9 1999, wherein it notified it of the application and sent it a copy of both the application and its attachments. The Court also advised the State that it had one month to designate an agent and alternate agent, two months to file preliminary objections and four months to answer the application. 26. By a second note of July 12, 1999, CDH-11,760/003, the Court informed the State that it had 30 days in which to designate an ad hoc judge. 27. By note of July 16, 1999, received at the Secretariat of the Court on July 27 of that year, the General Secretariat of the OAS reported that on July 9, 1999, Peru had presented an instrument wherein it advised that it was withdrawing its declaration consenting to the optional clause in the American Convention recognizing the contentious jurisdiction of the Court. It also sent a copy of the original of that instrument, dated Lima, July 8, 1999. There, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru stated that by Legislative Resolution No. 27,152 of July 8, 1999, the Congress of the Republic had approved the withdrawal in the following terms: … that in accordance with the American Convention on Human Rights, the Republic of Peru is withdrawing the declaration whereby it consents to the optional clause recognizing the contentious jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a declaration given by the Peruvian government at the time. This withdrawal of recognition of the Inter-American Court’s contentious jurisdiction will take effect immediately and will apply to all cases in which Peru has not answered the application filed with the Court. 28. On July 16, 1999, the Ambassador of Peru in Costa Rica appeared at the Secretariat of the Inter-American Court and stated that he was returning the application and appendices in the Constitutional Court case. The Secretariat made a record of these documents’ return. 29. Peru has been a State Party to the American Convention since July 28, 1978. In its instrument of ratification of the Convention, the Government noted that the Convention had been approved by Decree Law No. 22,231, of July 11, 1978, and had become State law. On the honor of the Republic, it pledged to abide by the Convention. On January 21, 1981, Peru recognized the contentious jurisdiction of the Court as follows: [a]s prescribed in paragraph 1 of Article 62 of the American Convention, the Government of Peru hereby declares that it recognizes as binding, ipso facto, and not requiring special agreement, the jurisdiction of the Court on all matters relating to the interpretation or application of the Convention. This recognition of jurisdiction is for an unspecified period and on condition of reciprocity. 30. Exercising its jurisdiction, the Court took cognizance of the Constitutional Court case on July 2, 1999, the date on which it formally received the corresponding application, filed in accordance with articles 48, 50, and 51 of the Convention and Article 32 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure. B. LAW: