General Provisions

Principles

Article 1. Within the framework of a participative and protagonist democracy, the Communal Councils represent the means through which the organized masses can take over the direct administration of the policies and projects which are created to respond to the needs and aspirations of the communities in the construction of a fair and just society. The organization, operation and action of the Communal Councils are governed by the principles of co-responsibility, cooperation, solidarity, transparency, accountability, social responsibility, fairness, justice, social controllership and economic self-management.

Object

Article 2. This law has been enacted in order to regulate and to develop the conformation, integration, organization and operation of the Communal Councils and their relationship with the State for the formulation, execution, control, and evaluation of public policies.

Definitions

Article 3: It is understood herein that:

1. A Communal Council is a system for participation and protagonist of the people; one of articulation and integration among the diverse communal organizations, social groups and the citizens who make up the fabric of - and lend life to - a given community.

2. A Community is the social conglomerate of families and citizens who inhabit the same geographical area; those who share a common history and interests; those who know one another and who relate with themselves; those who use the same public utilities; and those who share necessities and similar potentials in economic, social, city-planning and other ways.

3. Geographical area and population density of the community: Territorial space where the community -- in a Citizens' Assembly -- establishes the geographical limits inside which one or several Communal Councils will work. As far as the protagonistic participation, the planning and the governance of the Communal Councils are concerned, the references used stem from technical and sociological approaches that point out that all communities are grouped by hundreds of families, from 200 to 400 families in urban areas and from 20 families in rural areas. The accuracy of both the geographical area and the population density will be decided by the Citizens' Assembly pursuant to the particularities of each community.

4. Citizens' Assembly: This is the primary instance of popular empowerment, participation and protagonism, and its decisions are binding on the applicable Communal Councils.

5. Neighborhood Areas: Small spaces of the geographical area in which naturally and progressively the communities have been organized and subdivided internally.

6. Spokesperson: He or she is a person chosen by the Citizens' Assembly to coordinate everything related with the operation of the Communal Council, the instrumentation of its decisions, and the communication of those decisions to the applicable instances.

Duties

Article 4. The citizens who make up the Communal Councils have the following duties: social co-responsibility, accountability, as well as the transparent, timely, and effective management of the monies allocated to them either as an allotment funded by the State or through any other licit way pursuant to the law.

2. CHAPTER II

MAKEUP AND ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMUNAL COUNCILS

Makeup

Article 5. The Communal Council is made up of:

1. The Citizens' Assembly, the top decision-making body

2. A number of Work Committees, each with its respective spokesperson, which represents the executive body.

3. The Unit of Financial Administration, which represents the economic-financial body.

4. The Unit of Social Controllership, which represents the controlling body.

On the number of persons in the executive body.

Article 6. The Citizens' Assembly shall determine and select the number of spokespersons in accordance with the quantity of committees formed in the community, with the purpose of carrying out the duties of the executive body.

Attributions of the Citizens' Assembly.

Article 7. The Citizens' Assembly is the top decision-making body of the Communal Council, and is made up of the inhabitants of the community who are older than fifteen (15) years of age. The Citizens' Assembly has the following attributions:

1. Appointing and revoking the spokespersons

2. Approving norms of Coexistence within the Community

3. Approving the articles of association and the Constitution of the Communal Council

4. Approving the Community's development plan

5. Approving community-oriented projects presented to the Communal Council.

6. Exercising social controllership

7. Making decisions that are essential to community life.

8. Approving and propelling the integration of the projects with other communities and government instances in order to solve common problems.

9. Deciding on the conformation of a network of Communal Councils.

10. Appointing the members of the Unit of Social Controllership.

11. Appointing the members of the Unit of Financial Administration.

12. Evaluating and approving the Council's term-end financial management results.

On the appointment and term of Communal Council members Article 8. The members of the aforementioned executive, economic-financial and control bodies to the Citizens' Assembly shall be elected by means of direct and secret balloting. They shall hold their positions for two years and may be re-elected for one more term. The exercise of all terms shall be without pay.

Requirements for their election.

