its members the seizure of all or part of the property of those same persons and of those who have become enriched under the guise of usurping popular sovereignty or the usurpation of public powers, in order to compensate the Republic for the damages that have been caused to it.

All laws, decree-laws, decrees, regulations, orders, and other provisions that were in force at the enactment of this Constitution shall continue to be observed insofar as they are not opposed to it, or until they are legally repealed or modified.

Repealed

The Constitution issued by the National Constituent Assembly on the third of June of nineteen hundred sixty-five is hereby repealed. CHAPTER II ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CONSTITUTION

This Constitution shall be sworn in at a public and solemn session and shall become effective on the twentieth of January of nineteen hundred eighty-two. Given in the chamber of sessions of the National Constituent Assembly, in the city of Tegucigalpa, Central District, on the eleventh day of the month of January of nineteen hundred eighty-two. JOSÉ EFRAIN BU GIRÓN President MARCO TULIO CASTILLO Secretary Repealed by Decree No. 262-2000 of December 22, 2000 and published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 29,414 dated February 26, 2001. Ratified by Decree No. 38-2001 of April 16, 2001, published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta No. 29,489 dated May 29, 2001. JUAN PABLO URRUTIA Secretary Therefore, Let it be published. Tegucigalpa M.D.C. January 11, 1982 POLICARPO PAZ GARCIA President The Secretary of State in the Offices of Governance and Justice OSCAR MEJIA ARELLANO