Colombia Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991, Consolidated to Legislative Act No. 6 of 2011 Political Constitution of Colombia 1991 Preamble The people of Colombia, In the exercise of their sovereign power, represented by their delegates to the National Constituent Assembly, invoking the protection of God, and in order to strengthen the unity of the Nation and assure to its members life, coexistence, work, justice, equality, knowledge, freedom, and peace within a juridical, democratic, and participatory framework that guarantees a just political, economic, and social order, and committed to promote the integration of the Latin American community, decree, sanction, and promulgate the following: Political Constitution of Colombia Title I Of the Fundamental Principles Article I Colombia is a social State of law [Estado social de derecho] organized in the form of a unitary Republic, decentralized, with the autonomy of its territorial units, democratic, participatory, and pluralistic, based on the respect for human dignity, on the work and the solidarity of the persons who compose it, and the prevalence of the general interest. Article 2 The essential goals of the State are to serve the community, promote the general prosperity, and guarantee the effectiveness of the principles, rights and duties consecrated in the Constitution; to facilitate the participation of everyone in the decisions that affect them and in the economic, political, administrative, and cultural life of the Nation; to defend the national independence, maintain the territorial integrity, and assure peaceful coexistence and the prevalence of a just order. The authorities of the Republic are established in order to protect all persons residing in Colombia, in their life, honor, property, beliefs, and other rights and freedoms, and in order to assure the fulfillment of the social duties of the State and of individuals. Article 3 Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people from whom public power emanates. The people exercise it in direct form or by means of their representatives according to the terms established by the Constitution. Article 4 The Constitution is the norm of norms. In all cases of incompatibility between the Constitution and the law or other juridical norms, the constitutional provisions will be applied. It is the duty of nationals and foreigners in Colombia to obey the Constitution and the laws, and to respect and to obey the authorities. Article 5 The State recognizes, without any discrimination, the primacy of the inalienable rights of the person and protects the family as the basic institution of the society. Article 6 Individuals are only responsible before the authorities for infringing the Constitution and the laws. Public servants are so for the same cause and for omission or extra limitation in the exercise of their functions. Article 7 The State recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Colombian Nation. Article 8 It is the obligation of the State and of persons to protect the cultural and natural wealth of the Nation. Article 9 The foreign [exteriores] relations of the State are based on national sovereignty, on the respect for the self-determination of peoples, and on the recognition of the principles of international law accepted by Colombia. In the same manner, the foreign policy of Colombia shall be oriented toward Latin American integration and [that] of the Caribbean. Article 10 Castilian is the official language of Colombia. The languages and dialects of the ethnic groups are also official in their territories. The education provided in the communities with their own linguistic traditions will be bilingual. Title II Of the Rights, the Guarantees, and the Duties Chapter 1 Of the Fundamental Rights Article 11 The right to life is inviolable. There will be no death penalty. Article 12 No one shall be subjected to forced disappearance, nor to cruel, inhuman, or degrading tortures, treatments or punishments. Article 13 All persons are born free and equal before the law, shall receive equal protection and treatment from the authorities, and shall enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities without any discrimination on account of gender, race, national or family origin, language, religion, [and] political or philosophical opinion. The State shall promote the conditions so that equality may be real and effective and shall adopt measures in favor of the discriminated or [of] marginalized groups. The State shall especially protect those persons who on account of their economic, physical or mental condition are in a situation of manifest weakness and shall sanction the abuses or ill-treatment committed against them. Article 14 Every person has the right to the recognition of his juridical personality. Article 15 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of 2003 (declared unconstitutional)] All persons have the right to their personal and family privacy and to their good name, and the State must respect them and have them respected. In equal mode, they have the right to know, update, and rectify the information gathered about them in databanks and in the archives of public and private entities. The freedoms and the other guarantees established in the Constitution shall be respected in the gathering, handling, and circulation of data. Correspondence and other forms of private communication are inviolable. They may only be intercepted or recorded by judicial order in the cases and with the formalities established by the law. For tax or judicial effects and for the cases of inspection, supervision and intervention of the State the presentation of accounting books and other private documents may be required within the terms established by the law. Article 16 All persons have the right to the free development of their personality without other limitations than those imposed by the rights of others and the juridical order. Article 17 Slavery, servitude, and the traffic [trata] in human beings are prohibited in all their forms. Article 18 Freedom of conscience is guaranteed. No one shall be interfered with [molestado] on account of their convictions or beliefs or compelled to reveal them or obliged to act against their conscience. Article 19 Freedom of belief [culto] is guaranteed. Every person has the right to freely profess their religion and to disseminate [difundirla] it in individual or collective form. All religious faiths and churches are equally free before the law. Article 20 Every person is guaranteed the freedom to express and disseminate his thoughts and opinions, to inform and receive true and impartial information, and to establish mass communications media. These are free and have social responsibility. The right to corrections under conditions of equity is guaranteed. There shall be no censorship. Article 21 The right to honor is guaranteed. The law shall specify the form of its protection. Article 22 Peace is a right and a duty of obligatory compliance. Article 23 Every person has the right to present respectful petitions to the authorities for reason [motivos] of the general or individual interest and to obtain prompt resolution. The legislator [legislador] may regulate its exercise before private organizations in order to guarantee the fundamental rights. Article 24 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2003 (declared unconstitutional)] Any Colombian, within the limitations established by the law, has the right to circulate freely on the national territory, to enter and to leave it, and to remain and reside in Colombia. Article 25 Work is a right and a social obligation and enjoys, in all its modalities, the special protection of the State. Every person has the right to a job [trabajo] under dignified and just conditions. Article 26 Every person is free to choose a profession or occupation. The law may demand credentials of ability. The competent authorities shall inspect and oversee the exercise of the professions. Occupations, the arts, and employments that do not require academic training can be freely exercised, except for those which involve a social risk. The legally recognized professions may be organized into professional associations [colegios]. The internal structure and operation of these must be democratic. The law may assign public functions to them and establish the appropriate controls. Article 27 The State guarantees the freedom of teaching, apprenticeship, research, and professorship. Article 28 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2003 (declared unconstitutional)] Every person is free. No one may be interfered with in their person or family, sent to prison or arrested, or detained, nor may their home be searched except by virtue of a written order from a competent judicial authority, with the legal formalities and for reasons previously defined in the law. A person preventively detained will be placed at the disposition of a competent judge within the subsequent thirty-six hours, so that the latter makes the corresponding decision within the terms established by the law. In no case may there be detention, prison, or arrest for debts nor impresciptible punishments or security measures. Article 29 Due process will be applied in every class of judicial and administrative actions. No one may be judged except in accordance with the preexisting laws regarding the act with which they are imputed, before a competent judge or tribunal and observing all the appropriate forms of each instance. In criminal matters, the permissive or favorable law, even when subsequent, will be applied in preference to the restrictive or unfavorable [law]. Every person is presumed innocent until they have been declared judicially culpable. Whoever is accused has the right to [a] defense and the assistance of counsel selected by them, or court-appointed [de oficio] during the investigation and trial; to an appropriate public trial without unjustified delays; to present evidence and to refute that alleged against them; to challenge the condemnatory sentence; and not to be tried twice for the same act. Evidence obtained with violation of due process is null by plain right. Article 30 Whoever is deprived of their freedom, and believes to be so illegally, has the right to invoke Habeas Corpus before any judicial authority, at any time, on their own or through a third party, which must be resolved within thirty-six hours. Article 31 Any judicial sentence may be appealed or reviewed [consultada], save exceptions provided by the law. The superior [tribunal] may not increase the penalty, when the accused is the sole appellant. Article 32 The delinquent who is caught in flagrante delicto may be apprehended and taken before a judge by any person. Should he be pursued by the agents of the authority and take refuge in his own domicile, they may enter it for the act of apprehension. Should he seek refuge in the domicile of another, a request to the resident must precede. Article 33 No one may be obligated to testify against himself or his spouse, permanent companion, or kin to the fourth degree of consanguinity, second [degree] of affinity, or first civil [degree]. Article 34 Punishments of exile, life imprisonment, and confiscation are prohibited. However, by judicial sentence, dominion over property acquired by illicit enrichment, to the detriment of the Public Treasury or with serious harm to the social morality, is declared extinguished. Article 35 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of1997 (declared unconstitutional in part)] Article 35. Extradition may be solicited, conceded or offered in accordance with the public treaties and, in their absence, with the law. In addition, the extradition of Colombians by birth may be conceded for crimes committed abroad, considered as such in the Colombian criminal legislation. Extradition may not proceed for political crimes. Extradition will not proceed when the acts were committed prior to the promulgation of this norm. Article 36 The right of asylum is recognized within the terms provided by the law. Article 37 Any group of the people may gather and demonstrate publicly and peacefully. Only the law may establish in express manner those cases in which the exercise of this right may be limited. Article 38 The right of free association for the promotion of specific [distintas] activities that persons pursue in society is guaranteed. Article 39 Workers and employers have the right to form unions or associations without intervention by the State. Their juridical recognition will occur by the simple registration of their constituent act. The internal structure and functioning of the unions and social or trade organizations will be subject to the legal order and to democratic principles. The cancellation or suspension of juridical personality can only occur through judicial means. The privileges and other guarantees necessary for the performance of their administration is recognized to union representatives. Members of the Public Force do not enjoy the right to syndical association. Article 40 Any citizen has the right to participate in the establishment, exercise, and control of political power. To make this right effective the citizen may: 1. Elect and be elected. 2. Participate in elections, plebiscites, referendums, popular consultations, and other forms of democratic participation. 3. Constitute parties, political movements and groups without any limitation; freely take part in them and disseminate their ideas and programs. 4. Revoke the mandate of those elected in the cases and in the form established by the Constitution and the law. 5. Take initiative in public corporations. 