Article 9. To be elected, a member must:

1. Be an inhabitant of the applicable community.

2. Be of age.

3. Have moral solvency.

4. Have availability and time for community work.

5. Have a spirit of unity.

6. Be able to do teamwork.

7. Have the commitment to abide by the commands of the community.

Organization of the Spokespersons by neighborhood area and by Work Committees.

Article 10. The Spokespersons for the Work Committees shall be organized thus: There shall be one Spokesperson per neighborhood area and one for each of the following Work Committees: Health Committee, Urban Land Committee, Social Protection Committee, Rural Land Committee, Popular Economy Committee, Culture Committee, Integral Security Committee, Technical Water Roundtable, and Technical Energy Roundtable, among others.

On the Units of Financial Management

Article 11. The financial management units are a way to organize the people and are made up of a variable number of community members who are appointed by the Citizens' Assembly. The Unit functions as the financial arm of the Communal Councils with the aim of administering both their financial and non-financial resources, and the banking of the monetary funds that are generated locally, allocated or otherwise obtained for and by the community. The financial management unit shall be hereby named:

On the Units of Social Controllership

Article 12. The Units of Social Controllership are a way to organize the people and are made up of a variable number of community members who are appointed by the Citizens' Assembly for overseeing the public administration, inspection, control and supervision of the management of the resources that have been allocated, received or generated by the Communal Councils.

3. CHAPTER III

Constitution of the Communal Council

On the organization of the promoting commission

Article 13. A promoting commission shall be organized hereunder in accordance with the following procedure:

1. A provisional promoting team is to be created by community members who are ready that tackle this initiative by means of an applicable written record of such an action.

2. The provisional promoting team then sets up a Citizens' Assembly.

3. The Citizens' Assembly then appoints the promoting commission, as long as there is participation of at least 10% of applicable community members who are fifteen years of age or older.

Duties of the promoting commission

Article 14. The promoting commission's main task shall consist of convening and organizing the Communal Organization Assembly, at which time the following shall be elected: the work committees and their applicable spokespersons, the members of the financial management unit, and the members of the unit of social controllership. The Communal Organization Assembly shall be considered to have quorum as long as 20% of the members of the community older than 15 years of age are in attendance. The Assembly's decisions shall be binding.

In order to carry out this task, the Promoting Committee shall:

1. Advertise among the members of the community the scope, object and goals of the Communal Councils.

2. Draw up a map of the geographical area of the community.

3. Compile information on the history of the community

4. Organize and carry out a census of the community.

5. Add up and proclaim the results of the election, and take the oath of office of the elected spokespersons, the members of the financial management unit, and the members of the unit of social controllership.

4. CHAPTER IV

On the Recordation of the Communal Councils

On the recordation

Article 15. The Communal Councils shall be registered with the applicable Presidential Commission for Popular Power. A copy of such registration shall be forwarded to the applicable Local Public Planning Council, in order to achieve proper articulation with the National Public Planning System.

5. CHAPTER V

Operation of the Communal Councils

Duties of the Executive Body

Article 17. The Communal Council by and through its executive body shall have the following duties:

1. To execute the decisions of the Citizens' Assembly,

2. To articulate with the social organizations of the community and to promote the birth of new organizations wherever it may be necessary, as a way to defend their collective interests, as well as the comprehensive development of the communities.

3. To produce work plans to tackle problems that the community may solve with its own resources and to evaluate the results.

4. To organize social volunteer groups in each work committee.

5. To formalize their registration with the respective Presidential Commission for Popular Power.

6. To produce a diagnosis on participation

7. To dictate their own bylaws

8. To promote legislative initiatives

Duties of the Financial-Economic Body

Article 17. The following are the duties of the financial-economic body:

1. To constitute itself into a Community Microbank or Financial Cooperative for Savings and Credits in order to administer the financial and non-financial resources that are allocated, generated or otherwise obtained.

2. To manage the books and keep records of the administration of the resources being allocated or generated.

3. To promote the constitution of sustainable cooperatives that shall produce endogenous development projects.

4. To propel the participative budget by prioritizing needs and by means of their diagnoses.

Duties of the Control Body

Article 18: The control body has the following duties:

1. To follow up on the administration and day-to-day operations of the Communal Council as a whole.

2. To exercise coordination as regards community social controllership.

3. To exercise control and surveillance of the execution of the community development plan

4. To exercise control and surveillance of the consultation, planning, development, execution, and follow-up process of the community projects.

