Key Benefits:
Law
(March 12)
Official Journal No. 43,004 of 17 March 1997
By which the liquidation, retention, collection, distribution and transfers of the income originated in the exploitation of precious metals are regulated and other provisions are dictated.
THE CONGRESS OF COLOMBIA
DECRETA:
ARTICLE 1o. The buyers, smelters or processors of precious metals shall liquidate and retain the income provided for in the law resulting from the exploitation of the same at the time they receive them or acquire and pay.
The National Government will regulate the liquidation, retention, collection, distribution and transfer of income derived from the exploitation of gold, silver, platinum, and polymetallic concentrates for export.
ARTICLE 2o. The municipalities producing precious metals shall keep a record of the holdings which are carried out in their jurisdiction and of natural or legal persons engaged in their extraction and marketing.
The municipality may suspend the holdings or activities of persons engaged in the extraction or marketing of precious metals which does not have the register established here.
This record is different from that set out in Chapter XXI of Decree 2655 of 1988, or of the standard that replaces it and in no case will it confer mining rights on the exploited areas.
ARTICLE 3o. Each miner or merchant shall declare on the sale form to serve as a support for the liquidation and collection of the income provided for in the law derived from the exploitation of precious metals. the seriousness of the oath which is taken with the signature of the form, the exact origin of the precious material. Copies of the form will be delivered to the municipality of origin of the metal, one of which will be sent to the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
These forms once filed with the respective municipal governments for their certification and their exhibition will be a condition for the retentions ordered in this law to be practiced.
ARTICLE 4. No public entity may allocate treasury resources to stimulate or directly benefit or directly benefit the precious metals exploiters and traders in order to declare on the origin or provenance of the precious mineral.
ARTICLE 5o. Addition to Chapter 1 of Title III of the Penal Code with the following article that will be incorporated as a crime against the public patrimony:
" Article 139A. The public servant and/or official employee who goes to the treasury to stimulate or benefit directly or by person from person to the exploiters and traders of precious metals in order to declare on the origin or provenance of the precious mineral, will incur in prison of two to ten years, in fine of one hundred to five hundred minimum wages monthly and will be disabled for the performance of public functions. In the judgment, the sums paid will be ordered to be reintegrated in favour of the treasury.
In the same penalty it will incur the same purpose as the resources of the treasury or whoever declares production of precious metals in favor of municipalities other than the producer ".
ARTICLE 6o. The Ministry of Mines and Energy will collect, distribute, and transfer the income derived from the exploitation of gold, silver, platinum and polymetallic concentrates for export.
If it is found that the municipality indicated by the miner does not exist any precious metals holdings, or that existing it is proven that the metals were not extracted in the declared municipality, the collected income will be distributed among all the municipalities of the country that appear in the relation of producers of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which in turn will have to allocate it to investments for the protection of the environment.
ARTICLE 7o. Optional Municipal Mayors to take all necessary measures to verify the amounts of mineral production, the basis for the settlement of income derived from the exploitation of precious metals and to verify the origin of the same in such a way as to guarantee their declaration in favor of the producing municipalities, for which they will be able to periodically or permanently inspect the production of the respective holdings, establish the control point and inspect accounting books, among others.
ARTICLE 8o. The control over the settlement, retention, collection, distribution and transfer of the income provided for in the law derived from the exploitation of gold, silver, platinum and concentrates The Office of the Special Administrative Unit of the General Administration of Customs Taxes will be in charge of the Special Administrative Unit of the General Administration of Customs Taxes, for which it will apply the rules on supervision, termination, sanctions, and discussion. and coasset tax collection enshrined in the Tax Statute.
ARTICLE 10. This Law governs from the date of its publication and repeals the rules that are contrary to it.
The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic.
LUIS FERNANDO LONDONO CAPURRO
The Secretary General,
PEDRO PUMAREJO VEGA
The President of the honorable House of Representatives,
GIOVANNY LAMBOGLIA MAZZILLI
The Secretary General,
DIEGO VIVAS TAFUR
Republic of Colombia-National Government
Publish and execute.
Dada en Santa Fe de Bogota, D.C., a 12 de marzo de 1997.
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
The Minister of Finance and Public Credit,
JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO GAVIRIA
The Minister of Mines and Energy,
RODRIGO VILLAMIZAR ALVARGONZÁLEZ
