Santo Domingo.-  The Constitutional Court (TC) on Wednesday ruled for the various companies to which sell water "in bulk," in a lawsuit filed by those businesses which sell it in trucks.

The litigation filed by 17 companies challenged resolutions from the Standards and Quality Systems Commission, the Industry and Commerce Ministry and the Standards and Quality Systems Agency (DIGENOR), to ban the sale water in "bulk" for human consumption.

The TC ruled that the ban jeopardizes guaranteed access to clean water by poor segments of the population and violates the fundamental right to free enterprise.

However, the high Court acknowledge the agencies’ right to ensure quality of drinking water supplied to the population, but warned that it must be strictly in accordance with due process.

The plaintiffs were Agua Boy, S. A., Puriequipo, Agua Vitalidad, Procesadora de Agua Willna, Agua Jady, Procesadora y Distribuidora de Agua Mol; Agua Liana; Brayan Industrial, Agua San Felipe, Agua Astral; Agua Luz, S. R. L., Grupo Nima, Grupo Dogo, Agua La Tinaja, Agua Yaguajal, Agua La Consciente, and Purificadora de Agua Jenny.