Changes in the law regulating states of emergency approved

Santo Domingo, DR

The Senate of the Republic approved yesterday in the first reading a bill that modifies Law 21-18 on the regulation of states of emergency to specify the procedure and sanctions for people and businesses that violate measures such as curfews.

The initiative seeks to specify, given the numerous cases of people arrested and sanctioned during states of emergency and curfews, how to proceed and what specifically will be the fines in each situation. The bill establishes fines from one-third to 100 minimum wages, depending on the acts committed by a person or business during the curfew or any measure provided.

Likewise, it contemplates that people may also be sanctioned with “work of public utility or community interest” for a determined period of time. In the case of businesses, their temporary closing may be ordered.

In the first instance, the initiative stipulates penalties for persons who violate the provisions establishing restrictions to freedom of transit. This includes drivers or owners of buses, cargo vehicles, public cars, and passengers, those who travel in private automobiles, motorcycles, and even passers-by.

Within this group, penalties range from one-third to 10 minimum wages of the public sector, depending on the person. In a second instance, it refers to those caught consuming alcohol in public or a beverage outlet, to those who organize or attend parties, and the owners, managers, directors of the premises where the activity is held. Finally, it also mentions the same categories of sanctionable persons but within the henhouses.