Colombia Legal Profile

The Colombian legal system is one of civil law. The Colombian hierarchy of laws is typical of civil law jurisdictions. The Constitution is the supreme national law and its provisions apply over any incompatibility between the Constitution and other legal regulations. The statutes, the decrees of the government, the ordinances and the resolutions of the council are subsequent.

Congress has the responsibility to enact laws, as well as interpret, amend, repeal laws or codes. Most legislation issued by Congress are ordinary laws and, in some instances, such as war or economic emergency, the President may be temporarily empowered to issue decrees equal in the force of law to ordinary laws. Outside of these instances Presidential decrees and resolutions must conform to existing laws.

The independence of the judiciary is confirmed by Article 228 of the Colombian Constitution. The judicial branch consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Council of State, Superior Council of Justice Administration and the Attorney General’s Officer, as well as the lower courts.

The Supreme Court of Justice is the highest court for civil, commercial, criminal and labour disputes and is also responsible for the recognition of foreign arbitral awards.

Despite this, the independence of the judiciary in the department’s lower courts remains an issue. A lack of qualified personnel and a judiciary absence in some territories continue to hinder the efficiency of the judiciary. Businesses see the ability of the judiciary to settle disputes as poor.

Corruption also continues to blight parts of the judiciary. Payments and bribes are often demanded in order to obtain favourable court decisions whilst gifts and facilitation payments are widespread in government. In one significant corruption case the president of the Constitutional Court, Jorge Pretelt, was forced to resign after demanding a US$200,000 bribe from an oil company in return for revoking a fine.

Nevertheless, Colombia has comprehensive anti-corruption legislation which is generally implemented effectively. The Penal Code and Anti-Corruption Act criminalise abuse of office, active and passive bribery and a range of other corruption activities. Largely, officeholders that engage in corruption are prosecuted, but loopholes do exist which have been used to avoid prosecution, predominantly at the local levels of government and judiciary.

Colombian civil law is based off French, Spanish and Italian influences and has the status of ordinary laws. The Civil Code 1873 has a broad scope and governs contracts, torts, obligations, personal law and family law; the Commercial Code 1973 regulates commercial activity such as transactions, entities, negotiations and bankruptcy.

For any aspect of commercial life that is not covered by the Commercial Code then the Civil Code applies. The Penal Code 2000 laws down the basis of offences punishable by law, whilst the Code of Criminal Procedure defines the procedures to be followed by the State’s criminal courts. The procedures required to litigate before civil courts is defined in the General Code of Procedure 2012.

Colombia is a signatory to a number of international treaties. These include the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Colombia is also a member of a number of international organisations including the Comunidad Andina trade bloc, the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), World Trade Organisation, World Health Organisation and the International Centre for Settle of Investment Disputes. International treaties have the status of law in Colombia with the exception being international human rights treaties, which prevail over all domestic law.