Capítulo III. Estructura orgánica

The organs of the Registry are:

a)The Board of Directors;

b)The Executive Director;

c)The Advisory Council;

d)The Executing Offices;

e)The Administrative Directorates.

The Board of Directors is the highest governing body of the RENAP and is composed of three members:

a)One Magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal;

b)The Minister of the Interior;

c)One member elected by the Congress of the Republic.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal shall elect, from among its regular magistrates, one regular member and one alternate member.

The Minister of the Interior may delegate his representation to one of the Vice Ministers, specifically designated by Ministerial Agreement.

The Congress of the Republic shall elect one regular member and one alternate member.

They shall hold office for four (4) years and may be re-elected; the Congress of the Republic must issue a call to all professionals who wish to apply for the position, thirty (30) days in advance. In the event of cessation of their functions for any of the causes established in this Law, the Congress shall proceed to replace them.

For the election of said members, regular and alternate, the Board of Directors of the Congress shall propose to the Plenary, for its designation, a Commission made up of three (3) deputies from different parliamentary blocs, which shall be responsible for reviewing and verifying compliance with the requirements of the applications received. Once this has been done, the Commission shall submit to the Board of Directors of the Congress the final list of applicants, so that the latter may submit it for consideration by the Plenary of the Congress and the election may be held, which shall be decided by simple majority of votes. The professional who obtains the highest number of votes shall be elected as regular member, and the one who follows him in the number of votes obtained shall be elected as alternate member.

The member of the Board of Directors elected by the Congress of the Republic must meet the following qualifications:

a)Be Guatemalan;

b)Be a registered (colegiado) university professional; and must demonstrate ten years of experience in the practice of the profession and demonstrate experience of not less than ten years in computer systems; and,

c)Be of recognized honorability.

The members of the Board of Directors shall perform their duties under their own exclusive liability, in accordance with the law, and shall act with absolute independence of judgment and free from any interest other than that of the Registro Nacional de las Personas (National Registry of Persons). Without prejudice to the provisions of other laws, the members who act as regular members shall be jointly and severally liable for damages and losses caused by the acts and omissions in which they incur in the performance of their duties. In the case of the sessions of the RENAP Board of Directors, the members who act as regular members shall not be jointly and severally liable, civilly and criminally, if they state their objections in the record of the respective session and give reasons for their vote against.

The Board of Directors shall be presided over by the Magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Decisions of the Board of Directors shall be adopted by a majority of its members.

Sessions shall be convened by its President and shall be held ordinarily every fifteen (15) days, and extraordinarily when required by a member of the Board of Directors or if the agenda of the ordinary session has not been exhausted and the majority of its members so decide.

Attendance by the members of the Board of Directors at ordinary and extraordinary sessions is mandatory. The presence of two (2) members of the Board of Directors constitutes a quorum to hold a session. Agreements and decisions shall be valid if they obtain at least two (2) votes. Attendance at sessions is mandatory for both regular members and alternates. Regular members shall have voice and vote, and alternates shall have voice only, unless they are acting as regular members. In the event of the regular member's non-attendance, the member's alternate shall substitute for the regular member. Unjustified absence by a regular member from two consecutive sessions shall be sanctioned, in addition to any civil and criminal liability incurred, with a fine equivalent to the amount of two per diem allowances for each absence, without prejudice to the alternate attending the session.

The Board of Directors shall meet in ordinary sessions once a week, but the President, or at the request of at least two (2) of its members, may call extraordinary sessions. The members of this body, both regular members and alternates, shall be entitled to per diem allowances for attending sessions, but in no case shall they be paid for more than eight (8) sessions per month. The amount of the per diem allowances shall be set in the respective regulations.

In the event of the permanent absence of a regular member, the alternate shall assume as regular member, and the nominating body must select a new alternate. The time limit for the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to appoint the new alternate shall not exceed fifteen (15) days, and in the case of the Congress of the Republic, the time limit shall be the one established by this Law.

These time limits shall also apply in the selection process in the case of the permanent absence of an alternate member.

The members of the Board of Directors, both regular members and alternates, shall be entitled to per diem allowances for attending sessions, in accordance with the provisions of Article 13 of this Law.

The powers of the Board of Directors are:

a)To define the national policy on the identification of natural persons;

b)To supervise and coordinate the planning, organization and operation of the identification system for natural persons;

c)To promote measures aimed at strengthening RENAP and the fulfillment of its objectives and functions, in relation to the acts proper to the institution;

e)To approve the organizational manuals for positions and wages;

f)To approve the agreements, accords, contracts and any other arrangements entered into with public or private institutions and with national or international non-governmental organizations, for its ordinary operation and for the fulfillment of its objectives;

g)To issue and approve the regulations pertinent to the proper and efficient operation of the integrated systems of the Civil Registry of Persons;

h)To hear, as the highest authority, the administrative appeals provided for in the Contentious Administrative Law;

i)To ensure that the institutions from which information, collaboration and support are requested for the performance of the functions inherent to the Institution provide them efficiently and effectively;

j)To approve the contributions granted to the Institution and, in general, the remunerations required to cover the costs of operation, maintenance and quality improvement of the products and services that the Institution provides and offers;

k)To approve the draft Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Institution and submit it to the Ministry of Public Finance;

l)To authorize the Executive Director, by means of a resolution adopted at the corresponding session, to temporarily and specifically delegate his or her legal representation to one or more officials of the Institution, or, as the case may be, to an attorney;

m)To set the goals and objectives regarding the coverage of registrations concerning vital events and acts relating to civil status, civil capacity and other personal identification data, as well as the issuance of the personal identification document;

n)To establish Civil Registries of Persons in the municipalities as they are created, as well as the Mobile Units it considers pertinent for the achievement of its purposes; and,

o)All those that are compatible with its nature as the highest authority of the Institution and that are deemed to contribute to its better operation.

p)To authorize the provision of services by RENAP to the public and private sectors that allow access to information relating to: a) names and surnames; b) unique identification code; c) date of birth; d) sex; e) vecindad (municipal residence status); f) civil status; g) occupation, profession or trade; h) nationality; and, i) date of death, in accordance with the levels of access established in this law and its regulations.

The members of the Board of Directors shall cease to hold their positions:

a)When the term for which they were elected or appointed ends;

b)Upon resignation or death;

c)Upon being convicted by a final judgment for the commission of an intentional crime;

d)Upon suffering from physical or mental incapacity, medically certified by a competent body, that prevents the member from performing the office for more than six (6) months, or upon having been declared in a state of interdiction by a competent court;

e)In the case of the Magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Minister of the Interior, or their respective alternates, upon ceasing to hold those offices;

f)Upon committing fraudulent or unlawful acts, or acts evidently contrary to the functions, objectives and interests of the RENAP;

g)Upon acting or proceeding with manifest negligence in the performance of their functions;

h)Upon failing to fully comply with the powers and duties that correspond to them as members of the Board of Directors, in accordance with the provisions of this Law;

i)Upon failure to meet the goals and objectives set.

In the case of the regular member and the alternate member elected by the Congress of the Republic, removal must be approved by Legislative Agreement.

The members of the Board of Directors shall be subject to the same prohibitions established in the Law on Probity and Responsibilities of Public Officials and Employees, Decree Number 89-2002 of the Congress of the Republic, and in particular, the prohibitions contained in Articles 18 and 19 of the aforementioned law.