Temples to Have Stricter Regulations
The regulation that governs the functionality of churches, temples or places of worship under the "Dirección de Protección al Ambiente Humano del Ministerio de Salud" has priests, evangelists and other religious leaders worried since if they don't make modifications to the noise levels they could be closed down.

However, Orlando Rodríguez Baltodano, head of the Unidad Técnica de la Dirección de Protección al Ambiente Humano, said that they are not looking to close any place of worship or to persecute Costa Ricans whose faith is other than Catholic.

The document was prepared by the Dirección along with the Minsterio's legal department and members of Casa Presidencial of the former administration.

The document pretends to regulate and control the sanitary conditions of places of worship, security and the well being of worshippers. The Ministerio de Salud (Health Ministry) wants to ensure that owners of these buildings have proper sanitary conditions and adequate signage for evacuation of a public building as required by law.

Baltodano explained that Christian temples should not operate from a "basement", where hundreds of people gather and has only one exit. For places of worship on second and third floors, the regulations also pretends to ensure proper evacuation in the case of an emergency.

The regulations does not only centre on religious centres but also in places like many of the locations of Alcoholics Anonymous, which many are on second and third floor of buildings, where large grousp of people unite and do not count with proper security.

Baltodano added that "open air" concerts will also required to have an "end" time because there have been numerous complaints of the noise levels. Some open air concerts continue into the late night hours and residents make formal complaints, explained Baltodano.