6. CHAPTER VI

On the Financial Resources

Article 19. The Communal Councils shall directly receive the following financial resources:

1. Those that may be transferred to them by the Republic, the States and the Municipalities.

2. Those that may come from the administration of public utilities that may transferred to them by the State.

3. Those generated by their own activities, including the byproduct of the financial management of all of their resources.

4. Those resources received as donations, in accordance with the current legal framework.

5. Any other financial gain generated by a financial activity that is lawfully allowed under the Constitution and the law.

7. CHAPTER VII

On the Community's Administration of its Resources

Article 20. The financial-economic body of the Communal Councils shall carry out the following duties:

Safeguarding and saving their own resources.

Granting credits with their own or transferred financial resources.

Carrying out banking services (financial intermediation).

Providing social assistance.

On the management of the funds.

Article 21. The management of the financial resources coming from the National Fund for Popular Power shall follow these guidelines:

The administration of the financial resources shall follow the principle of financial balance.

The decisions on the use of the resources shall be approved in general assembly.

Such decisions shall be properly recorded on a paper that shall contain the signature of a simple majority of the Citizens' Assembly of the Communal Council.

On the organizations needed to administer the resources

Article 22. In order to manage their financial resources, the Communal Councils shall create flexible, open, democratic, joint and participative organizations in the form of community microbanks or a financial cooperative for community savings and credits.

Article 23. A financial cooperative for community savings and credits or the community microbank shall represent the ways to organize and manage the economic administration of the resources of the Communal Councils. The operation and administration of this cooperative shall be governed by the Special Law of Cooperative Associations or by the Law of Creation, Promotion and Development of the Microfinancial System, and other applicable laws.

8. CHAPTER VIII

On the National Fund for Communal Councils

Article 24. The National Fund for Communal Councils (an autonomous service) is hereby created. This National Fund shall be ascribed to the Ministry of Finance with a board of directors made up of a president, three main members and three substitutes, all of them appointed by the President of the Republic in Council of Ministers.

Article 25. The National Fund for Popular Power has as its object the financing of community, social and productive projects proposed by the National Presidential Commission in their financial and non-financial components. The transfer of the financial resources shall be carried out through the financial management units created by the Communal Councils.

9. CHAPTER IX

The National Presidential Commission for Popular Power

Article 26. The National Presidential Commission for Popular Power is hereby created. This Commission is made up of the Ministers appointed by the President of the Republic, along with other high-level Public Officials who shall join in upon request made by the Chief of State. The Commission's main tasks shall be to evaluate the development of the Communal Councils at a national level, to strengthen popular power within the framework of a participative and protagonistic democracy, to compile and prioritize the diverse projects approved by the Communal Councils, and to process the technical, financial and non-financial resources needed for the execution of the projects.

Article 27. The National Presidential Commission for Popular Power will designate a Regional Presidential Commission for Popular Power per state, upon the approval of the President of the Republic.

Article 28. The National Presidential Commission for Popular Power shall designate a Local Presidential Commission for Popular Power per municipality, upon the approval of the President of the Republic.

Article 29. The National Assembly shall designate a special commission, which, jointly with the applicable presidential commissions, shall carry out an evaluation of the constitution and operation process of the Communal Councils. This commission shall produce a first report within 90 calendar days after the date of publication of this Law and, thereafter, every 90-calendar day. Article 30. Any Communal Council constituted before the publication of this Special Law shall be validated by the applicable National Presidential Commission for Popular Power within ninety calendar days after the publication of this Law.

10. CHAPTER X

Final Provisions

Derogatory Provision

LONE PARAGRAPH. Any legal provisions contradicting the provisions contained in this Law are hereby voided.

11. CHAPTER XI

Transitory provisions

LONE PARAGRAPH. Within ninety calendar days after the publication of this Law, the applicable regulation will be dictated by the National Executive Branch.

Translation into English by: René Ron. Official Translator