6. Interpose public actions in defense of the Constitution and the law. 7. Accede to the performance of public functions and responsibilities, except the Colombians, native-born or by adoption, who have double nationality. The law shall regulate this exception and shall determine the cases in which it is to be applied. The authorities will guarantee the adequate and effective participation of women in the decision-making levels of the Public Administration. Article 41 In all the institutions of education, public or private, the study of the Constitution and the Civic Instruction will be obligatory. In the same way, democratic practices for the apprenticeship to the principles and values of citizen participation shall be promoted. The State shall disseminate the Constitution. Economic, and Cultural Rights Article 42 The family is the fundamental nucleus of society. It is constituted by natural or juridical ties, through the free decision of a man and woman to contract matrimony or through the responsible will to conform to it. The State and the society guarantee the complete protection of the family. The law may determine the family patrimony [to be] inalienable and unseizable. The honor, dignity, and intimacy of the family are inviolable. Family relations are based on the equality of rights and duties of the couple and on the reciprocal respect among all its members. Any form of violence in the family is considered destructive of its harmony and unity, and will be sanctioned according to the law. The children born in matrimony or outside it, adopted or conceived naturally or with scientific assistance, have equal rights and duties. The law shall regulate responsible progeniture. The couple has the right to decide freely and responsibly the number of their children and must support them and educate them while they are minors or disabled. The forms of matrimony, the age and capacity to contract it, the duties and rights of the spouses, their separation and the dissolution of the tie are determined by the civil law. Religious marriages will have civil effects in the terms established by the law. The civil effects of all marriages may cease by divorce in accordance with the civil law. Sentences of annulment of religious marriages issued by the authorities of the respective religion, will also have civil effects within the limits established by the law. The law shall determine [that] relative to the civil status of persons and the consequent rights and duties. Article 43 Women and men have equal rights and opportunities. Women may not be subjected to any class of discrimination. During pregnancy and after delivery, women shall enjoy the special assistance and protection of the State and shall receive from it food subsidies if they are unemployed or without support. The State shall support in a special way the female head of household. Article 44 Basic rights of children are: life, physical integrity, health and social security, a balanced diet, their name and nationality, to have a family and not be separated from it, care and love, instruction and culture, recreation, and the free expression of their opinions. They shall be protected against any form of abandonment, physical or moral violence, sequestration, sale, sexual abuse, labor or economic exploitation, and dangerous work. They will also enjoy the other rights consecrated in the Constitution, the laws, and the international treaties ratified by Colombia. The family, the society, and the State have the obligation to assist and protect the child in order to guarantee their harmonious and integral development and the full exercise of their rights. Any person may demand from the competent authority its enforcement and the sanctioning of the offenders. The rights of children prevail over the rights of others. Article 45 The adolescent has the right to protection and to integral training. The State and society guarantee the active participation of the young in the public and private organs responsible for the protection, education, and progress of youth. Article 46 The State, the society, and the family shall contribute in the protection and assistance of the persons of the third age and shall promote their integration into active and community life. The State will guarantee to them services of complete [integral] social security and food subsidy in case of indigence. Article 47 The State shall promote a policy of social insurance, rehabilitation, and integration for the physically, sensory and psychologically handicapped, to whom the specialized attention that they require shall be provided. Article 48 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2005] Social Security is a public service of obligatory character which will be provided under the direction, coordination and control of the State, subject to the principles of efficiency, universality, and solidarity, in the terms established by the law. The irrenounceable right to Social Security is guaranteed to all inhabitants. The State, with the participation of individuals, shall progressively extend the coverage of Social Security which shall include the provision of services in the form determined by the law. Social Security may be provided by public or private entities, in conformity with the law. The resources of the institutions of Social Security may not be allocated or utilized for purposes different from it. The law shall define the means by which the resources designated for pensions maintain their constant purchasing power. The State will guarantee the rights, [and] the financial sustainability of the Pension System, shall respect the rights acquired with regard to the law and shall assume the payment of the pension debt that in accordance with the law is [of] its responsibility. The laws in pension matters that are adopted subsequent to the entry into force of this Legislative Act, shall assure the financial sustainability of that established in it. Without prejudice to the discounts, deductions and attachments [embargos] to pensions ordered in accordance with the law, for no reason may it [the State] no longer pay, or freeze or reduce the value of the allowance of the pensions recognized in accordance with the law. To acquire the right to [a] pension it will be necessary to comply with the age, the length of service, [and] the weeks of contribution [cotizaci6n] of capital necessary, as well as the other conditions that the law specifies, without prejudice to that provided for disability and survival pensions. The requirements and benefits to acquire the right to a disability or survival pension shall be those established by the laws of the General System of Pensions. In pension matters all rights acquired shall be respected. The pension requirements and benefits for all persons, including those of old-age pensions for high-risk activities, shall be established by the laws of the General System of Pensions. No provision may be adopted or any accord invoked to deviate from that established in it. For the payment of pensions only those factors on which each person has made contributions shall be taken into account. No pension may be less than the monthly minimum wage in force. However, the law may determine the cases in which periodical economic benefits inferior to the minimum wage may be conceded, to persons of low-income who do not comply with the conditions required to have [the] right to a pension. From the entry into force of this Legislative Act, there will be no special regimes or exceptions, without prejudice to that applicable to the Public Forces, to the President of the Republic and to that established in the Paragraphs of this Article. The persons whose right to [a] pension derives from the entry into force of this Legislative Act may not receive more than thirteen (13) monthly pension payments per year. It is understood that the pension derives when all the requirements to accede to it are complied with, even when examination has not been made. The law shall establish a brief procedure for the review of the pensions acknowledged [as] in abuse of the right or [in] non-compliance with the requirements established in the law or in the conventions and arbitral awards validly celebrated. PARAGRAPH 1. From 31 July 2010, pensions greater than twenty-five (25) [times] the minimum legal monthly wage, [and the] responsibility of resources of a public nature, may not be derived. PARAGRAPH 2. From the entry into force of this Legislative Act, pension conditions different to those established in the laws of the General System of Pensions may not be established in [any] pacts, collective labor conventions, awards or juridical acts. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 1. The regime of pensions for those national, nationalized and territorial teachers, linked to official public educative service[,] is that established for the Teaching Profession [Magisterio] in the legal provisions in force prior to the entry into force of Law 812 of 2003, and that specified in Article 81 of it. The teachers, who have been linked or are linked from the entry into force of the cited law, shall have the rights to [the] average premium [prima media] established in the laws of the General System of Pensions, in the terms of Article 81, of Law 812 of 2003. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 2. Without prejudice to the rights acquired, the regime applicable to members of the Public Force and to the President of the Republic, and that established in the paragraphs of this Article, the entry into force of the special pension regimes, those excepted, as well as any other apart from [that] established in a permanent manner in the laws of the General System of Pensions will expire on 31 July of the year 2010. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 3. The rules of provisional character governing at the date of entry into force of this Legislative Act contained in pacts, collective labor conventions, awards or agreements validly entered into, shall be maintained for the term initially stipulated. In the pacts, conventions or awards that are signed between the entry into force of this Legislative Act and 31 July 2010, no pension conditions more favorable than those that are actually in force may be stipulated. In any case they will lose force on 31 July 2010. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 4. The regime of transition established in Law 100 of 1993 and other norms to develop this regime, may not be extended beyond 31 July 2010; except for those workers who are of standing [estandor] in the scheme, [and] have also contributed at least 750 weeks or the equivalent in time of service at the entry into force of this Legislative Act, to whom this regime will be maintained until the year 2014. The pension requirements and benefits for the persons covered by this regime will be those required by Article 36 of Law 100 of 1993 and other norms that develop this regime. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 5. In accordance with that provide by Article 140 of Law 100 of 1993 and Decree 2090 of 2003, from the entry into force of this last decree, [concerning] the members of the custodial and guard force [cuerpo] of the Office of National Penitentiaries and Prisons, the regime of high risk contemplated in it, will apply to them. To those who joined before that date the regime then in place for these persons because of the hazards of their work shall be applied, [and] this, as provided to that effect, by Law 32 of 1986, which must have been covered by the corresponding contributions. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 6. Those persons who receive a pension equal to or less than three (3) [times] the minimum legal monthly wage in force, if it is due before 31 July 31 2011, who will receive fourteen (14) monthly pensions per year, are excepted from that provided by paragraph 8 of this Article. Article 49 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2009] Attention to health and environmental sanitation are public services [of the] responsibility of the State. The access to services of promotion, protection and recovery of health are guaranteed to all persons. It corresponds to the State to organize, direct and regulate the provision of health services to the inhabitants and of [services of] environmental sanitation in accordance with the principles of efficiency, universality and solidarity. Also, to establish policies for the provision of health services by private entities, and to exercise supervision and control [over them]. Likewise, to establish the competences of the Nation, the territorial entities and individuals and to determine the contributions of [their] responsibility in the terms and conditions specified in the law. Health services shall be organized in a decentralized manner, by level of care [atenci6n] and with participation of the community. The law shall specify the terms under which basic care for all inhabitants will be gratuitous and obligatory. Every person has the duty to provide for [procurar] comprehensive attention to their health and to [that] of their community. The possession [porte] and consumption of narcotic or psychotropic substances is prohibited, unless medically prescribed. For preventive and rehabilitative reasons, the law shall establish administrative measures and treatments of pedagogical, prophylactic or therapeutic order, for the persons who consume these substances. The submission to such measures and treatment requires the informed consent of the addict. Likewise, the State shall dedicate special attention to the dependently or addictively sick, and to their family, to strengthen the values and principles that shall contribute to prevent behaviors that affect the comprehensive care of the health of persons and, consequentially, of the community, and shall develop, in permanent form, campaigns of prevention against the consumption of drugs or narcotic substances and in favor of the recuperation of those addicted. Article 50 Any child less than a year old who is not covered by any type of protection or social security will have the right to receive gratuitous attention in all the institutions of health that receive contributions from the State. The law shall regulate the matter. Article 51 All Colombians have the right to decent [digna] housing. The State shall specify the conditions necessary to make this right effective and shall promote housing plans of social interest, appropriate systems of long-term financing, and associative forms of execution of these housing programs. Article 52 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2000] The exercise of sports, [and] their recreative, competitive and autochthonous manifestations, have as [their] function the complete formation of persons, to preserve and to develop a better health of the human being. Sport and recreation, form part of education and constitute social public expenditure. The right of everyone to recreation, a sport and use of leisure time, is recognized. The State shall promote these activities and shall inspect, monitor and control the sports and recreational organizations whose structure and property should be democratic. Article 53 The Congress shall enact [expedir] the statute of labor. The corresponding law shall take into account at least the following minimal fundamental principles: Equality of opportunities for workers; minimum vital and mobile [movil] remuneration, proportional to the quantity and quality of work; stability in employment; irremovability of the minimum benefits established in labor norms; faculties to settle and reconcile uncertain and arguable rights; a situation more favorable to the worker in case of doubt in the application and interpretation of the formal sources of law; the primacy of reality over formalities established by those subject to labor relations; guarantee to social security, capacitation, instruction, and necessary rest; special protection of women, motherhood, and the minor-age worker. The State guarantees the right to suitable payment and the periodic adjustment of legal pensions. International agreements [concerning] labor duly ratified, are part of the internal legislation. The law, contracts, accords, and agreements [concerning] labor may not diminish the freedom, human dignity, or the rights of workers. Article 54 It is the obligation of the State and of employers to offer professional and technical training to those who require it. The State must promote the job placement of the persons of working age and guarantee to the handicapped the right to a job in accordance with their health conditions. Article 55 The right of collective bargaining to regulate labor relations, with the exceptions specified by the law, is guaranteed. It is the duty of the State to promote conciliation and other means for the peaceful solution of collective labor conflicts. Article 56 The right to strike is guaranteed, except in the essential public services defined by the legislator. The law shall regulate this right. A permanent commission composed by the Government, [and] the representatives of employers and of workers, shall promote good labor relations, contribute to the solution of collective labor conflicts, and coordinate wage and labor policies. The law shall regulate their composition and functioning. Article 57 The law may establish the incentives and means so that workers participate in the management of enterprises. Article 58 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of 1999] Private property and the other rights acquired in accordance with the civil laws are guaranteed, which may not be ignored or infringed by subsequent laws. When the application of a law passed on account of public utility or social interest should result in a conflict between the rights