Key Benefits:
LAW 640 OF 2001
(January 5)
Official Journal No. 44.303 of 24 January 2001
By which rules regarding reconciliation are modified and other provisions are dictated.
THE CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA
DECRETA:
GENERAL RULES APPLICABLE TO RECONCILIATION
ARTICLE 1o. MINUTES OF CONCILIATION. The minutes of the conciliation agreement shall contain the following:
1. Place, date, and time of the reconciliation hearing.
2. Identification of the Conciliator.
3. Identification of the persons mentioned with express pointing of those who attend the hearing.
4. Summary of the claims made in the conciliation procedure.
5. The agreement reached by the parties with an indication of the amount, mode, time and place of compliance with the obligations agreed upon.
PARAGRAFO 1o. The parties to the reconciliation will be given authentic copy of the reconciliation act with constancy that it is the first copy of which the executive merit is provided.
PARAGRAFO 2o. 620 of Law 1564 of 2012. The new text is as follows: > The parties must personally attend the conciliation hearing and may do so together with their proxy. However, in those events where the domicile of one of the parties is not in the municipality of the place where the hearing is to be held or one of them is outside the national territory, the conciliation hearing may be held be held with the appearance of his/her duly empowered proxy to reconcile, even without the assistance of his/her representation.
PARAGRAFO 3o. In matters of administrative litigation, the conciliation procedure, from the same filing of the application, must be made by means of a lawyer, who must, in any case, participate in the proceedings. the hearings in which the conciliation takes place.
PARAGRAFO 4o. 51 of Act 1395 of 2010. The new text is as follows: > In no case, the reconciliation minutes will need to be elevated to public writing.
ARTICLE 2o. CONSTANCES. The conciliator shall inform the person concerned indicating the date of submission of the application and the date on which the hearing was held or it was to be held, and the subject matter of conciliation shall be expressed succinctly, in any of the following events:
1. When the conciliation hearing is held without agreement being reached.
2. Where the parties or one of them does not appear to the hearing. In this event, the excuses presented by the inattendance must be expressly indicated if any.
3. Where an application is made for the conclusion of a conciliation hearing, and the case in question is not reconciled in accordance with the law. In this event the constancy must be issued within 10 calendar days following the submission of the application.
In any case, the documents provided by the interested parties will be returned together with the constancy. Public servants empowered to reconcile shall keep copies of the constances which they issue and the conciliators of the conciliation centres shall send them to the conciliation centre for their file.
ARTICLE 3o. CLASSES. The conciliation may be judicial if it is carried out within a judicial process, or out of court, if it is carried out before or outside of a judicial process.
Extra-judicial reconciliation will be called in law when it is carried out through the conciliators of conciliation centers or before authorities in compliance with the reconciliatory functions; and in equity when it is made to conciliators in equity.
PARAGRAFO. The legal referrals to the preliminary or administrative reconciliation on family matters will be understood as references to the extra-judicial conciliation; and the generic word "conciliator" will replace the expressions of 'official' or 'labour inspector' shall be contained in rules relating to conciliation in matters of employment.
ARTICLE 4. GRITY. The conciliation procedures to be held with public officials empowered to reconcile, before conciliation centers of legal offices of law schools and public entities will be free. Notaries will be able to charge for their services in accordance with the tariff framework established by the National Government.
OF RECONCILIERS
ARTICLE 5o. QUALITIES OF THE CONCILIATOR. The conciliator acting in law shall be a lawyer entitled, except in the case of conciliators of the conciliation centres of legal offices of the powers of law and of the municipal and municipal persons. notaries who are not qualified lawyers.
The students of the last year of Psychology, Social Work, Psychopedagogy and Social Communication, will be able to do their practices in the centers of conciliation and in the offices of the authorities empowered to reconcile, supporting the work of the the conciliator and the development of the hearings. For the purpose they shall conclude agreements with the respective powers and with the authorities concerned.
ARTICLE 6o. TRAINING OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS EMPOWERED TO RECONCILE. The Ministry of Justice and Law must ensure that public officials empowered to reconcile receive training in alternative mechanisms for the solution of conflicts.
ARTICLE 7o. CONCILIATORS OF CONCILIATION CENTERS. All the practicing lawyers who credit the training in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and Law, which approve the administered evaluation by the same Ministry and which are registered with a conciliation centre, may act as conciliators. However, the National Government shall issue the Regulation requiring requirements to prove the suitability and experience of the conciliators in the area in which they are to act.
Lawyers who are registered with the conciliation centres shall be subject to their supervision and supervision and to the obligations laid down by the rules of the centre.
PARAGRAFO. The enrollment before the reconciliation centers will be refreshed every two years.
ARTICLE 8o. OBLIGATIONS OF THE CONCILIATOR. The conciliator shall have the following obligations:
1. To quote the parties in accordance with the provisions of this law.
2. To make those who, in their opinion, should attend the hearing.
3. To illustrate to the comparsones about the object, scope and limits of the conciliation.
4. To motivate the parties to present arrangements for settlement on the basis of the facts dealt with in the hearing.
5. Formulate proposals for the arrangement.
6. To lift the minutes of the conciliation hearing.
7. Record the minutes of the conciliation hearing in accordance with the provisions of this law.
PARAGRAFO. It is the duty of the conciliator to ensure that certain and indisputable rights are not undermined, as well as the minimum and impassable rights.
ARTICLE 9o. RATES FOR CONCILIATORS. The National Government will establish the framework within which the paid reconciliation centers, the lawyers registered in these and the notaries, will set the rates for the service of the reconciliation service. In any case, maximum limits may be set for tariffs if deemed appropriate.
OF RECONCILIATION CENTERS
ARTICLE 10. CREATION OF RECONCILIATION CENTERS. The first paragraph of Article 66 of Law 23 of 1991 will remain so:
" Article 66. Non-profit legal entities and public entities may set up conciliation centres, subject to the authorisation of the Ministry of Justice and the Law. Conciliation centres set up by public bodies may not be aware of matters of administrative disputes and their services shall be free of charge. "
ARTICLE 11. CONCILIATION CENTRES IN LEGAL OFFICES OF LAW SCHOOLS. The legal offices of the powers of law will organise their own conciliation centre. Such reconciliation centers shall know of all matters referred to in Article 65 of Law 446 of 1998, according to the following rules:
1. Students will be able to act as conciliators only in matters which are the competence of the legal offices.
2. In cases exceeding the amount of jurisdiction of the legal offices, the students shall be auxiliary to the lawyers acting as conciliators.
3. The reconciliations carried out in these conciliation centres must be signed by the director of the same or the adviser of the area on which the subject is dealt with.
4. Where the reconciliation is made directly by the Director or the consultant of the relevant area, the limit shall not be operated by the number 1 of this Article.
However, these centers will not be able to hear about administrative issues.
PARAGRAFO 1o. The graduates of the law faculties who obtain provisional license for the exercise of the profession, will be able to perform their judiciary as conciliatory lawyers in the centers of reconciliation of the legal offices and shall not be taken into account for the determination of the index in question in Article 42 of this Law.
PARAGRAFO 2o. For the purpose of performing their practice in legal offices, law students must comply with a minimum burden on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Prior to the same, they must have completed and approved the respective training, in accordance with the training parameters endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and the Law referred to in Article 91 of Law 446 of 1998.
ARTICLE 12. RECONCILIATION CENTRES AUTHORISED TO RECONCILE IN MATTERS OF ADMINISTRATIVE DISPUTES.
ARTICLE 13. OBLIGATIONS OF THE RECONCILIATION CENTRES. The reconciliation centres shall fulfil the following obligations:
1. Set a regulation to contain:
(a) The requirements required by the National Government;
(b) The policies and parameters of the center that ensure the quality of service delivery and the suitability of its conciliators;
(c) An internal code of ethics to which all the conciliators entered in the official list of the centres must submit, ensuring the transparency and impartiality of the service.
