On Wednesday, Dominican Republic’s Interior and Police Minister Faride Raful confirmed that the national government will honor a recent ruling from the Constitutional Court that struck down a decades-old executive decree regulating alcohol sales hours, announcing plans to partner with the National Congress to craft a replacement piece of legislation.
In a public statement shared across major social media platforms, Raful emphasized that the executive branch maintains unwavering respect for the judicial branch’s independent decision. She outlined that the government will work closely with sitting legislators while soliciting input from broader Dominican society to develop a regulatory framework that is both up-to-date and effective at achieving its core goals. Reaffirming the government’s core priorities, Raful noted that protecting public safety and fostering peaceful community coexistence will remain at the center of the new regulatory efforts.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling centers on a 2006 executive decree that set binding restrictions on when alcohol could be sold across the country. According to the court’s judgment, permanent regulatory restrictions of this nature must be enacted through formal legislation passed by the legislative branch, rather than via executive decree, making the 2001 rule unconstitutional on structural separation of powers grounds.
The court did not immediately invalidate the existing restrictions, however. Instead, it ruled that the current rules will remain in force for a 2-year transition period, giving the National Congress adequate time to deliberate and pass new permanent legislation to replace the struck-down decree. The ruling was issued in response to a constitutional challenge brought by Dominican attorney Víctor Eddy Mateo Vásquez, who questioned the legal foundation of the executive’s regulatory measure.
Under the terms of the existing 2006 decree still in effect, alcohol sales are prohibited after midnight on Sunday through Thursday, and after 2:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Businesses that violate these restrictions face stiff penalties, ranging from temporary suspension of operations to permanent closure of the offending establishment.