Public access to INCOP sessions and digital publicationsPublicidad de sesiones y publicaciones digitales del INCOP

030678-24. INFORMATION. THE GENERAL MANAGER OF THE INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACÍFICO (INCOP) IS ORDERED AS FOLLOWS: A) TO TIMELY PUBLISH, ON THE DESIGNATED DIGITAL SITE, THE AGENDAS (ÓRDENES DEL DÍA) CORRESPONDING TO THE ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS HELD BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS (JUNTA DIRECTIVA) OF INCOP. B) TO TIMELY PUBLISH, ON THE DESIGNATED DIGITAL SITE, THE INFORMATION RELATED TO THE HOLDING OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF INCOP (DAY, TIME, PLACE, ETC.), THE FOREGOING WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAW (Ley de Protección de Datos Personales), No. 8968 OR OTHER APPLICABLE LEGAL REGULATIONS. VCG10/2024 “(…) IV.- REGARDING THE LACK OF LIVE BROADCASTING OF INCOP'S SESSIONS. Before analyzing the merits of this matter, it is deemed appropriate to note that the Law of the Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico, No. 1721, provides in its Article 1 that INCOP is a public entity, endowed with legal personality, administrative autonomy, its own assets, and capacity under public and private law. Its main objective shall be to assume the prerogatives and functions of port authority, for the purpose of exploiting, directly or indirectly, in accordance with the law, the State ports on the country's Pacific coast, their port services, as well as related activities and facilities, in order to provide them efficiently and effectively to strengthen the national economy. Given the public nature of INCOP, this Chamber considers that Article 56 of the General Public Administration Law (Ley General de la Administración Pública) applies, insofar as it provides for how the sessions of such bodies must be supported. The provision states:

“Article 56- 1) The sessions of collegiate bodies must be recorded in audio and video and be backed up on a digital medium that guarantees their integrity and archiving in accordance with current legislation. It shall be the obligation of all members of the collegiate body to verify that the session recording is carried out, and failure to do so shall constitute a serious fault.

• 2)Minutes shall be drawn up for each session, which shall contain an indication of the persons attending, as well as the circumstances of place and time in which it was held, the literal transcription of all interventions made in adherence to the constitutional principles of reasonableness and proportionality, the main points of deliberation, the form and result of the voting, and the content of the agreements. (As amended by Article 4 of the Law Authorizing the Holding of Virtual Sessions by Collegiate Bodies of the Public Administration, No. 10379 of October 2, 2023) 3) The minutes shall be approved at the next ordinary session. Prior to that approval, the agreements reached in the respective session shall lack finality, unless the members present agree to their finality by a vote of two-thirds of the total members of the Body.
• 4)The minutes shall be signed by the chairperson and by those members who have recorded their dissenting vote." The transcribed provision does not reveal an obligation to broadcast such sessions live, as a necessary element to guarantee publicity. As a consequence of the foregoing, the lack of live broadcasting of the sessions of INCOP's Board of Directors does not violate the principle of publicity and citizen access to information; and the appeal must be dismissed regarding this aspect.

V.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE RECORDINGS (AUDIOS) OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS' SESSIONS.- The petitioner alleges the lack of publicity of the recordings of INCOP's Board of Directors. On this point, this Chamber deems applicable to the present matter the case law that deals with the publicity of the sessions of municipal bodies; in which it has determined that the minutes must be published periodically through the corresponding digital media, and has also established that the sessions of the permanent and special committees are public and must be broadcast live to citizens through digital platforms. The foregoing, because as INCOP is a public entity, with administrative autonomy and its own assets, it must guarantee the transparency of its actions; and it is consistent with the principles of transparency and publicity, that such recordings or audios of these collegiate bodies also be published periodically, which can be done on some designated digital site.

Consequently, in the report rendered to this Chamber, the respondent authority informs this Chamber that its sessions are recorded on the website https://incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas of INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACIFICO.

However, upon visiting INCOP's website incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas, specifically the tab “Minutes and Recorded Sessions” (October 1, 2024), this Chamber finds a few recordings from June to September 2024 of the Board of Directors' sessions, but the publication of all the sessions of this year, much less those of previous years, of that body of INCOP is not verified, nor is the publication of the minutes. Nor is it indicated that such sessions had not been held and that therefore the recording is not on file.

Based on the described factual picture, in the opinion of this Chamber, this aspect of the appeal (specifically, the one related to the non-publication of the sessions of INCOP's Board of Directors), must be upheld. The foregoing, essentially, because it is deemed accredited that, as of the day the report was submitted by the respondent authority, i.e., September 4, 2024, and at the time of this Chamber's analysis of the respondent institute's website, on October 1, 2024, said website was outdated, since despite the respondent authority directing to its website to find the recordings, it did not contain the minutes of that body's sessions and only the recording of a few sessions from the year 2024.

Thus, as it is not accredited that such situation is fulfilled by the respondent instance, the appropriate course is to grant the appeal also with respect to this aspect, in the terms that will be indicated in the operative part of this ruling.