2. Organize a file of minutes and constances with the fulfillment of the requirements demanded by the National Government.
3. To have a headquarters equipped with the necessary administrative and technical elements to support the conciliation procedure.
4. To organise its own continuing education programme in the field of alternative dispute settlement mechanisms.
5. To refer to the Ministry of Justice and the Law, in the months of January and July, a list of the number of applications based, the subject matter of the disputes, the number of conciliation agreements and the number of hearings held in each period. Similarly, it will be up to the centres to provide all the additional information that the Ministry of Justice and the Law requests at any time.
6. Record the records that meet the requirements set in article 1or. of this law and give the parties copies.
ARTICLE 14. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS OF CONCILIATION. The conciliator of the conciliation centres, in whole or in part, the conciliators of the conciliation centres, within two (2) days of the hearing, must register the minutes before the centre in which they are are registered. For the purposes of this registration, the conciliator will give the background of the conciliatory procedure, an original of the act to be reposed in the center and as many copies as there are.
Within three (3) days of receipt of the minutes and their records, the centre shall certify in each of the minutes the status of the registered conciliator, shall state whether it is the first copies which lend the executive merit and the deliver to the parties. The centre shall only record the minutes meeting the formal requirements set out in Article 1or. of this law.
In the case of reconciliations in matters of administrative disputes, the Center shall, once the minutes have been recorded, transmit the file to the competent jurisdiction for the passage of judicial approval.
The effects of the settlement agreement and the reconciliation act provided for in Article 66 of Law 446 of 1998 will only be obtained from the record of the record in the Conciliation Center.
The record referred to in this article will not be public. The National Government will issue a regulation determining how the register will work and how the provisions of this article will be verified.
ARTICLE 15. RECONCILIATION TO PUBLIC SERVANTS. The public servants empowered to reconcile must file the constances and the minutes and records of the conciliation hearings to be held, in accordance with the rules of procedure which the Government National issue for the effect.
Likewise, they will have to refer to the Ministry of Justice and the Law, in the months of January and July, a list of the number of applications based, the subject matter of the disputes, the number of conciliatory agreements and the number of hearings held in each period. The public servants empowered to reconcile shall provide all the additional information that the Ministry of Justice and the Law requests at any time.
ARTICLE 16. SELECTION OF THE CONCILIATOR. The selection of the person who will act as a conciliator can be performed:
a) By mutual agreement between the parties;
(b) Prevention, where a conciliator lawyer is directly addressed to the reconciliation centres;
c) By designation that makes the reconciliation center, or
d) At the request made by the applicant to the public servants empowered to reconcile.
ARTICLE 17. SPECIAL INABILITY. The conciliator may not act as an arbitrator, adviser or proxy of one of the intervening parties in the conciliation in any judicial or arbitral proceedings during a (1) year from the expiration of the intended term for the same. This ban will be permanent in the cause you have intervened as a conciliator.
The conciliation centres may not intervene in cases where the centres or their officials are directly concerned.
ARTICLE 18. CONTROL, INSPECTION AND SURVEILLANCE. The Ministry of Justice and Law will have functions of control, inspection and surveillance on the conciliators, with the exception of of the judges, and on the reconciliation and/or arbitration centers. For this purpose it may instruct on how the provisions regulating its activity should be complied with, to fix the technical and legal criteria that facilitate the fulfillment of such norms and to point out the procedures for their implementation. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice and Law may impose the penalties referred to in Article 94 of Law 446 of 1998.
EXTRA-JUDICIAL RECONCILIATION IN LAW
ARTICLE 19. CONCILIATION. It shall be possible to reconcile all matters which may be subject to compromise, withdrawal and conciliation, to the conciliators of conciliation centres, to the public servants empowered to reconcile the present law and before the notaries.
ARTICLE 20. HEARING OF OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT IN LAW. If in accordance with the law the case is reconciled, the right out of court conciliation hearing must be attempted in the shortest possible time and, in any case, will have to be of the three (3) months following the submission of the application. The parties by mutual agreement may extend this term.
The summons to the hearing must be communicated to the parties by the means that the conciliator considers to be more expeditious and effective, indicating succinctly the object of the conciliation and including the reference to the legal consequences of the appearance.
PARAGRAFO. The police authorities will lend their full collaboration to effectively communicate the subpoena to the reconciliation hearing.
ARTICLE 21. SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTION OR EXPIRATION. The filing of the request for extrajudicial settlement in law before the conciliator suspends the term of limitation or expiration, as the case may be, until the agreement is reached or until the conciliation record has been recorded in cases where this procedure is required by law or until the constances referred to in Article 2or are issued. of this law or until the expiry of the term of three (3) months referred to in the previous article, whichever occurs first. This suspension will operate for one time and will be unextendable.
ARTICLE 22. INATTENDANCE AT THE EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENT HEARING IN LAW. Except in matters of employment, police and family, if the parties or any of them do not appear to the conciliation hearing to which they were summoned and do not justify their inattendance. within the following three (3) days, their conduct may be regarded as a serious indication against their claims or exceptions of merit in an eventual judicial process to be seen on the same facts.
ADMINISTRATIVE LITIGATION RECONCILIATION
ARTICLE 23. EXTRAJUDICIAL CONCILIATION IN MATTERS OF ADMINISTRATIVE DISPUTES. The extrajudicial reconciliations in matters of administrative litigation can only be brought forward to the agents of the Public Ministry assigned to this jurisdiction and to the reconciliators of the reconciliation centers authorized to reconcile in this subject.
ARTICLE 24. JUDICIAL APPROVAL OF EXTRAJUDICIAL RECONCILIATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ADMINISTRATIVE DISPUTES. Minutes containing extra-judicial reconciliations in the field of administrative disputes shall be forwarded no later than three (3) days following that of its conclusion, to the Judge or Corporation that is competent to hear the respective judicial action, in order to give its approval or approval. The self-approving car will not be consulted.
ARTICLE 25. EVIDENCE IN EXTRAJUDICIAL CONCILIATION. During the conclusion of the out-of-court conciliation hearing on matters of administrative litigation, the parties concerned may provide the evidence they deem relevant. However, the conciliator may request that further evidence be made or supplemented by the parties in order to establish the de facto and the right budgets for the conformation of the conciliation agreement.
Tests will need to be provided within twenty (20) calendar days following your request. This procedure shall not result in the extension of the term of suspension of the expiry of the action provided for in the law.
If the opportunity to provide the evidence as provided for in the preceding paragraph is exhausted, the requested party has not provided the requested party, it will be understood that the agreement was not reached.
ARTICLE 26. EVIDENCE IN JUDICIAL CONCILIATION. In development of the hearing of judicial conciliation in matters of administrative litigation, the Judge or Magistrate, on its own initiative, or at the request of the Public Ministry, may decree the necessary tests for establish the legal and factual budgets of the conciliation agreement. The evidence shall be conducted within thirty (30) days following the conciliation hearing.
OF EXTRAJUDICIAL RECONCILIATION IN CIVIL MATTERS
ARTICLE 27. EXTRAJUDICIAL CONCILIATION IN CIVIL MATTERS. The extra-judicial conciliation in matters of jurisdiction of the civil judges may be brought forward before the conciliators of the conciliation centres, before the regional delegates and sectionals of the Office of the Ombudsman, the agents of the public ministry in civil matters and before the notaries. In the absence of all the previous ones in the respective municipality, this conciliation can be carried out by the personeros and by the civil judges or the municipal promiscuous.