of persons and the necessity recognized [by the law], the private interest must concede to the public or social interest. Property is a social function that implies obligations. As such, an ecological function is inherent to it. The State shall protect and promote associative and collective [solidarias] forms of property. For reasons public utility or social interest defined by the legislator, there may be expropriation by means of a judicial sentence and prior indemnification. The latter shall be determined in consultation with the interests of the community and of the affected [party]. In the cases determined by the legislator, this expropriation may be pursued by administrative means, subject to subsequent contentious administrative action, including with respect to price. Article 59 In case of war and only to meet its requirements, the need for an expropriation may be decreed by the National Government without prior indemnification. In this express case, real property may only be occupied temporarily, to attend to the necessities of the war or to assign its products to it. The State will always be responsible for the expropriations that the Government makes on its own or through its agents. Article 60 The State shall promote, in accordance with the law, the access to property. When the State transfers its participation in an enterprise, it shall take the measures conducive to the democratization of the ownership of its shares and shall offer [the] workers, the collective [solidarias] organizations and [organizations] of workers, special terms to accede to the said share property. The law shall regulate the matter. Article 61 The State shall protect intellectual property for the time and by means of the formalities established by the law. Article 62 The objective [destinado] of intervivos or testamentary donations, made in conformity with the law and for purposes of social interest, may not be altered or modified by the legislator, unless the purpose of the donation disappears. In this case, the law will assign the respective property to a similar objective. The Government shall oversee the management and investment of such donations. Article 63 The assets of public use, the natural parks, the communal lands of ethnic groups, the lands of security zones, the archaeological heritage of the Nation, and other assets determined by law are inalienable, imprescriptible, and unseizable. Article 64 It is the duty of the State to promote the progressive access of agricultural workers to the ownership of land, in individual or associative form, and to the services of education, health, housing, social security, recreation, credit, communications, the commercialization of products, technical and managerial assistance, with the purpose of improving the incomes and quality of life of the peasants. Article 65 The production of food shall enjoy the special protection of the State. For that purpose, priority shall be given to the integral development of agricultural, cattle, fishing, forestry, and agroindustrial activities, as well as to the building of works of physical infrastructure and to the suitability [adecuati6n] of lands. Similarly, the State shall promote the research and the transfer of technology for the production of food and raw materials of farming origin with the purpose of increasing productivity. Article 66 The provisions enacted in credit matters may regulate the special conditions of agricultural credit, taking into account the cycles of the harvests and prices, as well as the risks inherent to the activity and [to] environmental disasters. Article 67 Education is a right of the person and a public service that has a social function: access to knowledge, to science, to technology, and the other benefits and values of culture are sought [by means] of it. Education shall train the Colombian in the respect for human rights, peace and democracy; and in the practice of work and recreation for the cultural, scientific, and technological improvement and in the protection of the environment. The State, society, and the family are responsible for education, which will be obligatory between five and fifteen years of age and which shall include at least one year of preschool and nine [years] of basic education. Education will be gratuitous in the institutions of the State, without prejudice to charging for academic rights to those who can defray them. It corresponds to the State to regulate and execute the supreme inspection and supervision of education in order to see to its quality, the fulfillment of its purposes, and for the better moral, intellectual, and physical training of those being educated; to guarantee an adequate coverage of the service, and to assure to minors the conditions necessary for their access and continuation [permanencia] in the educative system. The Nation and the territorial entities shall participate in the management, financing, and administration of the State educational services, within the limits specified in the Constitution and the law. Article 68 Individuals may create educational establishments. The law shall establish the conditions for their creation and management. The educational community shall participate in the management of the institutions of education. Education shall be the responsibility of persons of recognized ethical and pedagogical qualification [idoneidad]. The law guarantees the professionalization and dignification of teaching activity. The parents of a family have the right to select the type of education for their minor children. In the establishments of the State, no person may be obligated to receive religious education. The members of ethnic groups will have the right to an instruction that respects and develops their cultural identity. The eradication of illiteracy and the education of persons with physical or mental limitations, or with exceptional capabilities, are special obligations of the State. Article 69 University autonomy is guaranteed. The universities may direct and govern themselves through their own statutes, in accordance with the law. The law shall establish a special regime for the universities of the State. The State shall strengthen scientific research in the official and private universities and shall offer special conditions for their development. The State shall facilitate financial mechanisms that make possible the access of all suitable persons to higher education. Article 70 The State has the duty to promote and foster the access to culture of all Colombians in equality of opportunities, by means of permanent education and scientific, technical, artistic, and professional instruction at all the stages of the process of creation of the national identity. Culture in its diverse manifestations is the foundation of nationality. The State recognizes the equality and dignity of all those [cultures] coexisting in the country. The State shall promote research, science, development, and the diffusion of the cultural values of the Nation. Article 71 The search for knowledge and artistic expression are free. Plans of economic and social development shall include the promotion of the sciences, and, in general, of culture. The State shall create incentives for persons and institutions which develop and foster science and technology and the other cultural manifestations and shall offer special stimuli to persons and institutions that perform these activities. Article 72 The cultural heritage of the Nation is under the protection of the State. The archaeological heritage and other cultural assets that shape the national identity belong to the Nation and are inalienable, unseizable, and imprescriptible. The law shall establish the mechanisms to recover them when they are in the hands of individuals and shall regulate the special rights that ethnic groups settled in territories of archaeological wealth may have. Article 73 Journalistic activity shall enjoy protection to guarantee its freedom and professional independence. Article 74 All persons have the right to access public documents except in the cases that the law establishes. The professional secret is inviolable. Article 75 The electromagnetic spectrum is an inalienable and imprescriptible public good subject to the management and control of the State. Equality of opportunities is guaranteed in the access to its use in the terms that the law establishes. To guarantee informative pluralism and competence, the State will intervene through the mandate of the law to avoid monopolistic practices in the use of the electromagnetic spectrum. Article 76 [Abrogated by Legislative Act No. 2 of2l June 2011] Article 77 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of21 June 2011] The Congress of the Republic shall enact the law that establishes policy in matters of television. Chapter 3 Of the Collective Rights and of the Environment Article 78 The law shall regulate the control of the quality of goods and services offered and provided to the community, as well as the information that must be supplied to the public in their commercialization. Those who, in the production and commercialization of goods and services infringe on the health, the safety, and the adequate supply to consumers and users, will be responsible, in accordance with the law. The State will guarantee the participation of the organizations of consumers and users in the study of the provisions that concern them. In order to enjoy this right the organizations must be representative and observe internal democratic procedures. Article 79 All persons have the right to enjoy a healthy environment. The law will guarantee the participation of the community in the decisions that may affect it. It is the duty of the State to protect the diversity and integrity of the environment, to conserve the areas of special ecological importance, and to foster education for the achievement of these ends. Article 80 The State shall plan the handling and use of the natural resources in order to guarantee their sustainable development, their conservation, restoration, or substitution. Additionally, it shall prevent and control the factors of environmental deterioration, impose legal sanctions, and demand reparation for any damages caused. In the same way, it shall cooperate with other nations in the protection of the ecosystems situated in the border zones. Article 81 The manufacture, importation, possession, and use of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons are prohibited, as is the introduction into the national territory of nuclear and toxic wastes. The State shall regulate the entry into the country and the exit from it of genetic resources and their use, in accordance with the national interest. Article 82 It is the duty of the State to see to the protection of the integrity of the public space and its assignment to common use, which prevails over the individual interest. Public entities will participate in the profits that their urban planning action generates and shall regulate the use of the soil and the urban air space in defense of the common interest. Chapter 4 Of the Protection and Application of the Rights Article 83 The activities of persons and of the public authorities must conform to the postulates of good faith, which shall be presumed in all the measures that those promote before them. Article 84 When a right or an activity has been regulated in a general manner, the public authorities may not establish or demand permits, licenses, or additional requisites for their exercise. Article 85 The rights consecrated in Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37 and 40 are of immediate application. Article 86 Every person has [recourse to] the action of protection to claim before the judges, at any time or place, through a preferential and summary proceeding, for themselves or by whoever acts in their name, the immediate protection of their fundamental constitutional rights whenever these are consequently damaged or threatened by the action or omission of any public authority. The protection [proteccidn] will consist of an order so that [the party] from whom the protection [tutela] is solicited, acts or refrains from it. The decision, which must be of immediate compliance, may be challenged before the competent judge, and in any case, the latter may return it to the Constitutional Court for its subsequent [eventual] revision. This action will proceed only when the affected [party] does not dispose of another means of judicial defense, except when the former is used as a transitory mechanism to avoid an irreversible harm. In no case may more than ten days elapse between the request for protection [tutela] and its resolution. The law shall establish the cases in which the action of protection [tutela] proceeds against individuals entrusted with the provision of a public service or whose conduct affects seriously and directly the collective interest, or in respect of whom the applicant finds himself in a state of subordination or defenselessness. Article 87 Any person may come before the judicial authority to make compliance with a law or administrative act effective. In the case that the action prevails, the sentence will order the unwilling authority to comply with the omitted duty. Article 88 The law shall regulate the popular actions for the protection of collective rights and interests related to the heritage, the space, the public security and health, the administrative morality, the environment, free economic competition, and the others of similar nature that are defined in it. It shall also regulate the actions originating from the harm caused to a plural number of persons, without prejudice to the corresponding individual actions. In the same way, it shall define the cases of objective civil responsibility for the damage caused to collective rights and interests. Article 89 In addition to those consecrated in the previous Articles, the law shall establish the other recourses, the [other] actions, and the procedures necessary to enable [persons] to defend [themselves] through the integrity of the juridical order, and for the protection of their individual, group or collective rights, against the action or omission of the public authorities. Article 90 The State will answer materially for the antijuridical damages for which it is responsible, caused by the action or the omission of the public authorities. In the event of the State being condemned to the material reparation of one of such damages, which has been the consequence of the fraudulent or seriously culpable conduct of one of its agents, the former must recover [repetir] against the latter. Article 91 In the case of manifest infraction of a constitutional precept to the detriment of any person, the superior mandate does not absolve the responsibility of the agent who executes it. The soldiers in service are excepted from this provision. With regard to them, the responsibility will fall exclusively on the superior who gives the order. Article 92 Every natural or juridical person may solicit from the competent authority the application of penal or disciplinary sanctions derived from the conduct of the public authorities. Article 93 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2001] International treaties and agreements ratified by the Congress that recognize human rights and that prohibit their limitation in the states of emergency, have prevalence in the internal order. The rights and duties consecrated in this Charter will be interpreted in conformity with international treaties on human rights ratified by Colombia. The Colombian State can recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in the terms specified in the Statute of Rome adopted on 17 of July of 1998 by the Plenipotentiary Conference of the United Nations and, consequently, to ratify this treaty in accordance within the procedure established in this Constitution. The admission of a substantial disparity in treatment by the Statute of Rome with respect to the guarantees contained in the Constitution will have effects exclusively within the scope of the matter regulated in it. Article 94 The enunciation of the rights and guarantees contained in the Constitution and in the international agreements in effect must not be understood as a negation of others which, being inherent to the human person, are not expressly mentioned in them. Chapter 5 Of the Duties and Obligations Article 95 The quality of [being] Colombian enobles all the members of the national community. Everyone has the duty to exalt and dignify it. The exercise of the rights and liberties recognized in this Constitution implies responsibilities. Every person is obligated to obey the Constitution and the laws. Duties of the person and of the citizen are: 1. To respect the rights of others and not to abuse one's own; 2. To act in conformity with the principle of social solidarity, responding with humanitarian actions to situations that endanger the life or the health of persons; 3. To respect and support the democratic authorities legitimately constituted to maintain the national independence and integrity; 4. To defend and disseminate human rights as the foundation of peaceful coexistence. 