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Constitution of Honduras (1982), Title VI: Economic and Financial Regime

Description​

Title VI of the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras governs the economic and financial regime of the state. It is of particular relevance to innovative governance due to the 2013 constitutional amendment, Decree No. 236-2012, which inserted provisions authorising Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs).

ZEDEs are special jurisdictions with autonomous legal, administrative, and judicial systems. They form the constitutional basis for Próspera and Ciudad Morazán.

Text​

Article 294​

The national territory is divided into departments. Their creation and limits must be decreed by the National Congress.

The departments are divided into autonomous municipalities administered by corporations elected by the people, in accordance with the law.

Without prejudice to what is established in the two previous paragraphs, the National Congress may create zones subject to special regimes in accordance with Article 329 of this Constitution.

Article 303​

The Judicial Branch has exclusive power of jurisdiction; exercising it through the Courts of Justice in conformity with the laws; consequently, it is their exclusive faculty to judge and execute that which is judged.

Article 329​

(As amended by Decree No. 236-2012, published in Official Gazette No. 33,033, January 24, 2013)

The State may establish zones of the country subject to special regimes which shall have juridical personality, and are subject to a special fiscal regime and may incur obligations which do not require the guarantee or collateral of the state in solidarity, and may create contracts until the fulfillment of their timely objectives and during various governments. They shall enjoy functional and administrative autonomy that shall include the functions, abilities, and obligations that the Constitution and the laws confer on the municipalities.

For the resolution of conflicts within the zones of the country subject to special regimes, the judicial branch through the Council of the Judiciary must create tribunals with exclusive and autonomous competency over them. The judges of the zones subject to special jurisdiction shall be proposed by the special zones before the Council of the Judiciary, who shall appoint judges given prior competition of a proposed list from a special commission formed in the manner described in the Organic Law of those regimes.

The Law may establish the subjection to mandatory arbitration for the resolution of conflicts of natural or juridical persons who inhabit within the areas covered by these regimes for certain matters.

The tribunals of the zones subject to a special legal regime may adopt legal systems or traditions from other parts of the world as long as they guarantee equally or better the constitutional principles of protection of Human Rights, prior approval by the National Congress.

Further Resources​