Colombia

Arbitration Law

• Law No 315 of 1996 (Int'l Arb.) 
• Law No 80, Art. 70 - 72  -  October 28, 1993,  (Arb. in State Contracts)
• Decree No. 2279 - October 7, 1989, amended by Law No. 23 of March 21 of 1991  (Dom. Arb.)
• Decree 2651 - November 25, 1991 (Dom. Arb.)
• Law 446 - July 7, 1998 (Dom. Arb.)
• Decree 1818 - September 7, 1998 (Dom. Arb)

International Conventions

Investment Protection Treaties

Certain Arbitration Cases

Cases/Parties Per Year

Arbitral Institutions

Centro de Arbitraje y Conciliación Mercantiles
Comité Colombiano de Arbitraje
Commercial Arbitration and Conciliation Centre of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce
Centro de Arbitraje, Conciliación y Amigable Composición de la Cámara de Comercio de Cartagena
El Centro de Conciliación, Arbitraje y Amigable Composición de la Cámara de Comercio de Cali
Centro de Conciliación, Arbitraje y Amigable Composición de la Cámara de Comercio de Medellín

DISCLAIMER: USERS OF THIS SITE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR VERIFYING THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EACH COUNTRY BRIEF, THESE MATERIALS MAY NOT REFLECT THE MOST CURRENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS OR DECISIONS.

[1] According to Article 10 of the Panama Convention, "[f]or each State ratifying ... the Convention after the [Convention's entry into force,] the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification."  Colombia deposited its instrument of ratification on December 29, 1986 (information available at http://www.sice.org/dispute/comarb/intl_conv/caicpae.asp, last visited on August 14, 2007).

[2] According to Article 11 of the Montevideo Convention, "[f]or each State ratifying ... the Convention after the [Convention's entry into force,] the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification."  .

[3] Abbreviations: Spanish= Sp.

[4] With respect to Colombia's BITs with Cuba and United Kingdom, the Colombian Constitutional Court through rulings No C-379 and C-358 has established that the implementation law that defined the provisions of national treatment and most favored nation treatment was unconstitutional. Consequently, we do not know what is the status of Colombia's BITs with Cuba and United Kingdom.

[5] The Colombian Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, investment section, confirmed over the phone on communications held on May 7, 2008 that the BIT with Spain entered into force on October 1, 2007.  This information was confirmed with the website of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of  Spain. However, the Treaty entered into force for Spain on 22 Sept. 2007.  See http://www.comercio.es/NR/rdonlyres/0C036558-848B-4F03-A823-26682DF891D6/0/listaappri.pdf, last visited on May 7, 2008.

[6] Information only contained at the Kluwer-arbitration site. Nevertheless, this state union effectively came to an end after Montenegro's formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006 and Serbia's formal declaration of independence on 5 June.

[7] Source: OAS - SICE Foreign Trade Information System, available at http://www.sice.oas.org/agreements_e.asp, last visited:  August 13, 2007, and on the website of the Colombian Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo - Tratados de Libre Comercio, available at http://www.mincomercio.gov.co/eContent/categorydetail.asp?idcategory=910&idcompany=1, last visited on August 14, 2007.

[8] Ratification pending.

[9] Venezuela recently withdrew from the Group of 3.

[10] Economic Complementation Agreement No 59 among MERCOSUR and Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

[11] This Agreement entered into force for Colombia, Argentina, and Uruguay on February 1, 2005..

[12] This Agreement entered into force for Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Venezuela on April 19, 2005.

[13] Cases are presented in chronological order.

[14] No. of cases administered by the  International Center for Dispute Resolution of the AAA with a  party from Colombia.

[15] No. of Parties from Colombia involved in Arbitration cases under ICC Rules.

[16] No. of cases registered by the ICSID Secretariat with Colombia as Respondent State.

[17] N/A = No information available

[18] Terminal date of designation: February 16, 2012.