The Chamber of Deputies has accepted the amendments made by the Senate of the Republic to the bill that amends the Civil Code and prohibits child marriage and converts it into law.
After acceptance by the plenary of the alternates, the so-called law will assume the executive power, which can comply or promulgate it.
After being approved by the Chamber of Deputies in two consecutive readings in November, the document amending Article 144 and repealing Article 145 of the Civil Code of the Dominican Republic was passed to the Senate and referred to the Standing Committee of Justice, where the changes have been made.
The chair of that committee and Senator of Santo Domingo Province, Antonio Taveras, ordered more than 10 changes to the bill, but clarified at the time that its purpose will not change.
Regarding the changes, the law’s proponent, José Horacio, said the Senate has “made it possible to enrich the project. It is a more solid text in legal terms and enables a happy end-of-year gift to the Dominican Republic.”
The law seeking to eliminate child marriage was passed in two consecutive readings by the plenary meeting last November.
The initiative was presented by Deputy José Horacio Rodríguez and received a favorable report from the Justice Committee of the Lower House.
With the adoption of this motion for a resolution, Article 144 of the Civil Code is amended to state that: “Under no circumstances should the man or the woman marry until they reach the age of 18 years.”
Similarly, Article 145 is deleted, which states that “the government may grant an age exemption for urgent reasons”.