7 In cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court shall adopt such provisional measures that it deems pertinent in the matters it has under consideration. With respect to a case not yet submitted to the Court, it may act at the request of the Commission. 3. that: That on this issue, Article 25.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court establishes At any stage of the proceedings involving cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court may, at the request of a party or on its own motion, order such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, pursuant to Article 63.2 of the Convention. 4. That, under international human rights law, provisional measures are, essentially, not only precautionary in character, in the sense that they preserve a juridical relationship, but also protective, since they protect human rights. Provided that the basic requirements of extreme gravity and urgency and the prevention of irreparable damage to persons are met, provisional measures become a true jurisdictional guarantee of a preventive nature. 5. That, as a result of the public hearing (supra having seen 5), it is necessary to obtain further information regarding the irreparability of the damage that Mauricio Herrera Ulloa might suffer if his name is included in the Judicial Register of Offenders of Costa Rica. 6. That, to this end, the State should submit a report indicating the possibilities contained in the domestic legislation of Costa Rica to avoid or repair, if applicable, the damage referred to, through the powers granted to any of the State’s organs. 7. That, in view of the foregoing, the Court deems that, as a provisional measure, it should maintain the decisions of the President in his order of April 6, 2001 (supra having seen 2), which the Court ratifies in its entirety. 8. That, consequently, the State of Costa Rica must abstain from executing any action that would alter the status quo in the case sub judice until it submits the report referred to in the sixth considering paragraph of this order, by August 16, 2001, at the latest, and this can be considered by the Court in its next regular session to be held from August 27 to September 8, 2001. THEREFORE: THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, in exercise of the authority conferred on it by Article 63.2 of the American Convention on Human Rights and Article 25 of its Rules of Procedure, DECIDES: