law 563 2000

(February 2)

Official Journal No. 43,883 of 7 February 2000

For which the citizens ' vetoes are regulated.

COLOMBIA CONGRESS

DECRETA:

ARTICLE 1o. The democratic mechanism of representation that allows citizens or different community organizations to exercise vigilance over the process of public administration is understood by Veeduria Ciudadana. Authorities: Administrative, political, judicial, electoral and legislative, as well as the convening of public or private entities entrusted with the execution of a program, project, contract or the provision of a public service.

Such surveillance, in accordance with the provisions of Article 270 of the Political Constitution and Article 100 of Law 134 of 1994, shall be exercised in those areas, aspects and levels in which public resources are used in whole or in part subject to the provisions of this Law.

Legal representatives of public or private entities entrusted with the implementation of a programme, project, contract or the provision of a public service shall be required on their own initiative, or compulsorily at the request of a citizen from a civil organisation to inform citizens and civil organisations through a means of widespread dissemination at the respective territorial level, in order to carry out the relevant surveillance.

ARTICLE 2o. FACULTY OF CONSTITUTION. All citizens in the plural form or through civil organizations such as community, professional, youth, trade union, charitable or common utility, non-governmental, non-profit and constituted under the law, they may constitute "Citizens" Veedurias.

ARTICLE 3o. PROCEDURE. For the purposes of the provisions of the previous article, civil organizations or citizens, they shall proceed to choose from a democratic manner the eaters, then they shall draw up a document or act of constitution in which the name of the members, identity card, the object of the surveillance, territorial level, duration and place of residence.

The registration of this document will be made to the Municipal or District Persons or to the Chambers of Commerce, who will have to keep the public register of the veedurias registered in their jurisdiction.

In the case of indigenous communities, this function will be assumed by the authorities recognized as their own by the Ministry of the Interior's Office of Indigenous Affairs.

ARTICLE 4. OBJECT. The surveillance of the public issue by the Citizen Veeduria may be exercised on administrative management, subject to the service of the general interests and observance of the principles of equality, morality, effectiveness, economy, speed, impartiality and publicity.

It will be a matter of particular importance in the surveillance exercised by citizens ' oversight, the correct application of public resources, the way in which they are assigned according to the legal provisions and plans, programs and projects. duly approved, the fulfilment of the task, the purposes and the effective coverage of the beneficiaries to be taken care of in accordance with the above mentioned precepts, the quality, timeliness and effectiveness of the public interventions, the public procurement and the diligence of the various authorities in ensuring the objectives of the State in the various areas of management entrusted to them.

The Veedurias exercise preventive and subsequent surveillance of the management process by making written and timely recommendations to the entities that implement the program, project or contract, and to the State control agencies to improve the institutional efficiency and the performance of public officials.

ARTICLE 5o. THE SCOPE OF THE SURVEILLANCE EXERCISE. The Veedurias shall exercise surveillance at the national, departmental, municipal and other territorial entities, on public management and the results thereof, for bodies, entities or dependencies of the central or decentralised public administration sector, in the case of decentralised bodies created indirectly, or of companies with private and public capital participation shall have the right to exercise surveillance on resources of public origin.

The surveillance of citizens ' oversight shall be exercised on entities of any level or sector of the administration and on individuals who perform public functions, in accordance with the matters of interest to the public, in accordance with their act of constitution, no matter where the registered office is registered.

The exercise of the oversight shall be without prejudice to other forms of surveillance and control of civil society and the community, enshrined in the legal provisions in force and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 167 Of Act 136 of 1994, when such participation relates to the control bodies.

ARTICLE 6o. GOALS.

a) Strengthen the mechanisms of control against corruption in public management and state procurement;

b) Strengthen the processes of citizen and community participation in decision-making, in the management of issues that concern them, and in the monitoring and control of investment projects;

c) Support the work of municipal and district personnel in the promotion and strengthening of the processes of citizen and community participation;

d) Veloing the interests of communities as beneficiaries of public action;

e) Propender for compliance with constitutional principles governing public function;

f) To establish a constant relationship between individuals and the administration, as this is an essential element to avoid abuses of power and the exclusionary bias of the rulers;

g) Democratize public administration;

h) Promote leadership and citizen participation.

TITLE II.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF VEEDURIAS

ARTICLE 7o. PRINCIPLE OF DEMOCRATIZATION. Veedings must work in their organization and functioning in a democratic and participatory way, clearly defining that their members have equal rights and obligations and that decisions will be taken. preferably by consensus or by default by an absolute majority of votes.

ARTICLE 8o. PRINCIPLE OF AUTONOMY. Veedings are constituted and act by free initiative of the citizens, they enjoy full autonomy in front of all public entities and in front of the institutional control bodies, therefore the eaters citizens, they do not depend on them, nor are they paid for them.