OUT-OF-COURT RECONCILIATION IN LABOR MATTERS
ARTICLE 28. EXTRA-JUDICIAL RECONCILIATION IN LABOR MATTERS. The out-of-court settlement in labor law can be brought forward to conciliators of the reconciliation, to the work inspectors, regional and sectional delegates of the Ombudsman's Office, the agents of the Public Ministry in the field of labor and notaries. In the absence of all the previous ones in the respective municipality, this conciliation can be carried out by the personeros and by the civil judges or the municipal promiscuous.
ARTICLE 29. EFFECTS OF NON-ATTENDANCE AT THE CONCILIATION HEARING ON LABOUR MATTERS.
ARTICLE 30. OF THE SPECIAL RECONCILIATORY MECHANISM FOR RESOLVING LABOR DISPUTES.
EXTRA-JUDICIAL RECONCILIATION IN FAMILY MATTERS
ARTICLE 31. i) the settlement of an extra-judicial settlement in the field of family law may be brought forward to the conciliators of the conciliation centres, to the defenders and to the family commissars; regional and sectional delegates of the Ombudsman's Office, the agents of the public ministry before the judicial and administrative authorities in matters of family and before the notaries. In the absence of all the previous ones in the respective municipality, this conciliation can be carried out by the personeros and by the civil judges or the municipal promiscuous.
These may be reconciled in the matters referred to in Article 277 of the Minor Code and Article 47 of Law 23 of 1991.
ARTICLE 32. INTERIM RELIEF IN THE CASE OF FAMILY MATTERS IN THE CASE OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL CONCILIATION. If the advocates and the family commissars are urgent, the agents of the public ministry to the judicial and administrative authorities in matters of family members and civil or promiscuous municipal judges may adopt up to thirty (30) days, in the event of family or risk threats or violence, or the threat or violation of the fundamental constitutional rights of the family or its members, provisional measures provided for in the law and which they consider necessary for their maintenance must be endorsed by the family judge.
Conciliators of conciliation centres, regional and sectional delegates of the Ombudsman's Office, municipal persons and notaries may request the competent judge to take the measures set out in this Article.
The failure to comply with these measures will result in a fine of up to ten (10) minimum monthly legal salaries in force in charge of the taxable person of the measure in favor of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute.
OF RECONCILIATION IN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER MATTERS
ARTICLE 33. CONCILIATION IN COMPETITION PROCEEDINGS. In cases of unfair competition and restrictive business practices initiated at the request of a party to be brought forward to the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce there will be a conciliation hearing the particular interests which may be affected.
The date of the hearing must be noted once the term granted by the Superintendence has expired for the investigation to request or provide the evidence that it intends to assert, in accordance with the article 52 of Decree 2153 of 1992.
Without altering the nature of the procedure, in the conciliation hearing, the Superintendent may impose the penalties that are provided for inattendance in Article 101 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
ARTICLE 34. CONSUMER RECONCILIATION. The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce may cite, on its own initiative or at the request of a party, a conciliation hearing within the process that is carried out by filing a petition, complaint or complaint in consumer protection matters. The conciliatory agreements shall have the effect of res judicata and shall render executive merit.
PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT
ARTICLE 35. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT. 52 of Act 1395 of 2010. The new text is as follows: > In matters liable to conciliation, the out-of-court settlement in law is a requirement for proceedings to be brought before the civil, family and administrative courts, in accordance with the provisions of this law for each of these areas. In civil and family matters, the requirement of procedure may be met through reconciliation in equity.
The hearing has been held without the full or partial reconciliatory agreement reached, the reconciliation provided for in Article 101 of the Civil Procedure Code or the a reconciliation opportunity which the applicable rules provide for as mandatory in the process, except where the complainant requests his/her conclusion.
The procedural requirement will be understood to be fulfilled when the reconciliation hearing is held without the agreement being reached, or when the term referred to in article 20 1) of this law is expired. the hearing was not held for any reason; in the latter event, the court may be brought directly to the jurisdiction with the sole presentation of the request for conciliation.
