On top of a pending public referendum on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court this month added a new hurdle for CAFTA passage when it agreed to review the agreement's constitutionality in terms of civil liberties and human rights, sources said.

The constitutional court is expected to complete its review in about a month, which would be before the Sept. 23 date that the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) has set as a tentative date for a national voter referendum, a Costa Rican official said. In June, the TSE will confirm the final date for the referendum, as well as determine whether 30 or 40 percent of registered voters need to take part for the result to be binding (Inside U.S. Trade, May 4, 2007).

The constitutional court agreed to the review on May 11 at the request of Costa Rica's Ombudswoman, who is appointed by Congress to an independent office designed to protect human rights and civil liberties, the official said. Before then, the Supreme Court denied other broader requests for court reviews of CAFTA.

Sources were unclear on whether a negative finding by the Supreme Court would stop the referendum completely, or alternatively require Costa Rica to negotiate changes to the agreement before preceding with a referendum.

Costa Rica is the only signatory who has not yet ratified CAFTA and the legal wrangling over the agreement itself does not halt the consideration of the implementing bills in the Costa Rican legislature. The TSE denied a request from CAFTA opponents that implementation bills be held up until the referendum vote takes place, sources said (Inside U.S. Trade, May 4, 2007).

Costa Rica's ruling party, which supports CAFTA, has announced it will make the passage of five CAFTA implementation bills a priority during the coming months of this legislative session, the official said.

These include two bills covering the insurance sector, the International Convention for the Protection of Vegetables (UPOV) agreement, environmental cooperation and penal code changes. The official noted that the controversial bill to dismantle the government telecommunications monopoly is also a priority, and has been changed in a way that the ruling party believes will attract enough votes to pass.

A private-sector source said that the opposition was fighting to block the implementing bills and refusing to attend parliamentarian sessions so quorum requirements could not be met for votes.

CAFTA stipulates that the last signatory must approve the deal two years after the first signatory implemented CAFTA, so Costa Rica is under pressure to approve the deal by March 2008.