a. Indigenous peoples: Indigenous peoples shall be understood as those groupings constituted by indigenous persons who are direct descendants of pre-Columbian civilizations, who preserve their own identity and whose social, cultural, economic, and spiritual conditions distinguish them from other sectors of the national community. Indigenous peoples are governed totally or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special legislation and, in turn, preserve all or part of their own social, economic, spiritual, cultural, and political institutions. The awareness of their indigenous identity shall be considered a fundamental criterion for determining the peoples to whom the right to be consulted applies.
b. Indigenous territory: In a broad sense, indigenous territory is understood as the collective property of indigenous peoples that comprises the lands and natural resources that have been traditionally occupied or used by indigenous peoples, without being reduced to their political-administrative boundaries.
c. Consultation with indigenous peoples: It is the obligation of the Government of Costa Rica to consult, in good faith, indigenous peoples in a free, prior, and informed manner, through culturally appropriate procedures and through their representative institutions, whenever measures that may affect them are foreseen.
d. General Indigenous Consultation Mechanism: Legal instrument to be created in light of the state obligation to consult indigenous peoples on those administrative measures, draft laws, or private projects that may affect their collective rights. The General Indigenous Consultation Mechanism will regulate in advance the steps to be followed by the State and private natural or legal persons, before administrative measures, draft laws, or private projects that may affect their collective rights, in order to obtain the consent or agreement of indigenous peoples in a prior, free, and informed manner.
e. Affectation: A draft law, administrative measure, or private project is considered to affect the rights of indigenous peoples, positively or negatively, when it contains elements that may imply changes in their legal situation, in their collective rights, their way of life, culture, spirituality, and social dynamics. As well as measures that, without being executed strictly within indigenous territories, result in a positive or negative affectation of the collective and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.
f. Collective rights: Those rights whose subjects are a specific group or set of persons, who share cultural, social, spiritual, or historical characteristics. The collective rights of indigenous peoples shall be understood as those that, recognized by the current legal framework, national or international, or by the cosmovision of the indigenous people, form part of the cultural heritage from their cosmovision.
g. Administrative measures: Comprises, among others, administrative acts, public policies, executive decrees, and development projects, promoted by public institutions of the Executive Branch.
h. Draft laws promoted by the Executive Branch: All those draft laws promoted by the public institutions of the Executive Branch. It shall be understood that the consultation on draft laws must be done prior to their referral to the Legislative Assembly, at which point the obligation to consult shall correspond to the Legislative Branch.
i. Private project: Any initiative or project generated by a natural or legal person subject to Private Law; within the scope of this concept, projects promoted by Comprehensive Indigenous Development Associations are also included.