New text for fuel law in Costa Rica advances

This Legislative Assembly release was published using machine translation.

The deputies of the Special Permanent Commission on the Environment affirmatively ruled a new text for file No. 20641. Fuel Law (law to advance in the elimination of the use of fossil fuels in Costa Rica and declare the national territory free of exploration and exploitation oil and gas).

Deputy Paola Valladares Rosado highlighted the importance of continuing to advance in options to ensure that the country reaches a true decarbonisation.

For his part, legislator José María Villalta Florez-Estrada commented that with the new text the Hydrocarbons Law is repealed and classified as "disastrous."

The initiative seeks to contribute to the process of transformation of the national energy matrix in order to advance the goal of decarbonizing the economy through the stimulation of alternative fuels and clean technologies, the reduction of the use of fossil fuels and the prohibition of exploration and exploitation of coal, oil and natural gas in the national territory.

Costa Rica is declared a continental and marine territory, free from exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels, in accordance with articles 6 and 121 subsection 14 of the Political Constitution, which establish that the State has absolute control over the sources and deposits of coal. , oil and any other hydrocarbon substances existing in the national territory and which, over this, exercises complete and exclusive sovereignty.

The granting of permits, licenses or concessions for the exploration or exploitation of coal, oil and natural gas in the Costa Rican territory is prohibited. By means of article 9, it completely repeals the Hydrocarbons Law, Law No. 7399, of May 3, 1994.

The president of the Commission, Paola Vega Rodríguez explained that the project was stopped for almost three years.