5. To participate in the political, civic, and community life of the country; 6. To attend to the achievement and maintenance of peace; 7. To collaborate toward the good functioning of the administration of justice; 8. To protect the cultural and natural resources of the country and to see to the preservation of a healthy environment; 9. To contribute to the financing of the expenditures and investments of the State within the concepts of justice and equity. Title III Of the Inhabitants and of the Territory Chapter 1 Of Nationality Article 96 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2002] Colombian nationals are: 1. By birth: a. The natives [naturales] of Colombia, with one of two conditions: that the father or the mother have been natives or Colombian nationals or that, being children of aliens, any of their parents should have been domiciled in the Republic at the moment of birth. b. The children of a Colombian father or mother who have born in a foreign land and later domiciled in Colombian territory or registered in a consular office of the Republic. 2. By adoption: a. Aliens who apply for and obtain [a] card of naturalization, in accordance with the law, which shall establish the cases in which Colombian nationality is lost through adoption. b. Latin Americans and Caribbeans by birth domiciled in Colombia, who, with the authorization of the Government and in accordance with the law and the principle of reciprocity, request to be registered as Colombians before the municipality where they are established. c. Members of the indigenous peoples who share frontier territories, with application of the principle of reciprocity according to public treaties. No Colombian by birth may be deprived of their nationality. The quality of Colombian nationality is not lost by the act of acquiring another nationality. Nationals by adoption will not be obligated to renounce their nationality of origin or adoption. Those who have renounced their Colombian nationality may recover it in accordance with the law. Article 97 The Colombian, even when he has renounced the quality of [being a] national, who acts against the interests of the country in [a] foreign war against Colombia, will be tried and sentenced as a traitor. Colombians by adoption and aliens domiciled in Colombia may not be obligated to take up arms against their country of origin; neither shall be Colombians nationalized in a foreign country, against the country of their new nationality. Chapter 2 Of Citizenship Article 98 Citizenship is lost by act when [one] has renounced nationality, and its exercise may be suspended by virtue of a judicial decision in the cases that the law determines. Those whose exercise of citizenship has been suspended can request its restoration. PARAGRAPH. If the law does not specify another age, citizenship will be exercised beginning with eighteen years [of age]. Article 99 The quality of [being] in full exercise of citizenship [ciudadano en ejercicio] is a prior and indispensable condition for exercising the right of suffrage, to be elected and to perform public responsibilities [cargos] which have authority or jurisdiction attached [to them]. Chapter 3 Of Aliens Article 100 Aliens will enjoy in Colombia the same civil rights which are granted to Colombians. Nevertheless, for reasons of public order, the law may subordinate them to special conditions or deny the exercise of specific civil rights to aliens. Similarly, aliens will enjoy, in the territory of the Republic, the guarantees conceded to nationals, except for the limitations that the Constitution or the law establish. Political rights are reserved to nationals, but the law may concede to aliens resident in Colombia the right to vote in elections and in popular consultations of municipal or district character. Chapter 4 Of the Territory Article 101 The [territorial] limits of Colombia are those established in the international treaties approved by the Congress, duly ratified by the President of the Republic, and those defined by the arbitration awards in which the Nation takes part. The limits specified in the form provided by this Constitution may be modified only by virtue of treaties approved by the Congress, duly ratified by the President of the Republic. Besides the continental territory, the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, and the Isla de Malpelo, in addition to the islands, islets, keys, headlands, and banks that belong to it, are part of Colombia. Also part of Colombia are the subsoil, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone, the airspace, the segment of the geostationary orbit, the electromagnetic spectrum and the space where it functions, in conformity with International Law or with the Colombian laws in the absence of international norms. Article 102 The territory, with the public assets that are part of it, belong to the Nation. Title IV Of Democratic Participation and of the Political Parties Chapter 1 Of the Forms of Democratic Participation Article 103 Mechanisms of participation of the people in exercise of their sovereignty are: the vote, the plebiscite, the referendum, the popular consultation, the open cabildo [assembly], the legislative initiative, and the revocation of office. The law shall regulate them. The State shall contribute to the organization, promotion, and capacitation of professional, civic, union, community, youth, charitable, or nongovernmental common utility associations, without detriment to their autonomy with the object that they constitute democratic means of representation in the different instances of participation, agreement, control, and oversight of the public management which are established. Article 104 The President of the Republic, with the signature of all the Ministers and the prior favorable opinion of the Senate of the Republic, can consult the people on decisions of national importance. The decision of the people will be obligatory. The consultation may not be done in concurrence with another election. Article 105 Previously fulfilling the requirements and formalities that the general statute of the territorial organization establishes and in the cases it determines, the Governors and Mayors, depending on the case, can hold popular consultations to decide on matters of the competence of the respective department or municipality. Article 106 Previously fulfilling the requirements that the law establishes, and in the cases it determines, the inhabitants of the territorial entities can present Bills concerning matters that are of the competence of the respective public corporation, which is obligated to proceed with them; decide about the provisions of interest of the community, at the initiative of the corresponding authority or corporation, or by no less than 10% of the citizens registered in the respective electoral roll; and elect representatives for the boards [juntas] of the companies providing public services within the respective territorial entity. Chapter 2 Of the Parties and Political Movements Article 107 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 and No. I of2009] All citizens are guaranteed the right to establish, organize and develop political parties and movements, and the freedom to affiliate with them or to withdraw. In no event is it permitted to citizens to belong simultaneously to more than one party or political movements with juridical personality. The Political Parties and Movements shall be democratically organized and shall hold with high principles of transparency, objectivity, morality, gender equity, and the duty to present and disseminate their political programs. To make their decisions or the selection of their own candidates or [candidates] by coalition, [they] may hold popular or internal or interparty consultations which [do] or do not coincide with the elections to Public Corporations, in accordance with that provided in their Statutes and in the law. In the case of the public consultations, the norms concerning campaign financing and publicity and access to the media of communication of the State, that govern for the ordinary elections, will be applied. Anyone who participates in consultations of a political party or movement or in interparty consultations may not enroll for another in the same electoral process. The result of the consultations will be obligatory. The directors of the Political Parties and Movements should encourage internal processes of democratization and the strengthening of the regime of [party] blocs [bancadas]. The Political Parties and Movements are responsible for any violation or contravention of the norms that serve their organization, operation or financing, as well as when endorsing candidates elected to offices or Public Corporations of popular election, who have been or are convicted during the exercise of the office to which [they were] endorsed, by way of executory sentence in Colombia or abroad for crimes related to communication with illegal armed groups and drug-trafficking activities or of crimes against the mechanisms of democratic participation or [crimes] against humanity. The Political Parties or Movements will also be responsible for endorsing candidates not elected to offices or Public Corporations of popular election, if they have been or are convicted during the period of public office to which they are candidates, by way of executory sentence in Colombia or abroad for crimes related to communication with illegal armed groups and drug-trafficking activities, committed prior to the issuance of the corresponding endorsement. The sanctions may consist of fines, repayment of public funds collected by way of the system of reposition of votes [sistema de reposici6n de votos], up to the cancelation of the juridical personality. When these convictions concern those who were elected to uninomial positions, the party of movement that endorsed the convicted [person] may not present candidates for the following elections in that circumscription. Lacking less than 18 months before the next elections, the terna [list of three candidates] may not be presented, in which case, the nominator may freely appoint the replacement. The directors of the parties, who were shown not to have not proceeded with due care and diligence in the exercise of the rights and obligations that confer juridical personality on them, will also be subject to the sanctions that the law determines. The social organizations are also guaranteed the right to demonstrate and participate in political events. Whoever, being a member of a public corporation, decides to be presented at the following election, by a different party, must renounce the seat at least twelve (12) months before the first day of registration. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 1. Without prejudice to that provided in Article 134, within the two (2) months following the entry into force of this Legislative Act, it is authorized, for one sole time, to members of the Collegial Bodies of popular election, or to those who have renounced their seat prior to the enactment of this Legislative Act, to join a different party than that which endorsed them, without renouncing the seat or incurring double affiliation. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 2. The National Government or the members of the Congress shall present by 1 August 2009, a Bill of Statutory Law to develop this Article. The Bill will have [the] message of urgency and joint sessions and may be the object of [the] message of insistence if necessary. It reduces by half the terms for the prior review of the constitutionality [exequibilidad] of the Bill of Statutory Law, on the part of the Constitutional Court. Article 108 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 and No. 1 of2009] The National Electoral Council recognizes Juridical Personality to the parties, political movements and significant groups of citizens. They can obtain it with voting [of] not less than three percent (3%) of the votes validity cast in the national territory in elections for the Chamber of Representatives or the Senate. They lose it if they do not receive that percentage in the elections for the same Public Corporations. The exceptional regime that is established [estatuya] in the law for the circumscriptions of ethnic and political minorities, in which it will be sufficient to obtain representation in the Congress, is excepted. It will also be grounds for loss of the Juridical Personality of the parties and political movements if they do not hold at least every two (2) years conventions that allow their members to influence the making of the most important decisions of the organization. The Political Parties and Movements with recognized juridical personality may register candidates to elections. This registration must be endorsed for the same purpose by the respective legal representative of the party or movement or whom it designates. The social movements and significant groups of citizens may also register candidates. Each registration of [a] candidate incurring causes of disability, will be revoked by the National Electoral Council within respect for due process. The Statutes of the Political Parties and Movements shall regulate [matters] concerning their Internal Disciplinary Regime. The members of the Public Corporations elected by the same Party or Political Movement or significant group of citizens will act in them as a bloc, in the terms that the law specifies and in accordance with the decisions adopted democratically by them. The Internal Statutes of the Parties and Political Movements shall determine the matters of conscience in respect of which this regime shall not apply and may establish sanctions for the inobservance of its guidelines on the part of the members of the blocs, which are established gradually up to expulsion, and may include the loss of right to vote of the Congressman, Deputy Councilor or Edil [Alderman] for the remainder of the term for which he was elected. The Political Parties and Movements that have obtained their Juridical Personality as a result of the special circumscription of ethnic minorities can endorse candidates without any requirements other than their affiliation to that party, no less than one year in advance respecting the date of the registration. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. For the elections to the Congress of the Republic to be held in 2010, the percentage to which the first paragraph of this Article refers shall be two percent (2%), and does not require the requisite registration requirements of one year in advance as [is specified] in paragraph 8. Article 109 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 and No. 1 of2009] The State will concur in the political and electoral financing of the Political Parties and Movements with juridical personality in accordance with the law. The electoral campaigns that advance the candidates endorsed by parties and movements with Juridical Personality or significant groups of citizens, will be financed partially with the state resources. The law shall determine the percentage of voting necessary to have right to this financing. It also may limit the amount of the expenses that the parties, movements, significant groups of citizens or candidates may realize in electoral campaigns, as well as the maximum amount of the private contributions, in accordance with the law. A percentage of the financing will be given to parties and movements with Juridical Personality in force, and to the significant groups of citizens who endorse candidates, before the election, or the consultations, in accordance with the conditions and guarantees that the law determines and with authorization of the National Electoral Council. The campaigns to elect the President of the Republic shall have access to a maximum of advertising spaces and institutional spaces of radio and television funded by the State, for those candidates of parties, movements and significant groups of citizens whose nomination [postulaci6n] complies with the requirements of seriousness that, to this effect, the law determines. For the elections that are held after the [entry into] force of this Legislative Act, the violation of the ceilings of financing of the campaigns, duly established, shall be sanctioned with the loss of investiture or of office. The law shall regulate the other effects for the violation of this provision. The parties, movements, significant groups of citizens and candidates must render public account concerning the volume, origin and purpose of their income. It is forbidden to the Political Parties and Movements and significant groups of citizens to receive financing for electoral campaigns, from natural or juridical foreign persons. No type of private financing may have anti-democratic purposes or be detrimental to the public order. PARAGRAPH. The annual financing of the Political Parties and Movements with Juridical Personality will rise to at least two point seven (2.7) times that provided in the year 2003, maintaining its value over time. The amount of financing of the campaigns of the Political Parties and Movements with Juridical Personality will be at least three times that provided in the period 1999-2002 in constant 2003 pesos. This includes the cost of transport on the day of the election and the cost of mailing franchises financed today. The consultations of the parties and movements that opt for this mechanism receive their financing through the system of reposition of votes cast, maintained for it in value of constant pesos prevailing at the time of adoption of this Legislation Act. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The National Government or the members of the Congress shall present, before 1 August 2009, a Bill of Statutory Law to develop this Article. The Bill will have [the] message of urgency and joint sessions and may be the object of [the] message of insistence if necessary. It reduces by half the terms for the prior review of the constitutionality [exequibilidad/executability] of the Bill of Statutory Law, on the part of the Constitutional Court. Article 110 It is prohibited to those who perform public functions to make any contribution to the parties, movements or candidates, or to induce others to do so, with the exceptions that the law establishes. Noncompliance with any of these prohibitions will be cause for removal from the responsibilities or loss of the investiture. Article 111 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2003] The political parties and movements with juridical personality have the right to use the media that make use of the electromagnetic spectrum, at all times, according to the law. It also establishes the cases and the form where the parties, the political movements and the candidates duly registered, shall have access to these media. Chapter 3 Of the Status of the Opposition Article 112 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003] The political parties and movements with juridical personality which are declared in opposition to the Government, may exercise freely the function of criticism before it, and propose and develop alternative policies. For this purpose, they are guaranteed the following rights: the access to information and official documentation, with the constitutional and legal restrictions; the use of the media of social communication of the State or those which make use of the electromagnetic spectrum in accordance with representation obtained in the immediately previous elections for Congress; to reply, in the same media of communication. The minority parties and movements with juridical personality have the right to take part in the directive boards of the collegiate bodies, according to their representation in them. A statutory law shall regulate the matter in full. Title V Of the Organization of the State Chapter 1 Of the Structure of the State Article 113 The Branches of the Public Power are the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. In addition to the organs which constitute them there are others, autonomous and independent, for the fulfillment of the other functions of the State. The different organs of the State have separate functions but cooperate harmoniously for the realization of their objectives. Article 114 It corresponds to the Congress of the Republic to reform the Constitution, make the laws and exercise political control over the government and the administration. The Congress of the Republic will be formed by the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. Article 115 The President of the Republic is Head [Jefe] of State, Head of Government, and supreme administrative authority. The National Government is formed by the President of the Republic, the Ministers of the cabinet [despacho], and the directors of administrative departments. The President and the Minister or Director of the corresponding Department, in any particular matter [negocio], constitute the Government. No act of the President, except the one of appointment and removal of Ministers and Directors of Administrative Departments and those decreed in his capacity as Head of State and supreme administrative authority, will have any value or force as long as it is not countersigned and communicated by the Minister of the respective branch or by the Director of the corresponding Administrative Department, who, by that act become responsible. The governorates and mayoralties as well as the super-intendencies, public establishments, and industrial or commercial enterprises of the State are part of the Executive Branch. Article 116 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of2002] The Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the Superior Council of the Judicature, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the Tribunals and the Judges, administer justice. So does the Military Criminal Justice [office]. The Congress may exercise specific judicial functions. Exceptionally, the law may attribute jurisdictional functions in specific matters to specified administrative authorities. However, they will not be permitted to make summary instructions or judge crimes. Individuals may be invested temporarily with the function of administering justice in the character [condici6n] of jurists [jurados] in criminal cases, [of] conciliators or in that of arbitrators enabled by the parties to proffer decisions [fallos] in law or in equity, in the terms that the law determines. Article 117 The Public Ministry and the Office of the Controller General of the Republic are organs of control. Article 118 The Public Ministry will be exercised by the Procurator General of the Nation [Procurador General de la Naci6n], the Defender of the People [Defensor del Pueblo], by the delegated procurators, and the agents of the public ministry, before the jurisdictional authorities, by the municipal representatives [personeros] and other functionaries determined by the law. To the Public Ministry corresponds the defense and promotion of human rights, the protection of the public interest, and the oversight of the official conduct of those who perform public functions. Article 119 The Office of the Controller General of the Republic has for its responsibility the oversight of the fiscal management and the control of the result of the administration. Article 120 The electoral organization is formed by the National Electoral Council, the Office of the National Registrar of the Civil Status, and by the other organs that the law establishes. It is responsible for the organization of elections, their direction and oversight, as well as that relating to the identity of persons. Article 121 No authority of the State shall be able to exercise functions different from those assigned to it by the Constitution and the law. Chapter 2 Of the Public Function Article 122 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2004 and No. 1 of2009] There shall not be public employment that does not have functions detailed in a law or regulation, and in order to provide those of a remunerative character it is required that they are considered in the respective plan and their emoluments provided in the corresponding budget. [Omitted Article] No public servant may enter into the exercise of their responsibilities without taking [an] oath to comply with and to defend the Constitution and to perform the duties that are required of them. Before taking possession of the responsibilities, when retiring from them or when [the] competent authority requires it, they must declare, under oath, the amount of their assets and income. This declaration may only be used for the objectives and purposes of the application of the norms of the public servant. Without prejudice to other sanctions that the law established, [persons] may not be registered as candidates to offices of popular election, or elected, or appointed as public servants, or celebrate personally, or through an intermediate person, contracts with the State, who have been convicted at any time, for the commission of crimes that affect the patrimony of the State or those who have been convicted of offenses related to the affiliation [with], promotion or financing [of] illegal armed groups, crimes against humanity or for drug-trafficking in Colombia or abroad. Nor [they] who have caused, as public servants, with their willful misconduct or gross negligence, so qualified by executory sentence, the State to be liable to a material reparation, except when the value of the damage is assumed by responsibility of its patrimony. Article 123 The members of public corporations, employees and workers of the State and of their decentralized entities, territorially and for services, are public servants. The public servants are at the service of the State and of the community; they will perform their functions in the form provided by the Constitution, the law, and the regulations. The law shall determine the regime applicable to persons who temporarily perform public functions and shall regulate their exercise. Article 124 The law shall determine the responsibility of public servants and the manner to make it effective. Article 125 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of 2003 and No. 1 of 2008 (declared unconstitutional)] The jobs [empleos] in the organs and entities of the State are career ones [de carrera]. Those of popular election, those of free appointment and removal, those of official workers, and the others determined by the law, are excepted. The functionaries whose system of appointment has not been determined by the Constitution or the law shall be appointed through public competition [concurso publico]. Entry to career positions and promotion to them shall be made after fulfilling the requirements and conditions that the law establishes to specify the merits and qualities of the applicants. Termination will occur for: unsatisfactory assessment in the performance of the job, for violation of the disciplinary code, and for the other causes provided in the Constitution or the law. In no case may the political affiliation of the citizens determine their appointment to a career position, their promotion or removal. PARAGRAPH. The periods established in the Political Constitution or in the law for elective office [cargos de elecci6n] have the character of institutional [offices]. Those who are appointed or elected to occupy such offices, in replacement for absolute incapacity of the principal [titular], will do so for the remainder of the period for which he [the principal] was elected. Article 126 The public servants may not appoint as employees persons to whom they are related up to the fourth grade of consanguinity, second of affinity, first civil [grade], or with whom they are bound through marriage or permanent union. Neither may they designate persons involved through the same ties with competent public servants to intervene in their designation. Excepted from what is specified in this Article are the appointments that are made in application of valid regulations concerning entry or promotion for merit. Article 127 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2004] Public servants may not make, on their own or through a third person, or representing another, any contract with public entities or private persons who manage or administer public resources, save legal exceptions. Employees of the State who serve in the Judicial Branch, in the electoral organs, [and organs] of control and of security, are prohibited from taking part in the activities of the parties and movements and in political controversies, without prejudice to freely exercising the right of suffrage. The members of the Public Force in active duty are subject to the limitations provided in Article 219 of the Constitution. Employees not covered by this prohibition may only participate in those activities and controversies under the conditions specified by the Statutory Law. The use of the job to pressure citizens to back a political cause or campaign constitutes [a] cause of improper [mal] conduct. When the President and Vice-President of the Republic present their candidatures, [they] may only participate in the electoral campaigns from the moment of registration. In any case, such participation may only be from four (4) months preceding the date of the first round of the presidential election, and will be extended until the second round in the case that arises. The Statutory Law establishes the terms and conditions under which, before that time, the President or Vice President may participate in the democratic mechanisms of selection of the candidates of the political parties or movements. During the campaign, the President and the Vice-President of the Republic may not use assets of the State or resources of the Public Treasury, separately from those offered on equal terms to all the candidates. Those intended to fulfill the proper functions of their office and for their personal protection[,] are excepted, in the terms that the Statutory Law