VI.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE AGENDAS (ÓRDENES DEL DÍA). The petitioner claims that the respondent Incop never publicizes the agendas (órdenes del día) of each session of its Board of Directors. On this particular matter, it was not demonstrated that, as of the day this amparo was filed, the agendas corresponding to the sessions of INCOP's board of directors were publicized.

On this particular topic, based on the reference to the case law developed by this Court, mutatis mutandi, in relation to the publication of the agenda of a municipal council, this constitutional jurisdiction, in Judgment No. 2023-010827 of 09:20 hrs. on May 12, 2023, resolved the following:

“(…) Regarding the publication of the agenda of the Municipal Council sessions, it was taken as an incontrovertible fact that these are not publicized, neither before nor after each session is held, on any technological medium of the respondent; nor are they made available in a publicly accessible site. In this regard, this Court has provided the following:

“VI.- As a third point, and in relation to publicizing the schedules and agendas on a publicly accessible virtual site, this Chamber deemed it accredited that in the sub lite, the session minutes that include the schedules and agendas have not been published on the municipality's website for approximately 1 year and 9 months, therefore, there is also no evidence that these schedules and agendas have been made available to the public that so requires.

In this sense, this Chamber in judgment No. 2020-24615 of 13:30 on December 18, 2020 stated: “Thus, this Court considers that facilitating information such as the schedule and the topics to be discussed in a session is of vital importance to promote and exercise citizen participation and democratic dialogue, otherwise, how will citizens know if what will be discussed interests them, affects them, or if they wish to contribute something about it?, how will they find incentives to attend and participate in the sessions to be held if they are unaware of what will potentially be discussed? (…) Now, it must be understood that, due to the foregoing, the schedule or the agenda could undergo some unforeseen modification; however, the effect of such eventuality will be mitigated as the administered party has the option of accessing the live broadcast or also having at their disposal the subsequent publication of said information through the session minutes on the website, thus being able, even, to compare what was originally scheduled on the agenda and what was finally discussed, all for the sake of transparency and publicity in the work of the Public Administration.” From the foregoing transcribed text, the need arises for the session schedules and agendas to be duly available to the administered parties and that, although these may be modified, the fact is that, with access to the live sessions, users can verify when any change has occurred in them. However, in the case under study, as none of the aforementioned options are available, an affectation is undoubtedly caused to the fundamental rights of the administered parties. Consequently, the proper course is to grant the appeal regarding these aspects, as will be indicated in the operative part of this judgment.” (see judgment No. 2021023689 of 9:15 hours on October 22, 2022).

Thus, and in congruence with the partially transcribed judgment, as the due publication of the Municipal Council session agendas is not verified, the appeal is granted, regarding this aspect, with the indications that will be stated in the operative part of this ruling (…)”.

Such considerations are applicable to the case under study and this Court finds no reasons to vary the criterion expressed in that judgment, nor motives that would make it assess the situation raised differently. In accordance with the cited precedent and as the due publication of the session agendas of the Municipal Council of Acosta is not verified in the present case, what corresponds is to uphold this aspect of the appeal.” (…)” Consequently, as it is not demonstrated in this matter that this information is published by INCOP, what corresponds is to order it to carry out this type of publications of the agenda (orden del día), in a timely manner and prior to the holding of each session of that institute, within the limits of the Personal Data Protection Law, No. 8968 or other applicable legal regulations.

VII.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO INCOP'S EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS. Related to the previous point, the petitioner claims that, despite INCOP having a website and a Facebook account, citizens are not informed about the holding of extraordinary sessions (time, place, date, etc.). The petitioner requests that the respondent party be ordered to announce the extraordinary sessions in advance.

Having reviewed the case file, this Chamber considers that this last aspect of the appeal must be upheld equally. The foregoing, insofar as it is deemed accredited that the details referred to by the petitioner concerning the holding of these sessions –which, like those of an ordinary nature, are of great importance–, are not previously and timely publicized by INCOP, thereby likewise violating the right of citizens to access information and the principle of transparency regarding the management of that institute. Consequently, what corresponds is to order INCOP to carry out this type of publications in a timely manner and prior to the holding of each extraordinary session of that institute, within the limits of the Personal Data Protection Law, No. 8968 or other applicable legal regulations. (…)” B) THAT INFORMATION RELATED TO THE HOLDING OF EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS OF THE INCOP BOARD OF DIRECTORS (DAY, TIME, PLACE, ETC.) BE PUBLISHED IN A TIMELY MANNER AND ON THE DESIGNATED DIGITAL SITE, THE FOREGOING WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAW, No. 8968, OR OTHER APPLICABLE LEGAL REGULATIONS. VCG10/2024 ... (XML styles omitted as it's non-translatable formatting) ...

"(...) IV.- ON THE LACK OF LIVE BROADCASTING OF THE INCOP SESSIONS.

