New Arbitration Statute in Colombia
On 12 July 2012 Colombia enacted the National and International Arbitration Statute.[1] The statute, which enters into force three months after its enactment,[2] incorporates and streamlines relevant laws previously dispersed among a number of other statutes and court decisions. For example, the Statute enhances the ability of local courts to assist the arbitral process by compelling arbitration,[3] granting preliminary relief,[4] enforcing provisional measures,[5] and ordering the production of evidence.[6] Some of the most salient reforms involve the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards in Colombia.
Awards by tribunals not seated in Colombia will still need to be submitted to either the Supreme Court[7] or the Council of State[8]; however, recognition of the award is now governed by the Statute and applicable international conventions, not the local civil procedure rules. Thus, grounds for refusing recognition of a foreign arbitral award are limited to those in the Statute and mirror those of the New York Convention.
The Statute also streamlines the process for recognition of foreign awards, with an abbreviated, non-appealable procedure that entails a 10-day service of process followed by a 20-day decision-making period.[9]
International arbitration awards issued by a tribunal seated in Colombia are considered local awards under the Statute, and will not require recognition before local courts prior to their enforcement.[10]
Interestingly, the Statute indicates that its provisions on recognition and enforcement apply without prejudice to any multilateral or bilateral treaty,[11] but does not expressly provide for enforcement of an ICSID award as if it were a final judgment of a Colombian court, in accord with the ICSID Convention[12]. The issue is likely to come up in the future, as Colombia is a party to the ICSID Convention and to a number of international investment treaties with investor-state dispute resolution provisions for ICSID arbitration.[13]
[1] Law 1563 of 2012.
[2] Art. 119.
[3] Art. 29 for domestic arbitration and Arts. 70, 79 for international arbitration.
[4] Arts. 71, 90.
[5] Art. 32 for domestic arbitration and Art. 90 for international arbitration.
[6] Art. 100.
[7] For awards involving disputes between private parties.
[8] For awards involving governmental entities.
[9] Arts. 111-114.
[10] Art. 111.
[11] Art. 62.
[12] ICSID Convention, Art. 54.
[13] Free trade agreements with Chile, Mexico, El Salvador-Guatemala-Honduras, Canada and the United States and bilateral investment agreements with Peru, Spain, and Switzerland and as of July 2, 2012 with China and India.
