Constitutional Chamber annuls three paragraphs of the digital antimicrobial prescription system

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declared subsections l), m), and n) of article 13 of executive decree No. 44714-S, which regulates the digital prescription system for systemic antimicrobial medications, to be unconstitutional. The decision is contained in Vote No. 2026015323, issued at thirteen hours twenty minutes on April 29, 2026, and summarized in La Gaceta No. 181 on Friday, September 25, 2026, with declaratory and retroactive effects.

The ruling resolves the action of unconstitutionality processed under case file 25-036310-0007-CO, promoted by Elliott Garita Jiménez, in his capacity as president and legal representative of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Costa Rica, and by Delia Ribas Valdés, in her capacity as president and legal representative of the Costa Rican Chamber of Physicians and Surgeons Association.

The plaintiffs challenged articles 11 and 13, subsections l), m), and n) of executive decree No. 44714-S of October 18, 2024, titled “Regulation on the use and operation of the digital prescription system and other interoperable systems for the prescription of systemic antimicrobial medications.” The regulation governed the operation of the digital prescription system for that group of medications in the country.

What the Chamber resolved

By majority, the court partially granted the action and, consequently, declared article 13, subsections l), m), and n) of executive decree No. 44714-S unconstitutional. Regarding article 11 of the same regulation, the action was declared unfounded.

The ruling orders the summary of the pronouncement to be published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta and published in full in the Judicial Bulletin. The notification was issued in San José on September 02, 2026, and the summary appears signed by Mariane Castro Villalobos, Acting Secretary of the Constitutional Chamber.

Key data of the ruling

• Case file: 25-036310-0007-CO.
• Vote: No. 2026015323, from 13:20 on April 29, 2026.
• Challenged norm: articles 11 and 13, subsections l), m), and n) of executive decree No. 44714-S of October 18, 2024.
• Result: unconstitutionality of subsections l), m), and n) of article 13; action against article 11 declared unfounded.
• Effects: declaratory and retroactive to the date the annulled norms came into force, without prejudice to rights acquired in good faith.
• Publication: summary in La Gaceta No. 181 of September 25, 2026, reference IN202601125915.

Dissenting votes

Magistrates Cruz Castro and Rueda Leal, along with Magistrate Hess Herrera, dissented and declared the action unfounded in all respects. That is, for those three members of the court, the entirety of the challenge should have been rejected, including the subsections of article 13 that the majority annulled.

Scope of the annulment

The ruling specifies that its effects are declaratory and retroactive to the date on which the annulled regulations came into force, with the exception of rights acquired in good faith. The action against Article 11 of the regulation was dismissed, meaning that provision remains in effect.

The affected regulation governs the use and operation of the digital prescription system and other interoperable systems for prescribing systemic antimicrobial medications; therefore, the annulment directly impacts the prescription rules applied by medical professionals and the operation of pharmacies that dispense those prescriptions.

The resolution is published in the reviews section of the Constitutional Chamber of La Gaceta No. 181, corresponding to Friday, September 25, 2026, with the official reference IN202601125915.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 181 of Friday, September 25, 2026, Constitutional Chamber (reviews), p. 61 (official reference: IN202601125915).