Before analyzing the merits of this matter, it is considered pertinent to note that the Law of the Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports, No. 1721, establishes in its article 1 that INCOP is a public entity, endowed with legal personality, administrative autonomy, its own assets, and capacity under public and private law. Its main objective shall be to assume the prerogatives and functions of a port authority, for the purpose of exploiting, directly or indirectly, in accordance with the law, the State ports on the country's Pacific coast, their port services, as well as related activities and facilities, in order to provide them efficiently and effectively to strengthen the national economy. Given the public nature of INCOP, the Chamber considers that Article 56 of the General Law of Public Administration is applicable to it, insofar as it provides for how the sessions of such bodies must be supported. The rule states:

"Article 56- 1) The sessions of collegiate bodies shall be recorded in audio and video and backed up on a digital medium that guarantees their integrity and archiving in accordance with current legislation. It shall be the obligation of all members of the collegiate body to verify that the recording of the session is made, and failure to do so shall constitute a serious fault.

• 2)Minutes shall be drawn up for each session, which shall contain an indication of the persons present, as well as the circumstances of place and time in which it was held, the literal transcription of all interventions made in adherence to the constitutional principles of reasonableness and proportionality, the main points of deliberation, the form and result of the voting, and the content of the agreements. (As amended by Article 4 of Law Authorizing the Holding of Virtual Sessions by Collegiate Bodies of the Public Administration, No. 10379 of October 2, 2023) 3) The minutes shall be approved at the next ordinary session. Prior to such approval, the agreements reached at the respective session shall lack finality, unless the members present agree to their finality by a vote of two-thirds of all members of the Board.
• 4)The minutes shall be signed by the president and by those members who have recorded their dissenting vote." From the transcribed rule, no obligation to broadcast such sessions live arises, as a necessary element to guarantee publicity. As a consequence of the foregoing, the failure to broadcast live the sessions of the INCOP Board of Directors does not harm the principle of publicity and citizen access to information; and the appeal must be dismissed with regard to that point.

V.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE RECORDINGS (AUDIOS) OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS' SESSIONS.- The petitioner claims the lack of publicity of the recordings of the INCOP Board of Directors. On this point, this Chamber considers the jurisprudence regarding the publicity of the sessions of municipal bodies to be applicable to this matter; in which it has been determined that the minutes must be published periodically through the corresponding digital media, and it has also established that the sessions of permanent and special commissions are public and must be broadcast live to the citizenry through digital platforms. The foregoing, because since INCOP is a public entity, with administrative autonomy and its own assets, it must guarantee the transparency of its actions; and it is consistent with the principles of transparency and publicity, that such recordings or audios of these collegiate bodies also be published periodically, which can be done on a designated digital site.

Consequently, in the report rendered to this Chamber, the respondent authority informs this Chamber that its sessions are recorded on the website https://incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas of the INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACIFICO.

However, upon visiting the INCOP website incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas, specifically the tab "Actas y Sesiones Grabadas" (October 1, 2024), this Chamber finds a few recordings from June to September 2024 of the Board of Directors' sessions, but the publication of all sessions from the current year, much less from previous years of that INCOP body, is not verified, nor is the publication of the minutes. Neither is it indicated that such sessions were not held and that, for this reason, there is no recording.

From the factual scenario described, in this Chamber's opinion, this aspect of the appeal (specifically, the one related to the non-publication of the sessions of the INCOP Board of Directors), must be upheld. The foregoing, fundamentally, because it is considered proven that, as of the day the report was submitted by the respondent authority, i.e., September 4, 2024, and at the time this Chamber analyzed the website of the respondent institute, on October 1, 2024, it was outdated, because despite the respondent authority referring to its website to find the recordings, it did not contain the minutes of that body's sessions and only contained the recording of a few sessions from the year 2024.

Thus, since it was not proven that such a situation is being fulfilled by the respondent body, the appropriate course is to grant the appeal also with respect to this aspect, in the terms that will be indicated in the operative part of this ruling.

VI.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE AGENDAS. The petitioner complains that the respondent Incop never publicizes the agendas for each session of its Board of Directors. On this point, it was not demonstrated that, as of the day this amparo was filed, the agendas corresponding to the sessions of the INCOP board of directors were publicized.

On this particular topic, based on the reference to the jurisprudence developed by this Court, mutatis mutandi, in relation to the publication of the agenda of a municipal council, this constitutional jurisdiction, in Judgment No. 2023-010827 of 09:20 hrs. of May 12, 2023, resolved the following:

"(…) Regarding the publication of the agenda of the Municipal Council sessions, it was considered an undisputed fact that these are not publicized, neither before nor after each session held, on any technological medium of the respondent; nor are they made available on a publicly accessible site. In this regard, this Tribunal has ordered the following:

"VI.- As a third point, and in relation to publicizing the schedules and agendas on a publicly accessible virtual site, this Chamber considered it proven that in the sub lite case, the minutes of the sessions that include the schedules and agendas have not been published on the municipality's website for approximately 1 year and 9 months, therefore, there is also no evidence that these schedules and agendas have been made available to the public that requires them.