specifies. Article 128 No one may perform simultaneously more than one public job [empleo] or receive more than one salary which comes from the public treasury [Tesoro pfiblico], or from enterprises or institutions in which the State holds a majority share, except in the cases expressly determined by the law. By public treasury is meant that of the Nation, that of the territorial entities and that of the decentralized [entities]. Article 129 The public servants may not accept posts, honors, or rewards from foreign governments or international organizations or make contracts with them, without prior authorization of the Government. Article 130 There will be a National Commission of Civil Service responsible for the administration and oversight of the careers of the public servants, with the exception of those which have a special character. Article 131 It corresponds to the law to regulate the public service which notaries and registrars provide, the definition of the labor regime for their employees, and that related to the contributions as special taxes of notary's offices, with allocation to the administration of justice. The appointment of the proprietary notaries [notarios de propriedad] shall be made by competition. To the Government corresponds the creation, elimination, and merger of the groups of notaries and registrars and the determination of the number of notaries and offices of registry. Title VI Of the Legislative Branch Chapter 1 Of the Composition and the Functions Article 132 The Senators and the representatives will be elected for a period of four years, which begins on July 20 following the election. Article 133 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2009] The members of collegial bodies of direct election represent the people, and must act in consultation with justice and the common good. The vote of the members will be nominal and public, except in cases that the law determines. The elected [person] is politically responsible before society and before his electors for compliance with the obligations inherent [propias] to his investiture. Article 134 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of 1993 and No. I of2009] The members of the Public Corporations will not have alternates. They may be replaced only in case of death, absolute physical incapacity for the exercise of office, declaration of nullity of the election, justified renunciation, and accepted by the respective Corporation, disciplinary sanction consistent with dismissal, loss of investiture, criminal conviction or measure of assurance for crimes separate from those related to affiliation, promotion or financing and/or by illegal armed groups, drug-trafficking, crimes against the mechanisms of democratic participation or [crimes] against humanity or when a member of a Public Corporation decides to be presented by a party other than as was stated in the 1st Transitory Paragraph of Article 107 of the Constitution. In such cases, the titular [member] will be replaced by the candidate not elected in the order of registration or voting obtained following in successive and descending form in the same electoral list. As a consequence of the general rule established in this Article, a member of a Public Corporation of popular election may not be replaced from the moment in which an order for arrest is issued for him, by way of criminal process which has [been] formally imposed for crimes related to affiliation, promotion or financing and/or by illegal armed groups, drug-trafficking or crimes against humanity. The condemnatory sentence will produce the effect of the definitive loss of the seat, for the party to which the member of the Public Corporation belongs. There will be no temporary incapacities [faltas], except when women, for reasons of maternity leave, must be absent from office. The renunciation of a member of a public corporation of popular election, when it has been initiated [by] formal connection to crimes committed in Colombia or abroad, related to affiliation, promotion or financing and/or by illegal armed groups, drug-trafficking or crimes against humanity, will generate a loss of quality of congressmen, deputy, councillor or edil [alderman] and will not produce as an effect the admission of those corresponding [persons] on the list. The temporary incapacities will not give rise to replacements. When anything occurs in circumstances that imply that an elected member of a Public Corporation may not be replaced, for all the effects of constitution [conformaci6n] of a quorum, the number of members will be deemed to be the totality of the members of the Corporation with the exception of those seats that may not be replaced. If [as a result of] absolute incapacities, which do not give rise to replacement, the members of collegiate bodies elected by the same electoral circumscription are reduced to half or less, the Government will convoke elections to fill the vacancies, if and when more than eighteen (18) months for completion of the term is lacking. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The regime of replacements established in this Article shall apply to judicial investigations that are initiated from the [entry into] force of this Legislative Act. Article 135 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 (declared unconstitutional in part) and No. 1 of 2007] Faculties of each Chamber are: 1. To elect its directive boards [mesas directivas]. 2. To elect its General Secretary for periods of two years, counted from July 20, who must have the same qualifications specified to be a member of the respective Chamber. 3. To solicit from the Government the reports it needs, except for what is provided in numeral 2 of the following Article. 4. To determine the holding of sessions reserved in priority form for the oral questions which the Congressmen formulate to the Ministers and to their answers. The regulations shall regulate the matter. 5. To fill the jobs [empleos] established by the law for the fulfillment of its functions. 6. To obtain from the Government the cooperation of the organs of the public administration for the better performance of its attributions. 7. To organize its internal policy. 8. To summon and to require the ministers, superintendents and directors of administrative departments to attend the sessions. The summons must be made with an advance of no less than five days and be formulated in a written questionnaire. In case that the ministers, superintendents and directors of administrative departments do not attend, without excuse accepted by the respective Chamber, the latter may propose a motion of censure. The ministers, superintendents and directors of administrative departments must be heard in the session to which they were summoned, without prejudice to the debate continuing at subsequent sessions by a decision of the respective Chamber. The debate may not extend to issues outside the questionnaire and must begin the agenda of the session. 9. To propose a motion of censure concerning the ministers, superintendents and directors of administrative departments in matters concerning the proper functioning of the office [cargo], or neglect of the requirements and summons of the Congress of the Republic. The motion of censure, if [recourse] is made to it, must be proposed by at least one-tenth of the Members that comprise the respective Chamber. The vote will be taken between the third and tenth day following the termination of the debate, with public audience of the respective functionary. Its adoption will require the affirmative vote of half plus one of the members of the Chamber that has proposed it. Once approved, the functionary will be removed from office. If it is rejected, another concerning the same matter may not be presented, unless new facts motivate it. The resignation of the respective functionary, in respect of whom the motion of censure was promoted, is no obstacle to the [motion] being approved. [Once] a Chamber has decided concerning a motion of censure, its decision inhibits the other from deciding concerning the same [motion]. Article 136 The Congress and each of its Chambers are prohibited from: 1. Intervening, by means of resolutions or laws, in matters of exclusive [privativa] competence of other authorities. 2. Requiring of the Government information concerning instructions in diplomatic matters or about negotiations of a classified nature. 3. Giving votes of affirmation [votos de aplauso] to official acts. 4. Decreeing on behalf of persons or entities donations, bonuses, subsidies, indemnifications, pensions, or other distributions that are not allocated to satisfy credits or rights recognized in accordance with the pre-existing law. 5. Decreeing acts [actos] of proscription or prosecution against natural or juridical persons. 6. Authorizing visits abroad with money from the treasury [erario], except in the fulfillment of special missions, approved at least by three-quarters of the members of the respective Chamber. Article 137 Any permanent commission may summon any natural or juridical person, so that in a special session oral or written declarations may be provided, that may be demanded under oath, on facts directly related to the investigations which the commission advances. If anyone summoned should excuse themselves from attending and should the commission insist in summoning them, the Constitutional Court, after hearing them will decide concerning the matter [particular] within the period of ten days, under strict reserve [reserva]. The refusal of those summoned to appear or to make the required declarations will be sanctioned by the commission with the penalty that the valid norms provide for the cases of contempt of the authorities. If in the course of the investigation, for its completeness [perfeccionamiento], or for the prosecution of possible criminal offenders, the intervention of other authorities is required, these will be requested for what is pertinent. Chapter 2 Of the Meeting and of the Functioning Article 138 The Congress, of [its] own right, will meet in ordinary sessions, during two periods per year, which will constitute a sole legislature. The first period of sessions will begin on July 20 and terminate on December 16; the second sessions will begin on March 16 and conclude on June 20. If for any reason it may not meet at the dates indicated, it will do so as soon as possible, within the respective periods. The Congress will also meet in extraordinary sessions by convocation of the Government and for the period that it specifies. In the course of them, it may discuss the matters [asuntos] that the Government submits to its consideration, without prejudice to the function of political control which is proper [propia] to it, which it can exercise at all times. Article 139 The sessions of the Congress are initiated [instaladas] and closed jointly and publicly by the President of the Republic, without such ceremony, in the first case, being essential for the Congress to exercise its functions legitimately. Article 140 The Congress will have its seat in the capital of the Republic. The Chambers may agree among them to transfer their seat to another location and, in case of disruption of the public order, they may meet at the site which the President of the Senate designates. Article 141 The Congress will meet as a single body uniquely for the initiation and closing of its sessions, to install the President of the Republic, to receive Heads of State or of Government of other countries, to elect the Controller General of the Republic and [the] Vice President, when it is necessary to replace the [person] elected by the people, as well as to decide on a motion of censure, in accordance with Article 135. In such cases the President of the Senate and that of the Chamber will be the President and Vice President of the Congress, respectively. Article 142 Each Chamber will elect, for the respective constitutional period, permanent commissions that will address [tramitar] in first debate the Bills of Legislative Act[s] or of law. The law shall determine the number of permanent commissions and that of their members, as well as the matters with which each one shall be occupied. When the Permanent Constitutional Commissions hold sessions jointly, the quorum for decision will be that required for each of the committees individually considered. Article 143 The Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Representatives can decide that any of the permanent commissions should hold sessions during the recess, with the objective of debating the issues that may have remained pending in the previous period, of undertaking the studies that the respective corporation determines, and of preparing the Bills with which the Chambers entrust them. Article 144 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2009] The sessions of the Chambers and their Permanent Commissions will be public, with the limitations that arise in accordance with their regulations. The exercise of lobbying shall be regulated by law. Article 145 The plenary Congress, the Chambers and their commissions may not open sessions or deliberate with fewer than the fourth part of their members. Decisions may only be made with the presence of the majority of the members of the respective corporation, unless the Constitution determines a different quorum. Article 146 In the plenary Congress, in the Chambers and in their permanent commissions, the decisions will be made by the majority of the votes of those attending [asistentes], unless the Constitution requires a special majority. Article 147 The directive boards of the Chambers and of their permanent commissions will be renewed each year, for the legislative period that starts on July 20, and none of their members may be reelected within the same constitutional four-year period. Article 148 The norms regarding quorum and decisive majorities will also apply to the other public corporations of popular election. Article 149 Any meeting of members of Congress which, with the purpose of exercising the functions proper to the legislative branch of the public power, is held outside the constitutional conditions, will lack validity. No effect may be given to the acts it makes, and whoever participates in the deliberations will be sanctioned in conformity with the laws. Chapter 3 Of the Laws Article 150 It corresponds to the Congress to make the laws. Through them, it exercises the following functions: 1. To interpret, reform and derogate the laws. 2. To enact codes in all the branches of legislation and to reform their provisions. 3. To approve the national plan of development and of public investments that must be undertaken or continued, with the determination of the resources and appropriations which are authorized for their execution, and the means necessary to promote the implementation of the same. 4. To define the general division of the territory in accordance with what is specified in this Constitution; to establish the bases and conditions for creating, eliminating, modifying, or merging territorial entities and for establishing their competences. 5. To confer special attributions on the departmental assemblies. 6. To relocate [variar] in extraordinary circumstances and for grave motives of public expedience the current residence of the high national authorities. 7. To determine the structure of the national administration and to create, to eliminate, or merge ministries, administrative departments, super-intendencies, public establishments, and other entities of the national order, specifying their objectives and organic structure; to regulate the creation and functioning of the Regional Autonomous Corporations within a regime of autonomy; and, similarly, to create or authorize the constitution of industrial and commercial enterprises of the State and societies of mixed economy. 