In no case can the eaters be considered public officials.

ARTICLE 9o. PRINCIPLE OF TRANSPARENCY. In order to guarantee the exercise of the rights, duties, instruments and procedures enshrined in this law, the management of the State and the oversight must ensure the free access of all persons to the information and documentation relating to activities of collective interest in accordance with the provisions of this law and the rules in force on this matter.

ARTICLE 10. PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY. Access to the spaces for participation in the control of public administration, as well as the use by them of the instruments and procedures provided for in this law and the other rules in force, shall be made always in conditions of equality and respect for diversity.

ARTICLE 11. PRINCIPLE OF RESPONSIBILITY. The participation of the public authorities in public management is based on the collaboration of individuals, their organizations and the public authorities in the fulfillment of the State's goals. For this reason, the exercise of the rights and duties that each of us has its own means the obligation to respond in each case to its members, the society and the State.

ARTICLE 12. PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVENESS. The rights, duties, instruments and procedures laid down in this law shall contribute to the adequacy of public actions, to the satisfaction of collective needs and to the achievement of the aims of the State social law.

ARTICLE 13. PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVITY. The activity of the veedurias must be guided by objective criteria that give certainty to their conclusions and recommendations and take them away from any possible biased or discriminatory attitude.

ARTICLE 14. PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY. Whether in actions undertaken directly or in advance with the competition of other control bodies, the actions of the citizens ' oversight must be carried out in accordance with the means, resources and procedures that provide the laws and statutes of the entity in the case of civil society organisations.

ARTICLE 15. PRINCIPLE OF COORDINATION. The participation of the citizens ' rights, as well as the State's action, must be guided by criteria that allow coordination between the same organizations, among the different bodies. government and between some and others.

TITLE III.

VEEDURIAS FUNCTIONS, MEDIA, AND ACTION RESOURCES

ARTICLE 16. . The citizens ' vetoes will have as primary functions, the following:

a) To monitor the planning processes, so that in accordance with the Constitution and the law you will participate in the community;

b) To monitor that the allocation of budgets is primarily to provide for the solution of unmet basic needs according to criteria, speed, equity and efficiency;

c) Vigil because the hiring process is performed according to the legal criteria in force;

d) To monitor and monitor the execution and technical quality of works, programmes and investments in the relevant territorial level;

e) Receive the reports, observations and suggestions presented by citizens and their organizations regarding the works or programs that are the subject of veeduria;

(f) Request to auditors, supervisors, contractors, executors, contracting authorities and other authorities concerned, the reports, budgets, technical sheets and other documents to enable them to know the compliance of the respective programs, contracts, or projects;

g) Communicate to the citizenry, through general assemblies or in meetings, the progress of the control or surveillance processes they are developing;

(h) To issue to the authorities concerned the reports that are derived from the monitoring and surveillance function in relation to the issues that are the subject of the oversight;

i) Reporting to the competent authorities the facts or irregular actions of civil servants;

j) Velar because the organization of civil society that is the object of veeduria meets its objectives of promoting the integral development of society and of defense and protection of the collective interests.

ARTICLE 17. INSTRUMENTS OF ACTION. In order to achieve its objectives and the fulfilment of its tasks in an agile and timely manner, the rights of the courts may be raised before the competent authorities and the judges of the Republic of the Republic actions that are relevant to the Constitution and the law.

Likewise, the veedurias will be able to:

a) To intervene in public hearings in the cases and terms referred to in the law;

(b) to report to the competent authorities the actions, acts and omissions of public servants and individuals carrying out public functions, which constitute crimes, violations, irregularities or misconduct in the field of State procurement and in general in the exercise of administrative functions or in the provision of public services;

c) Use the other resources, procedures and instruments that special laws enshrine for this purpose.

TITLE IV.

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF VEEDURIAS

ARTICLE 18. . Rights of Veedurias:

a) Know the policies, projects, programs, contracts, assigned budget resources, physical and financial goals, technical and administrative procedures, and the execution schedules foreseen for them from the moment of their initiation;

(b) Obtain advice and technical assistance from the State control entities, where the oversight deems necessary for the exercise of their functions;

c) To request the official of the public or private entity responsible for the program, contract or project the adoption of the corrective and sanctioning mechanisms of the case, when in its execution the specifications are not met or serious harm to the community is caused;

d) To obtain from supervisors, inventors, contractors and contracting entities, information to enable knowledge of the criteria underpinning the decision-making regarding tax and administrative management;

The information requested by the veedurias is a mandatory response;

e) The others who recognize the Constitution and the law.