In this regard, this Chamber, in judgment No. 2020-24615 of 13:30 of December 18, 2020, stated: "Thus, this Tribunal considers that providing information such as the schedule and the topics to be discussed in a session is of vital importance to promote and exercise citizen participation and democratic dialogue. Otherwise, how will the citizenry know if what will be discussed interests them, affects them, or if they wish to contribute something on the matter? How will they find incentives to appear and participate in the sessions to be held if they are unaware of what will potentially be discussed? (…) However, it should be understood that, due to the foregoing, the schedule or the agenda could undergo some unforeseen modification; nevertheless, the effect of such eventuality will be mitigated by the administered person having in their favor the option of accessing the live broadcast or also having at their disposal the subsequent publication of said information through the minutes of the session on the website, thus being able, even, to compare what was originally scheduled on the agenda and what was finally discussed, all for the sake of transparency and publicity in the work of the Public Administration." From the foregoing transcript, the need for the session schedules and agendas to be duly available to the administered persons is evident, and that, although these can be modified, the truth is that, with access to the live sessions, users can verify when a change has occurred in them. However, in the case under study, since none of the said options are available, an impact and harm to the fundamental rights of the administered persons is undeniably caused. Consequently, the appropriate course is to grant the appeal with respect to these points, as will be indicated in the operative part of this judgment." (see judgment No. 2021023689 of 9:15 hours of October 22, 2022).

Thus, and in congruence with the partially transcribed judgment, since the proper publication of the agenda of the Municipal Council sessions is not verified, the appeal is granted, with respect to this point, with the indications that will be stated in the operative part of this ruling (…)".

Such considerations are applicable to the case under study, and this Tribunal finds no reasons to vary the criterion expressed in that judgment, nor motives that would lead it to assess the situation raised differently. According to the cited precedent and since the proper publication of the agendas for the sessions of the Municipal Council of Acosta is not verified, in the present case, the corresponding action is to uphold this aspect of the appeal." (…)" Consequently, since it was not demonstrated in this matter that such information is published by INCOP, the appropriate course is to order it to carry out this type of publication of the agenda, in a timely manner and prior to the holding of each session of that institute, within the limits of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, No. 8968, or other applicable legal regulations.

VII.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS OF INCOP. Related to the previous point, the petitioner claims that, despite INCOP having a website and a Facebook account, the citizenry does not learn about the holding of extraordinary sessions (time, place, date, etc.). The petitioner requests that the respondent party be ordered to announce extraordinary sessions in advance.

Having reviewed the case file, this Chamber considers that this last aspect of the appeal must also be upheld. The foregoing, insofar as it is considered proven that the details referred to by the petitioner regarding the holding of these sessions—which, like those of an ordinary nature, are of great importance—are not previously and timely publicized by INCOP, thereby equally violating the right of access to information of the citizenry and the principle of transparency regarding the management of that institute. Consequently, the appropriate course is to order INCOP to carry out this type of publication in a timely manner and prior to the holding of each extraordinary session of that institute, within the limits of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, No. 8968, or other applicable legal regulations. (…)" B) THAT INFORMATION RELATED TO THE HOLDING OF EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS OF THE INCOP BOARD OF DIRECTORS (DAY, TIME, PLACE, ETC.) BE PUBLISHED IN A TIMELY MANNER AND ON THE DESIGNATED DIGITAL SITE, THE FOREGOING WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAW, NO. 8968, OR OTHER APPLICABLE LEGAL REGULATIONS. VCG10/2024 “(…) IV.- REGARDING THE LACK OF LIVE BROADCASTING OF INCOP SESSIONS.

Before analyzing the merits of the present matter, it is deemed appropriate to indicate that the Law of the Costa Rican Institute of Pacific Ports (Ley del Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico), No. 1721, provides in its article 1 that INCOP is a public entity, endowed with legal personality, administrative autonomy, its own patrimony, and capacity under public and private law. Its primary objective shall be to assume the prerogatives and functions of a port authority, with the purpose of exploiting, directly or indirectly, in accordance with the law, the State's ports on the country's Pacific coast, their port services, as well as related activities and facilities, in order to provide them efficiently and effectively to strengthen the national economy. Due to the public nature of INCOP, the Chamber (Sala) considers that Article 56 of the General Public Administration Law (Ley General de la Administración Pública) is applicable to it, insofar as it provides how the sessions of such bodies must be supported. The provision states:

"Article 56- 1) The sessions of the collegiate bodies shall be recorded in audio and video and be supported on a digital medium that guarantees their integrity and archiving in accordance with current legislation. It shall be the obligation of all members of the collegiate body to verify that the recording of the session is carried out, and failure to do so shall constitute a serious fault.