8. To enact the norms to which the Government must be subject in the exercise of the functions of inspection and oversight that the Constitution specifies to it. 9. To concede authorizations to the Government to make contracts, to negotiate loans, and to transfer national assets. The Government shall periodically inform the Congress on the exercise of these authorizations. 10. To vest, up to six months, in the President of the Republic, precise extraordinary faculties to issue norms with the force of law when necessity requires it or when public expediency advises it. Such powers must be requested expressly by the Government and their approval will require the absolute majority of the members of both Chambers. The Congress can, at any time and at its own initiative, modify the decree laws issued by the Governent in the use of extraordinary faculties. These faculties may not be conferred for issuing codes, statutory laws, organic laws, or those established in numeral 20 of this Article, or for decreeing taxes. 11. To establish national revenues and to determine the expenditures of the administration. 12. To establish fiscal contributions and, exceptionally, parafiscal contributions in those cases and under the conditions established by the law. 13. To determine the legal tender, the convertibility and the extent of its free exchange [poder liberatorio], and arranging the system of weights and measures. 14. To approve or reject contracts or agreements which, for reasons of evident national necessity, the President of the Republic has concluded with individuals, companies, or public entities without prior authorization. 15. To decree honors to the citizens who have rendered services to the country [patria]. 16. To approve or reject the treaties which the Government makes with other States or entities of international law. By means of said treaties, the State, on the bases of equity, reciprocity, and national advisability, may partially transfer specific attributions to international organs, whose object is to promote or consolidate economic integration with other States. 17. To grant, by majority of two-thirds of the votes of the members of both Chambers, and for grave reasons of public advisability, amnesties or general pardons for political crimes. In case that those favored are exempted from civil responsibility with respect to individuals, the State will be obligated to make the compensations which are proper. 18. To enact the norms concerning the appropriation or adjudication and reclamation of uncultivated lands. 19. To enact the general norms and specify in them the objectives and criteria to which the Government must be subject for the following purposes: a. To organize the public credit; b. To regulate foreign commerce and specify the regime of international exchange, in concordance with the functions which the Constitution consecrates to the Directive Board of the Bank of the Republic; c. To modify, for purposes of commercial policy, duties, tariffs and other provisions concerning the system of customs; d. To regulate financial, stock market, and insurance activities and any other [activity] related to the management, use and investment of the resources received from the public; e. To establish the wage and benefits regime of public employees, the members of the National Congress, and the Public Force; f. To regulate the system of minimum social benefits for official workers. These functions, when concerning social benefits, are not to be delegated to public territorial Corporations and they may not arrogate them. 20. To create the administrative and technical services of the Chambers. 21. To enact the laws of economic intervention specified in Article 334, which must specify their purpose and scope and the limits to economic freedom [libertad econ6mica]. 22. To enact the laws related to the Bank of the Republic and to the functions which its Directive Board is competent to perform. 23. To enact the laws which shall regulate the exercise of the public functions and the provision of the public services. 24. To regulate the regime of industrial property, patents and trademarks, and the other forms of intellectual property. 25. To unify the norms concerning traffic policy throughout the entire territory of the Republic. It corresponds to the Congress to enact the general statute of contracting of the public administration and especially of the national administration. Article 151 The Congress shall enact organic laws to which the exercise of Legislative Activity will be subject. Through them, the regulations of Congress and each one of the Chambers, the norms concerning preparation, approval, and execution of the Budget of Revenues and the law of appropriations, and the general plan of development and those relative to the assignment of normative responsibilities to the territorial entities, shall be established. The organic laws will require, for their approval, an absolute majority of the votes of the members of both Chambers. Article 152 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2004 (declared unconstitutional in part)] By means of the statutory laws, the Congress of the Republic shall regulate the following matters: a. Fundamental rights and duties of persons and the procedures and recourses for their protection; b. Administration of justice; c. Organization and regime of the parties and political movements; the statute of the opposition and electoral functions; d. Institutions and mechanisms of citizen participation; e. States of exception. f) The electoral equality among candidates for President of the Republic to meet the requirements that the law specifies. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The National Government or the Members of the Congress shall present, before the 1st of March 2005, a Bill of Statutory Law to develop the literal f) of Article 152 of the Constitution and regulate also, among others, the following matters: Guarantees to the opposition, participation in policy by public servants, right to equal access to media of communication that make use of the electromagnetic spectrum, preponderantly state financing of the presidential campaigns, right of reply in conditions of equity when the President is a candidate, and norms concerning incompatibilities for candidates for the Presidency of the Republic. The Bill will have [the] message of urgency and may be the object of a message of insistence if necessary. The Congress of the Republic shall adopt the Statutory Law before 20 June 2005. The terms for the prior review of the enforceability of Bills of Statutory Law by the Constitutional Court, is reduced by half. Article 153 The approval, modification, or derogation of the statutory laws will require the absolute majority of the members of Congress and must be effected within a sole legislature. Said procedure will include the prior review, on the part of the Constitutional Court, concerning the constitutionality [exequibilidad/executability] of the Bill. Any citizen may intervene to defend it or to oppose it. Article 154 The laws may have their origin in either of the Chambers at the proposal of their respective members, the National Government, the entities specified in Article 156, or through popular initiative in the cases provided by the Constitution. However, those laws to which numerals 3, 7, 9, 11, and 22 and by subparagraphs (a), (b), and (e) of numeral 19 of Article 150 refer; those which order participations to the national revenues or transfers of them; those which authorize contributions or subscriptions by the State to industrial or commercial enterprises; and those which decree exemptions from taxes, contributions, or national levies, may only be presented or amended on the initiative of the Government. The Chambers may introduce modifications to the Bills presented by the Government. The Bills of law concerning taxes will initiate their proceedings in the Chamber of Representatives and those referring to international relations [will initiate] in the Senate. Article 155 Bills of law or of constitutional reform may be introduced by a number of citizens equal to or greater than five percent of the existing electoral roll at the respective date or by thirty percent of the Councillors or Deputies of the country [pais]. The popular initiative will proceed in the Congress, in conformity with that established in Article 163, with respect to the Bills that have been made the object of manifest urgency. The proposing citizens will have the right to designate a spokesman who will be heard by the Chambers at all stages of the proceeding. Article 156 The Constitutional Court, the Superior Council of the Judicature, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the National Electoral Council, the Procurator General of the Nation, [and] the Controller General of the Republic have the faculty to introduce Bills of law in matters related to their functions. Article 157 No Bill will become law without the following requirements: 1. To have been published officially by the Congress, before dealing with it in the respective commission. 2. To have been approved in first debate in the corresponding permanent commission of each Chamber. The regulations of the Congress shall determine the cases in which the first debate will be held in joint session of the permanent commissions of both Chambers. 3. To have been approved in each Chamber in second debate. 4. To have obtained the sanction of the Government. Article 158 Every Bill of law must refer to the same matter and any provisions or modifications which are not related to it will be inadmissible. The President of the respective commission will reject the initiatives that do not agree with this precept, but his decisions will be appealable before the same commission. The law which is the object of partial reform will be published in a sole text which incorporates the approved modifications. Article 159 The Bill of law that may have been rejected in first debate may be [re]considered by the respective Chamber at the request of its author, a member of it, the Government, or the spokesman of its proponents in the cases of popular initiative. Article 160 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003] Between the first and second debate, a period of no less than eight days must elapse, and between the approval of the Bill in one of the Chambers and the initiation of the debate in the other, at least fifteen days must pass. During the second debate each Chamber can introduce to the Bill the modifications, additions, and omissions that it judges necessary. In the report to the Plenary Chamber for the second debate, the speaker must present the totality of the proposals that were considered by the commission and the reasons that determined their rejection. Every Bill of law or of Legislative Act must include a report of presentation [informe de ponencia] in the respective commission in charge of transacting it, and [that] must deal with it as it corresponds. No Bill of Law will be presented for [the] vote in a different sitting than that to which it was previously announced. The announcement that a Bill will be presented for [the] vote shall be made by the presidency of each Chamber or Commission in [a] sitting separate from that in which the vote will take place. Article 161 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003] When discrepancies arise in the Chambers concerning a Bill, each will form commissions of conciliators composed of an equal number of Senators and Representatives, who meeting jointly, endeavor to reconcile the texts, and in the case it is not possible, determine it by majority [vote]. With the prior publication at least one day in advance, the selected text will be submitted to debate and approval in the respective plenary. If after the repetition of the second debate the differences persists, the Bill is considered denied. Article 162 The Bills of law which have not completed their procedure in one legislature and which have received first debate in one of the Chambers will continue their course in the subsequent [legislature] in the state in which they may be. No Bill may be considered in more than two legislatures. Article 163 The President of the Republic can solicit a procedure of urgency for any Bill of law. In such case, the respective Chamber must decide concerning it within a period of thirty days. Even within this period, the declaration of urgency can be repeated at all constitutional stages of the Bill. Should the President insist on the urgency, the Bill will have priority on the agenda of the day excluding the consideration of any other matter, until the respective Chamber or commission decides concerning it. If the Bill of law to which the message of urgency refers is under the study of a permanent commission, the latter, at the solicitation of the Government, will deliberate jointly with the corresponding [commission] of the other Chamber in order to give it the first debate. Article 164 The Congress will give priority to the procedure of the Bills of law approving treaties concerning human rights which are submitted to its consideration by the Government. Article 165 Once a Bill of law is approved by both Chambers, it will go to the Government for its sanction. Should the latter not object, it will arrange that it is promulgated as law; if it objects to it, it will return it to the Chamber in which it originated. Article 166 The Government has a six-day period to return, with objections, any Bill which does not include more than twenty articles; ten days when the Bill includes twenty-one to fifty articles; and up to twenty days when the articles amount to more than fifty. If after the indicated periods have passed the Government has not returned the Bill with objections, the President must sanction it and promulgate it. If the Chambers enter into recess within the said periods, the President will have the duty to publish the sanctioned or objected Bill within those periods. Article 167 The Bill of law totally or partially objected to by the Government will return to the Chambers for second debate. The President will sanction, without being able to present objections, the Bill which, once reconsidered, is approved by half plus one of the members of both Chambers. Excepted is the case where the bill is objected to for [being] unconstitutional [por inconstitucional]. In such an event, if the Chambers insist, the Bill will be referred [pasaia] to the Constitutional Court so that the latter, within the six subsequent days, may decide about its constitutionality [exequibilidad/executability]. The decision of the Court obligates the President to sanction the law. If [the Court] declares it unconstitutional [inexequibilidad/unexecutable]t, he Bill will be archived. If the Court decides that the bill is partially unconstitutional [inexequibilidad/ unexecutable], it will so indicate to the Chamber where the Bill originated so that, once the Minister of the branch is heard, [the Chamber] redrafts and integrates the affected provisions in terms consonant with the dictates of the Court. Once this procedure is fulfilled, it will return the Bill to the Court for definitive ruling. Article 168 If the President should not fulfill the duty to sanction the laws within the periods and according to the conditions that the Constitution establishes, the President of the Congress will sanction and promulgate them. Article 169 The title of the laws must correspond precisely with their content, and the following caption will precede their text: "The Congress of Colombia, DECREES". Article 170 A number of citizens equivalent to one-tenth of the electoral roll can solicit from the electoral organization the convocation of a referendum for the abrogation of a law. This law will be abrogated if half plus one of the voters who participate in the act of consultation so determine as long as one-quarter of the citizens making up the electoral roll participate in it. The referendum does not apply with respect to the laws approving international treaties or the Law of the Budget or the ones relating to fiscal or tax matters. Chapter 4 Of the Senate Article 171 The Senate of the Republic will be made up of one hundred members elected in one national circumscription. There will be an additional number of two Senators elected in a special national circumscription by indigenous communities. Colombian citizens who happen to be or reside abroad can vote in the elections for the Senate of the Republic. The Special District for the election of Senators by the indigenous communities will be governed by the system of the electoral quotient [sistema de cuociente electoral]. The representatives of the indigenous communities who aspire to become part of the Senate of the Republic must have exercised a position of traditional authority in their respective community or have been [a] leader of an indigenous organization, [a] qualification that will be verified by a certificate from the respective organization, endorsed by the Minister of Government. Article 172 In order to be elected [a] Senator, it is required to be Colombian by birth, in full exercise of citizenship, and be over thirty years of age on the date of the election. Article 173 The attributions of the Senate are: 1. To admit or not the resignations from their positions [empleos] of the President of the Republic or the Vice President. 