Panama 1972 Constitution (reviewed 2004)

TITLE XV. FINAL AND TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

Chapter 1. Final Provisions

Article 324

This Constitution shall enter into force starting from October 11, 1972.

Article 325

Treaties or international agreements that may be concluded by the Executive Branch with respect to the Panama Canal, its adjacent area and the protection of said Canal, as well as the construction of a sea-level canal or of a third set of locks, shall be approved by the Legislative Branch, and after being approved shall be submitted to a national referendum, to be held not earlier than three months from the approval by the Assembly.

No amendment, reservation, or understanding that refers to such treaties on agreements shall be valid if it does not comply with the requirements dealt with in the previous paragraph.

This provision shall apply also to any proposal for the construction of third set of locks or of a canal at sea level on the existing route which the Canal Authority may propose to realize, either by administrative means or by contracts concluded with any private firm or firms or with firms owned by one or several other States. In these cases the construction proposal, which has to be approved previously by the Executive Branch and be submitted to the Legislative Branch for approval or rejection, shall be submitted to referendum. Any project concerning the construction of a new canal shall also be submitted to referendum.

Article 326

All laws and other legal provisions contrary to this Constitution are repealed, except those pertaining to parental authority and support, the contrary parts of which shall continue in force for a period not exceeding twelve months from the date this Constitution enters into effect.

Chapter 2. Transitory Provisions

Article 327

The following transitory provisions are adopted with regard to the amendments introduced by the Legislative Act of 2004:

1. As a general rule, the provisions of this constitutional reform are immediately in force upon their promulgation, except in the following cases:
   1. When a temporary provision indicates a different date for its coming into force.
   2. When specific Titles or Articles of the 1972 Constitution, which will be replaced or amended, remain in force temporarily;
2. The changes related to the beginning and the end of ordinary parliamentary terms shall enter into force on July 1, 2009;
3. The Justices of the Electoral Tribunal who are selected at the end of the term of the current Justices shall be designated in the following manner: for a term of six years in the case of the Justice designated by the Judicial Branch; for a term of eight years, in the case of the Justice designated by the Executive Branch; and for a term of ten years in the case of the Justice designated by the Legislative Branch, so as to establish the system of subsequent appointments of the Justices of the Electoral Tribunal;
4. As long as the law which regulates the Audit Tribunal is not adopted and enters into force, all existing norms and procedures relating to jurisdiction in accounting matters shall remain in force.Once the Audit Tribunal assumes its functions, all proceedings which are pending in the Financial Liabilities Department of the Office of Comptroller General shall be transferred to said Tribunal.

   In order to ensure subsequent appointment, the first Justices on the Audit Tribunal shall be appointed in the following manner: for a period of six years in the case of the Justice designated by the Judicial Branch; for a term of eight years, in the case of the Justice designated by the Executive Branch; and for a term of ten years in the case of the Justice designated by the Legislative Branch;

5. The popularly elected officials for the term 20004-2009 complete their term on June 30, 2009;
6. The Legislative Branch shall appoint a Technical Committee (Comisión de Estilo) in order to place the Articles of the Constitution, together with their amendments, in a numerical order which ensures the correspondence of this numerical order with the numbers of the Articles to which the constitutional norms refer;
7. This Legislative Act of 2004 shall enter into force upon publication in the Official Gazette which must be accomplished by the Executive Branch within ten working days following its ratification by the National Assembly;
8. The elimination of elective functions referred to in this constitutional reform shall become effective with the general elections of 2009;
9. The public officials whose appointments are considered in this Constitution and who are discharging their functions at the time of entry into force of these reforms shall continue in office until the term for which they have been appointed expires.

Article 328

In the matters not incongruent with the provisions contained in the Constitution, the Panama Canal Authority shall incorporate to its organization the administrative and operational structure existing at the Panama Canal Commission at December 31, 1999, including its departments, offices, positions, rules in force, regulations and collective (labor) agreements in force, until these are amended pursuant to the law.