• 2)Minutes shall be drawn up for each session, which shall contain an indication of the persons present, as well as the circumstances of place and time in which it was held, the literal transcription of all interventions made in adherence to the constitutional principles of reasonableness and proportionality, the main points of deliberation, the manner and result of the voting, and the content of the agreements. (Subsection amended by Article 4 of Law Authorizing the Holding of Virtual Sessions by the Collegiate Bodies of the Public Administration, No. 10379 of October 2, 2023) 3) The minutes shall be approved at the next ordinary session. Before such approval, the agreements adopted at the respective session shall lack firmness, unless the members present agree to their firmness by a vote of two-thirds of the total members of the Board.
• 4)The minutes shall be signed by the president and by those members who have recorded their dissenting vote." The obligation to broadcast such sessions live, as a necessary element to guarantee publicity, is not inferred from the transcribed provision. As a consequence of the foregoing, the non-broadcast live of the sessions of INCOP's Board of Directors (Junta Directiva) does not injure the principle of publicity (principio de publicidad) and citizen access to information; and it is appropriate to dismiss the appeal (recurso) as to this point.

V.- THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE RECORDINGS (AUDIOS) OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS' SESSIONS.- The claimant alleges the lack of publicity of the recordings of INCOP's Board of Directors. On this point, this Chamber (Sala) deems applicable to the present matter the jurisprudence that deals with the publicity of the sessions of municipal bodies; in which it has determined that the minutes must be published periodically through the corresponding digital media, and it has also established that the sessions of permanent and special commissions are public and must be broadcast live to the citizenry through digital platforms. The foregoing, since INCOP being a public entity, with administrative autonomy and its own patrimony, must guarantee the transparency of its actions; and it is consistent with the principles of transparency and publicity, that such recordings or audios of these collegiate bodies also be published periodically, which can be done on some designated digital site.

Consequently, in the report rendered to this Chamber, the appealed authority (autoridad recurrida) informs this Chamber that its sessions are recorded on the web https://incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas of the INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACIFICO.

However, upon visiting INCOP's web page incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas, specifically the tab "Actas y Sesiones Grabadas" (October 1, 2024), this Chamber finds a few recordings from June to September 2024 of the Board of Directors' sessions, but the publication of all the sessions of the current year, much less of previous years of that INCOP body, is not verified, nor is the publication of the minutes. Nor is it indicated that such sessions had not taken place and that therefore the recording is not on file.

From the factual picture described, in the opinion of this Chamber, this part of the appeal (specifically, the one related to the non-publication of INCOP's Board of Directors' sessions) must be upheld. The foregoing, essentially, because it is considered proven that, as of the day the report was submitted by the appealed authority (autoridad recurrida), i.e., September 4, 2024, and at the time this Chamber analyzed the web page of the appealed institute, on October 1, 2024, it was outdated, since despite the appealed authority referring to its web page to find the recordings, it did not contain the minutes of the sessions of that body and only the recording of a few sessions from the year 2024.

Thus, since it is not proven that such a situation is complied with by the appealed body, it is appropriate to grant the appeal also as to this point, in the terms that will be indicated in the operative part of this pronouncement.

VI.- THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF THE AGENDAS (ÓRDENES DEL DÍA). The claimant complains that the appealed INCOP never publicizes the agendas (órdenes del día) of each session of its Board of Directors. On this particular point, it was not demonstrated that, as of the day this amparo (amparo) was filed, the agendas (órdenes del día) corresponding to the sessions of INCOP's Board of Directors were publicized.

On this particular topic, based on the reference to the jurisprudence developed by this Court, mutatis mutandis, in relation to the publication of the agenda of a municipal council, this constitutional jurisdiction, in Judgment No. 2023-010827 of 09:20 hrs. of May 12, 2023, resolved the following:

"(…) Concerning the publication of the agenda of the sessions of the Municipal Council, it was held as an uncontroverted fact that these are not publicized, neither before nor after each session held, in any technological medium of the recurrida; nor are they made available in a publicly accessible site. In this regard, this Court has provided the following:

"VI.- As a third point, and in relation to publicizing the schedules and agendas on a publicly accessible virtual site, this Chamber held it as proven that in the sub lite, the minutes of the sessions that include the schedules and agendas have not been published on the municipality's web page for approximately 1 year and 9 months, therefore, there is also no evidence that these schedules and agendas have been made available to the public that so requires.

In this sense, this Chamber in judgment No. 2020-24615 of 13:30 of December 18, 2020, stated: 'Thus, this Court considers that providing information such as the schedule and the topics to be discussed in a session is of vital importance to promote and exercise citizen participation and democratic dialogue, otherwise, how will the citizenry know if what will be discussed interests them, affects them, or if they wish to contribute something about it? How will they find incentives to attend and participate in the sessions to be held if they are unaware of what will potentially be discussed? (…) Now, it should be understood that, by what was previously expressed, the schedule or the agenda could undergo some unforeseen modification; however, the effect of such eventuality will be lessened by the citizen having in their favor the option to access the live broadcast or also having at their disposal the subsequent publication of said information through the minutes of the session on the web page, thus even being able to compare what was originally scheduled on the agenda and what was finally discussed, all for the sake of transparency and publicity in the work of the Public Administration.' From the foregoing, the need can be inferred that the schedules of the sessions and the agendas be duly available to the citizens and that, although these may be modified, the truth is that, with access to the live sessions, users can verify when any change has occurred. However, in the case under study, by not having any of the said options, an affectation and the fundamental rights of the citizens are undoubtedly caused. Consequently, it is appropriate to grant the appeal as to these points, as will be indicated in the operative part of this judgment." (see judgment No. 2021023689 of 9:15 hours of October 22, 2022).

