Law on the System of References to National Legislation

This Law has as its purpose to establish an information system, supported by scientific information and communication technologies (ICT), which permits access to it in a certain and secure manner regarding the index of Laws of the Nation, the legislative tract or history of each law and a search system in chronological, thematic, by titles, contents and its complete or isolated text of national laws; positive law, historical law and legal doctrine. The provisions of this Law are of national interest and have the character of urgency.

The Project referred to in this Law must be executed in three (3) stages as follows:

• 1)

  An initial stage that permits in the short term the identification, by means of images from the Official Journal LA GACETA, to configure an index of laws, the legislative tract or history of each law and a search system, including its incorporation into an information system supported by scientific technologies and communications. In this first stage, the index of legislation must be limited to the laws approved by the National Congress, for which an administrative Project must be configured and the internal or special unit for its execution and administration;

• 2)

  An expansion stage in which the content of legal information must comprise Decrees and Regulations issued by the Executive Branch, the administrative jurisprudence of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ); the scope of the Project and the search and location systems must be established, establishing complete texts with the updated provisions of each formal or administrative law, mechanisms must be established to verify the certainty of the rules, in addition to conducting an effective classification of positive law and historical law; and,

• 3)

  A third stage in which the laws must be grouped by subject matter, purging those that lack applicability, are duplicated or do not conflict with other laws or that through the passage of time or changes in human behavior are considered obsolete; having to justify the reasons or causes for their subsequent repeal or modification by the National Congress. The administration of the Project must be determined through a study conducted by the National Congress in coordination with the institutions related in Article 3 of this Law.

The information system for the management and service of the index of the Laws of the Nation, the legislative tract or history of each law, the reference and search system, once the first stage is concluded must be administered through a computer network called "National Legal Information System" (SIJIN), composed of the following institutions:

• 1)

  The National Congress of the Republic;

• 2)

  The Executive Branch;

• 3)

  The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR); and,

• 4)

  The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ). For the purposes of the establishment and operation of the Network of the National Legal Information System (SIJIN), the institutions related in the preceding items must sign an agreement in which the technological conditions, administrative provisions for its proper functioning and the responsibilities and rights of the parties are determined;

The institutions of the centralized, decentralized, and autonomous public administration, universities, public libraries, business organizations and municipalities, as well as the Judicial Branch and other public institutions, are obligated to supply information contained in administrative files, historical archives, libraries and newspaper archives, or other documents in analog or digital archives concerning the following:

• 1)

  Any index of laws or norms formally issued by the National Congress, the Executive Branch, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ);

• 2)

  Newspaper archives with copies of the Official Journal LA GACETA:

• 3)

  Images or electronic files of the Official Journal LA GACETA;

• 4)

  Databases in information systems; and,

• 5)

  Publications in which information about national legislation is recorded. The institutions that safeguard the information related in the preceding items must inform the Legislative Management of the National Congress about its existence, without prejudice to any request that it may make regarding such information.

The Institution that administers the network of national legal information is solely responsible for the accuracy and certainty of the information it publishes.

The National Congress must proceed with the technical configuration of the first stage of the Project and subsequently, jointly with the institutions that compose the Network of the National Legal Information System (SIJIN), with the formation and integration of the second and third expansion components. The National Congress may resort to the support of financial institutions and international cooperation for development of the National Legal Information System (SIJIN) as determined by this Law.

This Law must be regulated by the National Congress within a period not exceeding six (6) months counted from its effective date, specifying among other aspects, the technological framework, administrative provisions and the conditions of security and operational certainty of the National Legal Information System (SIJIN).

This Law enters into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal "La Gaceta". Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Hall of Sessions of the National Congress, on the tenth day of the month of November of two thousand fifteen. MAURICIO OLIVA HERRERA PRESIDENT MARIO ALONSO PÉREZ LÓPEZ SECRETARY JOSÉ TOMÁS ZAMBRANO MOLINA SECRETARY To the Executive Branch Therefore: Let it be executed. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., January 4, 2016. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, JUSTICE, GOVERNANCE AND DECENTRALIZATION RIGOBERTO CHANG CASTILLO