Through a recently released judgment of January 12 of this year, the Constitutional Court admitted an action filed by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, CONAIE, in 2015. In the claim, the Court was asked to declare the unconstitutionality of the Water Resources Law approved by the National Assembly on July 31, 2014 and published in the Official Gazette 305 of August 6, 2014. Likewise, on July 9 of the same year, the Confederation of Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador, ECUARUNARI, and other indigenous organizations requested that its regulations, issued on May 31, 2015, be declared unconstitutional.
CONAIE’s main argument was that the prior consultation process conducted by the National Assembly for the procedure for enactment of the law and by the Executive Branch for procedure for enactment of its regulations was not properly conducted with the indigenous communities that would be affected by such law and regulations, thus failing to comply with the mandate set forth in Article 57.17 of the Constitution.
A majority (7 to 2) ruled in favor of the claim and, to avoid creating a legal vacuum regarding all the processes underway with the current water authority (the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition), provided that the law and its regulations will remain in force for one year, during which time the Executive Branch must send a new Water Resources Bill to the National Assembly for due prior consultation with the indigenous communities before its approval.
As the ruling will be applicable only in the future, all administrative acts issued by the water authority are considered legal.
In the future and for one additional year from January 12, all pending procedures and those submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition will continue to be treated under the rules of the current law and its regulations.
Editorial Board