Thus, and in congruence with the partially transcribed judgment, by not verifying the proper publication of the agenda of the sessions of the Municipal Council, the appeal is granted, as to this point, with the indications that will be stated in the operative part of this pronouncement (…)'." Such considerations are applicable to the case under study and this Court finds no reasons to vary the criterion expressed in said judgment, nor reasons that would make it assess the raised situation differently. In accordance with the cited precedent and by not verifying, in the species, the proper publication of the agendas of the sessions of the Municipal Council of Acosta, what is appropriate is to uphold this point of the appeal." (…)" Consequently, since it is not demonstrated in this matter that such information is published by INCOP, what is appropriate is to order it to carry out this type of publication of the agenda, in a timely manner and prior to the celebration of each session of that institute, within the limits of the Law on Protection of Personal Data, No. 8968 or other applicable legal regulations.

VII.- REGARDING THE LACK OF PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO INCOP'S EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS. Related to the previous point, the claimant complains that, despite INCOP having a web page and a Facebook account, the citizenry does not find out about the holding of extraordinary sessions (time, place, date, etc.). The claimant requests that the recurrida be ordered to announce the extraordinary sessions in advance.

Having reviewed the case file, this Chamber considers that this last part of the appeal must likewise be upheld. The foregoing, inasmuch as it is held as proven that the details referred to by the claimant regarding the holding of these sessions – which, like those of an ordinary nature, are of great importance – are not previously and opportunely publicized by INCOP, thereby equally violating the right of access to information of the citizenry and the principle of transparency (principio de transparencia) regarding the management of that institute. Therefore, what is appropriate is to order INCOP to carry out this type of publication in a timely manner and prior to the holding of each extraordinary session of that institute, within the limits of the Law on Protection of Personal Data, No. 8968 or other applicable legal regulations. (…)"

030678-24. INFORMACIÓN. SE ORDENA AL GERENTE GENERAL DEL INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACÍFICO (INCOP), LO SIGUIENTE: A) SE PUBLIQUE DE FORMA OPORTUNA Y EN EL SITIO DIGITAL DESIGNADO, LAS ÓRDENES DEL DÍA CORRESPONDIENTE A LAS SESIONES ORDINARIAS Y EXTRAORDINARIAS CELEBRADAS POR LA JUNTA DIRECTIVA DEL INCOP. B) SE PUBLIQUE DE FORMA OPORTUNA Y EN EL SITIO DIGITAL DESIGNADO, LA INFORMACIÓN RELACIONADA CON LA CELEBRACIÓN DE LAS SESIONES EXTRAORDINARIAS DE LA JUNTA DIRECTIVA DEL INCOP (DÍA, HORA, LUGAR, ETC).,LO ANTERIOR DENTRO DE LOS LÍMITES DE LA LEY DE PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS PERSONALES, N°8968 U OTRA NORMATIVA JURÍDICA APLICABLE.VCG10/2024 “(…) IV.- SOBRE LA FALTA DE TRANSMISIÓN EN VIVO DE LAS SESIONES DEL INCOP. Previo a analizar el fondo del presente asunto, se estima oportuno indicar que la Ley del Instituto Costarricense de Puertos del Pacífico, N°1721, dispone en su artículo 1 que el INCOP es una entidad pública, dotada de personalidad jurídica, autonomía administrativa, patrimonio propio, y capacidad de derecho público y privado. Su objetivo principal será asumir las prerrogativas y funciones de autoridad portuaria, con el propósito de explotar, directa o indirectamente, de acuerdo con la ley, los puertos del Estado en el litoral pacífico del país, sus servicios portuarios, así como las actividades y facilidades conexas, con el fin de brindarlos de forma eficiente y eficaz para fortalecer la economía nacional. Por la naturaleza pública del INCOP, estima la Sala que le es aplicable el artículo 56 de la Ley General de la Administración Pública, en cuanto dispone cómo debe respaldarse las sesiones de tales órganos. Dispone la norma:

“Artículo 56- 1) Las sesiones de los órganos colegiados deberán grabarse en audio y video y ser respaldadas en un medio digital que garantice su integridad y archivo de conformidad con la legislación vigente. Será obligación de todos los miembros del cuerpo colegiado verificar que se realice la grabación de la sesión y constituirá falta grave el no hacerlo.

