Colombia Update: FOREIGN TRADE, LOGISTICS AND CUSTOMS

NO LATER THAN JUNE 20, 2023, CONGRESS MUST ISSUE A NEW CUSTOMS SANCTIONING REGIME

The Constitutional Court, by Judgment C-441/21, declared unenforceable paragraph 4 of article 5 of Law 1609 of 2013, which established that the sanctioning regime and the confiscation of goods in customs matters, as well as the applicable procedure, must be enshrined in the decrees issued by the National Government in the development of said Framework Law.

The foregoing, taking into account that the aforementioned regulatory power is not included within the powers that correspond to the Government as provided for in articles 150.19 literal c) and 189 numeral 25, which correspond to the modification of tariffs, tariffs and other provisions concerning the customs regime, which are aimed at achieving purposes or reasons of commercial policy.

In the same way, the Court pointed out in the judgment that, with the defendant article, the legislator ignored the principles of legality and typicity that make up due process (article 29 of the Constitution), since he transferred to the Government, in an open and irregular manner, a power that is within its exclusive competence.

Finally, the Court pointed out that the immediate expulsion of the defendant norm from the legal system may cause trauma and generate risks for the preservation and respect of the customs regime, for which reason it declared its unaffordability with deferred effects until June 20, 2023, in order to allow that in that period, the Congress of the Republic, issue the ordinary law regulating the sanctioning regime and the confiscation of goods in customs matters, as well as the applicable administrative process.

By Diana Ramírez, LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO, Colombia, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm.  

For further information or for any assistance please contact colombia@transatlanticlaw.com 

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