ARTICLE 19. DUTIES OF THE VEEDURIAS. They are duties of the veedurias:

(a) Receive reports, comments and suggestions submitted by individuals, organized communities, civil organizations and authorities in relation to the works, programs and activities that are the subject of the oversight;

b) Communicate to the citizenry, through reports presented in general assemblies or similar meetings of the inhabitants and community organizations, the advances in the control and surveillance processes that are being carried out;

c) Define its own rules of operation and the mechanisms for regulating the behavior of its members;

d) Act on the regime of prohibitions and impediments indicated by this law;

e) Enroll in the register of municipal and district personnel or Chambers of Commerce;

f) Conduct a public hearing to provide reports of preventive and subsequent exercise by oversight and request information from official or private entities executing State resources or providing a public service;

g) Others to point to the Constitution and the law;

(h) To inform the authorities about the financing mechanisms and the origin of the resources to be used for such surveillance.

TITLE V.

REQUIREMENTS, IMPEDIMENTS, AND BANS

ARTICLE 20. REQUIREMENTS TO BE VEEDOR.

a) Know how to read and write.

ARTICLE 21. IMPEDIMENTS TO BE VEEDERS.

(a) When those who aspire to be eaters are contractors, controllers, suppliers, or workers assigned to the work, contract or programme that is the subject of veeduria or have any direct or indirect primary interest in the execution of the work;

Nor may they be eaters who have worked within the previous year in the work, contract or programme that is the subject of veeduria;

(b) Those who are bound by marriage, permanent union or kinship within the fourth degree of consanguinity, second of affinity or sole civil to the contractor, financial controller, supplier, or workers attached to the work, contract or program, as well as to public servants with direct or indirect participation in the execution of the same;

(c) Where they are workers or civil servants, municipal, departmental or national, whose functions are related to the work, contract or programme on which veeduria is exercised;

In no case will the edités, councillors, deputies and congressmen be able to be eaters;

(d) Those who have contractual or non-contractual links or participate in management bodies of the NGO, guild or association engaged in the process under review;

e) In the case of organisations, their registration on the public register or in the case of individuals has been cancelled or suspended, or has been convicted of criminal or disciplinary action, except for political or criminal offences or removal, in the case of public servants.

ARTICLE 22. PROHIBITIONS ON CITIZENS 'RIGHTS. For citizens' rights in the exercise of their functions, it is prohibited for them, without the competent authority, to delay, prevent or suspend the programmes, projects or contracts which are the subject of the surveillance.

TITLE VI.

NETWORKS OF CITIZEN VEEDURIAS AND NETWORKS OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE OVERSIGHT

ARTICLE 23. VEEDURIA NETWORKS. The different types of oversight that are organized at national level or territorial entities, can establish mechanisms of communication, information, coordination and collaboration allowing the establishment of agreements on procedures and parameters for action, coordination of activities and the use of experience in its activities and operation, seeking the formation of a network with a view to strengthening civil society and enhancing the capacity of control and audit.

The registration and recognition of veedurias networks will be made before the Chamber of Commerce of any of the jurisdictions that belong to the vetoes that make up the network.

ARTICLE 24. . Conform the institutional network of support for citizens ' vetoes, which will conform to their different levels and responsibilities in the following way:

The Attorney General's Office, the Comptroller General's Office, the Ombudsman's Office, and the Ministry of Interior will lend their support and contest to the citizens ' and the networks that group them in everything related to the support legal and the promotion of surveillance. For this purpose, they may agree by means of inter-administrative agreements, joint actions in the areas referred to above.

The Administrative Department of the Civil Service, as part of the improvement of Public Management in the national order, will design methodologies for the evaluation of Public Management, aimed at facilitating the exercise of surveillance by the citizens ' rights and the networks which bring them together and provide the relevant information on the institutional plans and the assessment of the anti-corruption statute.

The Higher School of Public Administration will be an institution of support in the system for the organization of training programs that will demand citizen veeduria and the networks that group them, for the purpose of which, the organizations before They shall take into account that institution as instruments for the implementation of their programmes in this field.

Planning agencies at their different levels and areas of action will provide information on plans, programmes and projects adopted and will organise extensive sessions of explanation or massive dissemination tools on the allocated resources, beneficiaries and methodologies for monitoring and evaluating them.

The Community Development Fund and the Participation, attached to the Ministry of the Interior, will contribute to and promote the campaigns for the formation of the veturas and networks and will enable them to exercise surveillance, in the same way as evaluations of the achievements made by them and coordinate the institutional network to support the oversight and exercise the other functions assigned by the law.

ARTICLE 25. . This law governs from the date of its promulgation.

The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

MIGUEL PINEDO VIDAL.

The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

MANUEL ENRIQUEZ ROSERO.

The President of the honorable House of Representatives,

ARMANDO POMARICO RAMOS.

The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,

GUSTAVO BUSTAMANTE MORATTO.

COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

PUBLISH AND EXECUTE.

Dada en Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., 2 February 2000.

ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO

The Minister of the Interior,

NESTOR HUMBERTO MARTINEZ NEIRA.