• 2)De cada sesión se levantará un acta, que contendrá la indicación de las personas asistentes, así como las circunstancias de lugar y tiempo en que se ha celebrado, la transcripción literal de todas las intervenciones efectuadas en apego a los principios constitucionales de razonabilidad y proporcionalidad, los puntos principales de deliberación, la forma y el resultado de la votación, y el contenido de los acuerdos. (Así reformado el inciso anterior por el artículo 4° de la Ley Autoriza la celebración de sesiones virtuales a los Órganos Colegiados de la Administración Pública, N° 10379 del 2 de octubre del 2023) 3) Las actas se aprobarán en la siguiente sesión ordinaria. Antes de esa aprobación carecerán de firmeza los acuerdos tomados en la respectiva sesión, a menos que los miembros presentes acuerden su firmeza por votación de dos tercios de la totalidad de los miembros del Colegio.
• 4)Las actas serán firmadas por el presidente y por aquellos miembros que hubieran hecho constar su voto disidente." De la norma transcrita no se desprende la obligación de transmitir en vivo tales sesiones, como elemento necesario para garantizar la publicidad. Como consecuencia de lo anterior, la no transmisión en vivo de las sesiones de la Junta Directiva del INCOP, no lesiona el principio de publicidad y el acceso ciudadano a la información; y procede descartar el recurso en cuanto a tal extremo.

V.- DE LA FALTA DE PUBLICACIÓN DE LAS GRABACIONES (AUDIOS) DE LAS SESIONES DE LA JUNTA DIRECTIVA.- El accionante acusa la falta de publicidad de las grabaciones de la Junta Directiva del INCOP. Sobre este extremo, esta Sala estima aplicable al presente asunto la jurisprudencia que versa sobre la publicidad de las sesiones de los órganos municipales; en la que ha determinado que las actas deben publicarse de manera periódica a través de los medios digitales correspondientes, y también ha establecido que las sesiones de las comisiones permanentes y especiales son públicas y, deben transmitirse en vivo a la ciudadanía mediante las plataformas digitales. Lo anterior, pues al ser el INCOP una entidad pública, con autonomía administrativa y patrimonio propio, debe garantizar la transparencia de sus acciones; y resulta consecuente con los principios de transparencia y publicidad, que tales grabaciones o audios de estos órganos colegiados también sean publicados de manera periódica, lo que se puede hacer en algún sitio digital designado.

De manera consecuente, en el informe rendido a esta Sala, la autoridad recurrida informa a esta Sala que sus sesiones quedan grabadas en la web https://incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas del INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE PUERTOS DEL PACIFICO.

Sin embargo, al visitar la página web del INCOP incop.go.cr/transparencia/#InfJuntaDirectiva_Actas_SesionesGrabadas, específicamente la cejilla “Actas y Sesiones Grabadas” (01 de octubre de 2024) esta Sala encuentra algunas pocas grabaciones del mes de junio a setiembre de 2024 de las sesiones de la Junta Directiva, mas no se verifica la publicación de todas las sesiones del presente año y mucho menos de años anteriores de ese órgano del INCOP, así como tampoco la publicación de las actas. Tampoco se indica que no se hubiere llevado a cabo tales sesiones y que por ello no consta la grabación.

Del cuadro fáctico descrito, en criterio de esta Sala, este extremo del recurso (concretamente, el relacionado con la no publicación las sesiones de la Junta Directiva del INCOP), debe ser acogido. Lo anterior, medularmente, por cuanto se tiene por acreditado que, para el día de presentarse el informe por parte de la autoridad recurrida, sea, el 04 de setiembre de 2024 y al momento de analizar esta Sala, la página web del instituto recurrido, el 01 de octubre de 2024, esta se encontraba desactualizada, pues pese a que la autoridad recurrida remite a su página web para encontrar las grabaciones, esta no contenía las actas de las sesiones de ese órgano y únicamente la grabación de algunas pocas sesiones del año 2024.

De modo que, al no acreditarse que tal situación se cumpla por parte de la instancia recurrida, lo procedente es declarar con lugar el recurso también en cuanto a este extremo se refiere, en los términos que se indicarán en la parte dispositiva de este pronunciamiento.

VI.- DE LA FALTA DE PUBLICACIÓN DE LAS ÓRDENES DEL DÍA. El recurrente reclama que el Incop recurrido nunca publicita las órdenes del día, de cada sesión de su Junta Directiva. Sobre el particular, no se demostró que para el día de interpuesto este amparo, las órdenes del día correspondientes a las sesiones de la junta directiva del INCOP fueran publicitadas.

