Dominican Congress pushes final revisions of new Penal Code amid surge of sector proposals

The Dominican Republic’s Congress is accelerating the review of the new Penal Code (Law 74‑25) before it takes effect on 5 August. A bicameral commission has received an avalanche of proposals from private businesses, legal associations, medical groups, journalists, NGOs and political parties. Key contentious issues include the three grounds for abortion, freedom of expression and media liability, corporate criminal responsibility, penalties for AI‑generated crimes, and aggravated punishments for corruption and sexual offenses. The National Private Enterprise Council (CONEP) submitted technical observations and asked for a longer implementation period. Party leaders such as Ramfis Domínguez Trujillo and José Horacio Rodríguez presented their own amendment packages, targeting defamation rules, AI deep‑fakes, and the removal of special protections for public officials. The commission postponed a scheduled plenary session to Friday to allow additional time for analyzing the roughly 20 articles under substantive review, as the legislative term ends on 26 July. Despite the tight schedule, lawmakers say there is still “time” to incorporate changes before the code’s first reading in the lower house later this week. The process reflects intense debate over how the new code will balance modern crime definitions with constitutional rights.