However, it may be brought directly to the jurisdiction where under the gravity of the oath, which is understood to be provided with the filing of the claim, the domicile, the place of the room and the place of work of the respondent, or that the defendant is absent and his whereabouts are not known.
309 of Law 1437 of 2011 > When in the process in question, and you want to apply for the decree and the practice of precautionary measures, you can go directly to the jurisdiction. Otherwise, the extra-judicial settlement will have to be attempted as a procedural requirement, in accordance with the provisions of this law.
PARAGRAFO 1o. When extra-judicial reconciliation is a requirement for procedurability and judicial action is instituted, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 22 and 29 of this law the judge will impose fine on the party that has not justified its inattendance at the hearing. This fine will be imposed up to two (2) monthly minimum legal wages in force for the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
PARAGRAFO 2o. In civil and family matters, with the request for conciliation the person concerned must accompany the informal copy of the documentary evidence or advance evidence that he has in his or her power and that he intends to assert in the eventual process; the same duty will have the convoked to the hearing of conciliation. If the conciliation fails, in the process that is promoted, the evidence that the parties have omitted to contribute in the process of the conciliation will not be accepted. power.
PARAGRAFO 3o. In administrative contentious matters, prior to convening the hearing, the judicial prosecutor will verify compliance with the requirements laid down in the law or in the regulation. In the event of non-compliance, the prosecutor shall, by order, indicate to the applicant the defects to be corrected, for which he will grant a term of five (5) days, counted from the day following the notification of the car, warning him that expired this term, without having been remedied, shall be understood as having been removed from the application and shall not be filed. The correction must be submitted with the constancy of the call received. Against the order that orders the reconciliation request to be corrected, only the replacement resource is appropriate.
ARTICLE 36. REJECTION OF THE CLAIM. The absence of the requirement for the procedural requirement of this law will result in the rejection of the demand.
ARTICLE 37. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT IN MATTERS OF ADMINISTRATIVE LITIGATION. 2o. of Decree 131 of 2001, the corrected text is as follows: > Before opening any of the actions provided for in the articles 86 and 87 of the Administrative Contentious Code, the parties, individually or together, must make an extra-judicial reconciliation request, if the subject in question is reconciled. The request shall be accompanied by the copy of the request for conciliation sent to the entity or to the individual, as the case may be, and the evidence supporting the claims.
PARAGRAFO 1o. This requirement will not be required for the exercise of the replay action.
PARAGRAFO 2o. When required to comply with the procedural requirement for administrative litigation, if the settlement is improved by the Judge or Magistrate, the term of expiration suspended by the submission of the request for conciliation shall be resumed from the following working day at the time of the execution of the relevant providence.
ARTICLE 38. A PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT IN CIVIL MATTERS. 621 of Law 1564 of 2012. The new text is as follows: > If the matter in question is reconciled, the out-of-court settlement in law as a requirement of procedure must be attempted before the civil court is referred to in the declarative processes, with the exception of the dividers, the expropriation and those where the citation of indeterminate is demanded or obligatory.
PARAGRAFO. This is without prejudice to what is set in paragraph 1or article 590 of the General Code of the Process.
ARTICLE 39. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT IN LABOUR MATTERS.
ARTICLE 40. PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT IN FAMILY MATTERS. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 35 5) of this Law, the out-of-court settlement in the family law shall be attempted prior to the initiation of the judicial process in the following cases:
1. Controversies over custody and the regime of visits over minors and incapable.
2. Matters relating to maintenance obligations.
3. Declaration of the marital union in fact, its dissolution and the liquidation of the patrimonial society.
4. Termination of the partition in the succession and in the settlements of conjugal society or patrimonial society among permanent companions.
5. Conflicts over marriage capitulations.
6. Disputes between spouses on the joint address of the household and between parents on the exercise of parental authority or parental authority.
7. Separation of goods and bodies.