Sobre este tema en particular, con base en la referencia a la jurisprudencia desarrollada por este Tribunal, mutatis mutandi, en relación a la publicación del orden del día de un concejo municipal, esta jurisdicción constitucional, en la Sentencia No. 2023-010827 de las 09:20 hrs. de 12 de mayo de 2023, resolvió lo siguiente:

“(…) Atinente a la publicación del orden del día de las sesiones del Concejo Municipal, se tuvo como un hecho incontrovertido que estas no se publicitan, ni previo ni posteriormente a cada sesión celebrada, en algún medio tecnológico de la recurrida; tampoco se ponen a disposición en un sitio de acceso público. Al respecto, este Tribunal ha dispuesto lo siguiente:

“VI.- Como tercer punto, y con relación a que se publiciten los horarios y órdenes del día en un sitio virtual de acceso público, esta Sala tuvo por acreditado que en el sub lite, las actas de las sesiones que incluyen los horarios y las órdenes del día no han sido publicadas en la página web del municipio desde hace 1 año y 9 meses, aproximadamente, por lo que, tampoco existe evidencia que estos horarios y órdenes del día se hayan puesto a disposición del público que así lo requiera.

En este sentido, esta Sala en la sentencia No. 2020-24615 de las 13:30 de 18 de diciembre de 2020 señaló: “Así, este Tribunal considera que el facilitar información como el horario y los temas que se discutirán en una sesión es de vital importancia para promover y ejercer la participación ciudadana y el diálogo democrático, sino ¿cómo sabrá la ciudadanía si lo que se discutirá le interesa, le afecta, o si desea aportar algo al respecto?, ¿cómo encontrará incentivos para presentarse y participar de las sesiones a celebrar si desconoce lo que potencialmente se discutirá? (…) Ahora bien, se deberá entender que, por lo expresado anteriormente, el horario o la orden del día podrían sufrir alguna modificación imprevista; no obstante, el efecto de dicha eventualidad se aminorará teniendo el administrado a su favor la opción de acceder a la transmisión en vivo o bien también teniendo a su disposición la posterior publicación de dicha información mediante el acta de la sesión en la página web, así pudiendo, inclusive, cotejar lo que originalmente se programó en el orden del día y lo que finalmente se discutió, todo en aras de la transparencia y publicidad en el quehacer de la Administración Pública”.

De lo anteriormente transcrito se desprende la necesidad de que los horarios de las sesiones y los órdenes del día se encuentren debidamente a disposición de los administrados y que, si bien estas pueden ser modificadas, lo cierto es que, con el acceso a las sesiones en vivo, los usuarios pueden verificar cuando se ha dado algún cambio en estas. No obstante, en el caso bajo estudio, al no contarse con ninguna de las opciones dichas, se causa, sin lugar a dudas, una afectación y los derechos fundamentales de los administrados. En consecuencia, lo procedente es declarar el recurso en cuanto a estos extremos, según se indicará en la parte dispositiva de esta sentencia.”. (ver sentencia No. 2021023689 de las 9:15 horas de 22 de octubre de 2022).

Así las cosas, y en congruencia con la sentencia parcialmente transcrita, al no verificarse en la debida publicación del orden del día de las sesiones del Concejo Municipal, se declara con lugar el recurso, en cuanto a este extremo se refiere, con las indicaciones que se dirán en la parte dispositiva de este pronunciamiento (…)”.

Tales consideraciones son aplicables al caso en estudio y este Tribunal no encuentra razones para variar el criterio vertido en tal sentencia, ni motivos que lo hagan valorar de manera distinta la situación planteada. De acuerdo con el antecedente citado y al no verificarse, en la especie, la debida publicación de las órdenes del día de las sesiones del Concejo Municipal de Acosta, lo que corresponde es acoger este este extremo del recurso.” (…)” Por consiguiente, al no demostrarse en este asunto que se publique esa información por parte del INCOP, lo que corresponde es ordenarle realizar este tipo de publicaciones del orden del día, de forma oportuna y de previo a la celebración de cada sesión de ese instituto, dentro de los límites de la Ley de Protección de Datos Personales, N°8968 u otra normativa jurídica aplicable.

VII.- RESPECTO A LA FALTA DE PUBLICACIÓN DE LA INFORMACIÓN RELACIONADA CON LAS SESIONES EXTRAORDINARIAS DEL INCOP. Relacionado con el punto anterior, el recurrente reclama que, pese a que el INCOP cuenta con página web y cuenta en Facebook, la ciudadanía no se entera de la celebración de las sesiones extraordinarias (hora, lugar, fecha, etc.). Solicita el accionante que se le ordene a la parte recurrida anunciar las sesiones extraordinarias con antelación.

Revisados los autos, esta Sala estima que este último extremo del recurso debe ser acogido igualmente. Lo anterior, en el tanto se tiene por acreditado que los detalles referidos por al accionante tocante a la celebración de estas sesiones –las cuales, al igual que las de índole ordinaria, resultan de gran importancia–, no son previa y oportunamente publicitados por el INCOP, violentándose con esto igualmente el derecho de acceso a la información de la ciudadanía y el principio de transparencia en cuanto a la gestión de ese instituto. Por consiguiente, lo que corresponde es ordenar al INCOP realizar este tipo de publicaciones de forma oportuna y de previo a la celebración de cada sesión extraordinaria de ese instituto, dentro de los límites de la Ley de Protección de Datos Personales, N°8968 u otra normativa jurídica aplicable. (…)”