2. To approve or disapprove the military promotions that the Government confers, to general officers and commissioned officers [oficials de insignia] of the Public Force, up to the highest rank. 3. To concede permission to the President of the Republic to excuse himself temporarily from his position, [this] not being the case of sickness, and to decide about excusing the Vice President to serve as President of the Republic. 4. To permit the transit of foreign troops across the territory of the Republic. 5. To authorize the Government to declare war on another nation. 6. To elect the magistrates of the Constitutional Court. 7. To elect the Procurator General of the Nation. Article 174 It corresponds to the Senate to take cognizance of the charges formulated by the Chamber of Representatives against the President of the Republic or whoever replaces him, against the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Council of State and of the Constitutional Court, the members of the Superior Council of the Judicature, and the Attorney General of the Nation, even though they may have ceased the exercise of their responsibilities [cargos]. In this case, the Senate will take cognisance of actions or omissions occurring in the performance of the same. Article 175 In the trials made before the Senate, these rules will be observed: 1. The accused is automatically suspended from his office [empleo], whenever an accusation is publicly admitted. 2. If the accusation refers to crimes committed in the exercise of his functions or to unworthiness for improper conduct, the Senate may impose any other sanction than discharge from the office, or the temporary privation or absolute loss of political rights. But the accused will be brought to criminal trial before the Supreme Court of Justice if the acts constitute responsibility for an infraction that merits another penalty. 3. If the accusation refers to common crimes, the Senate will limit itself to declare if there are grounds or not for continuing the cause, and in the affirmative case it will place the accused at the disposal of the Supreme Court. 4. The Senate may entrust the institution of proceedings to a deputation from within it, reserving for itself the trial and definitive sentence, which will be pronounced in a public session by, two-thirds at least of the votes of the Senators present. Chapter 5 Of the Chamber of Representatives Article 176 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2005 and No. 3 of2005] The Chamber of Representatives will be elected in territorial circumscriptions, special circumscriptions and an international circumscription. There will be two representatives from each territorial circumscription and one more for each 365,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 182,500 that exceed the first 365,000. For the election of Representatives to the Chamber, each department and the Capital District of Bogota will form a territorial circumscription. The law may establish a special circumscription to assure the participation in the Chamber of Representatives of the ethnic groups and of the political minorities. Up to four representatives can be elected by this circumscription. For Colombians living abroad an international circumscription will exist by which one representative to the Chamber will be elected. For it, only the votes cast outside of the national territory by citizens resident abroad will be counted. PARAGRAPH 1. From 2014, the basis for allocating the additional seats will be adjusted in the same proportion of increase [as] the national population growth, in accord with what the census determines. It will correspond to the electoral organization to adjust the figure for the allocation of seats. PARAGRAPH 2. If as a result of the application of the formula contained in this Article, a territorial circumscription loses one or more seats, the same [number] that corresponded to it on 20 July 2002 will be maintained. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The Congress of the Republic shall regulate the international circumscription no later than 15 December 2005; in the case of the contrary, the Government will do it within fifteen (15) days of that date: including, among other topics: registration of candidates, registration of the citizens eligible to vote abroad, mechanisms to promote participation and completion of the ballot of votes through the Consulates and state funding for visits abroad by the elected Representative. Article 177 To be elected [a] Representative, it is required to be in full exercise of citizenship and be older than twenty-five years of age on the date of the election. Article 178 The Chamber of Representatives will have the following special attributions: 1. To elect the Defender of the People. 2. To examine and conclude the general account of the budget and of the treasury presented to it by the Controller General of the Republic. 3. To accuse before the Senate, when there are constitutional causes, the President of the Republic or whoever replaces him, the Magistrates of the Constitutional Court, the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the members of the Superior Council of the Judicature, the Magistrates of the Council of State, and the Attorney General of the Nation. 4. To take cognizance of the denunciations and complaints that may be presented before it by the Attorney General of the Nation or by individuals against specific functionaries and, if they have merit, base an accusation on them before the Senate. 5. To request the assistance of other authorities for the development of the investigations that are of its competence and to authorize the collection of evidence when it considers it appropriate. Chapter 6 Of the Congressmen Article 179 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2009] [The following] may not be congressmen: 1. Those who were sentenced at any time by a judicial sentence to a penalty depriving freedom, except for political or culpable [culposos] crimes. 2. Those who exercised, as public employees, political, civil, administrative, or military jurisdiction or authority, within the twelve months prior to the date of the election. 3. Those who have participated in the management of business [negocios] before public entities, or in making contracts with them in their own interest, or that of third parties, or have been the legal representatives of entities that administer taxes or parafiscal contributions within the six months prior to the date of the election. 4. Those who have lost their investiture as congressmen. 5. Those who are connected through marriage or permanent union or kinship to the third grade of consanguinity, first of affinity, or civil only [finico], with functionaries who exercise civil or political authority. 6. Those who are connected among themselves through marriage or permanent union or kinship to the third degree of consanguinity, second in affinity, or first civil, and register in the same party, movement, or group for election to responsibilities [cargos], or of members of public corporations that must be held on the same date. 7. Those who hold dual citizenship, excepting Colombians by birth. 8. No one may be elected to more than one Corporation or public office, nor to one Corporation and one office if the respective terms coincide in time, even if partially. Renunciation, one (1) year before the election to the office to which they aspire, eliminates the disability. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The disability established in the previous numeral shall not apply to those who have renounced at least six (6) months before the last day of registration for the holding of the elections to the Congress of the Republic in the year 2010. The disqualifications provided in numerals 2, 3, 5, and 6 refer to situations that may take place in the circumscription in which the respective election is to be held. The law shall regulate the other cases of disqualifications for kinship, with the authorities not contemplated in these provisions. For the purposes of this Article it is considered that the national circumscription coincides with each of the territorial ones, except for the disqualification identified in numeral 5. Article 180 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of 1993] The congressmen may not: 1. Perform public or private offices [cargos] or employments [empleos]. 2. Manage, in their own name or that of another, affairs before the public entities or before persons that administer taxes, being empowered before the same, to make with them, on their own or through a third party, any contract. The law shall establish the exceptions to this provision. 3. Be a member of directive boards or councils of official decentralized entities of any level or of institutions that administer taxes. 4. Make contracts or make arrangements with natural or juridical persons of private law who administer, handle, or invest public funds or that are contractors of the State or receive subsidies from the latter. Excepted is the acquisition of goods or services that are offered [all] citizens in equality of conditions. PARAGRAPH 1. The exercise of [a] university professorship is excepted from the regime of incompatibilities. PARAGRAPH 2. The functionary who, in violation of the present Article, should appoint a Congressman to an employment or office or who should make a contract with him or accept that he should act as in his own name or that of a third party incurs a cause of misconduct. Article 181 The incompatibilities of the congressmen will be in effect during the respective constitutional period. In case of resignation, they will be maintained during the year following the acceptance, if the time that remains before the expiration of the term is greater. Whoever is called to occupy the office, will be subject to the same regime of disabilities and incompatibilities beginning with their taking possession [of the office]. Article 182 The congressmen must give information to the respective Chamber of the moral or economic situation that prevents them from participating in proceedings on the matters submitted to their consideration. The law shall determine [matters] concerned with conflicts of interest and objections. Article 183 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of 31 May 2011] The congressmen will lose their investiture: 1. For violating the regime of disabilities and incompatibilities, or the regime of conflicts of interest. 2. For their absence, in the same period of sessions, from six plenary meetings at which Bills of Legislative Acts, of law, or motions of censure, are voted. 3. For not taking possession of their office within the eight days following the date of installation of the Chambers, or at the date when they were summoned to take possession. 4. For the improper allocation of public funds. 5. For influence trafficking, duly substantiated. PARAGRAPH. Causes 2 and 3 will not be applicable [in cases of] force majeure. Cause I concerning the regime of conflict of interests will not have application when the congressmen participate in the debate and voting of Bills of Legislative Acts. Article 184 The loss of investiture will be decreed by the Council of State in accordance with the law and within a period of no more than 20 working days, beginning with the date of the solicitation made by the Directive Board of the appropriate Chamber or by any citizen. Article 185 The congressmen have immunity for their opinions and the votes which they emit in the exercise of their office, without prejudice to the disciplinary norms included in the respective regulations. Article 186 For the crimes that the congressmen commit, the Supreme Court of Justice, the sole authority that may order their detention, will take cognizance of them in private form. In case of flagrante delicto, [they] must be apprehended and placed immediately at the disposal of the same corporation. Article 187 The remuneration of the members of the Congress will be adjusted each year in proportion equal to the weighted average of the adjustments occurring in the remuneration of the servants of the central administration, according to certification to that effect issued by the Controller General of the Republic. Title VII Of the Executive Branch Chapter 1 Of the President of the Republic Article 188 The President of the Republic symbolizes the national unity and, on taking [the] oath to comply with the Constitution and the laws, he binds himself to guarantee the rights and freedoms of all Colombians. Article 189 It corresponds to the President of the Republic, as the Head of State, Head of the Government, and Supreme Administrative Authority to: 1. Appoint and dismiss freely the Ministers of the Cabinet [Ministros del Despacho] and the Directors of Administrative Departments. 2. Direct the international relations. Name diplomatic and consular agents; receive the respective agents; and make treaties or agreements with other States and entities of international law to be submitted to the approval of the Congress. 3. Direct the Public Force and to make use of it as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic. 4. Preserve throughout the territory the public order and restore it where it has been disturbed. 5. Direct operations of war when he deems it appropriate. 6. Provide for the external security of the Republic, defending the independence and honor of the Nation and the inviolability of its territory; declare war with the permission of the Senate, or do it without such authorization to repel a foreign aggression; and agree to and ratify treaties of peace, regarding all of which he will give an immediate account to the Congress. 7. Permit, during a recess of the Senate and with the prior agreement [dictamen] of the Council of State, the transit of foreign troops on the territory of the Republic. 8. Install and close the sessions of the Congress in each legislature. 9. Sanction the laws. 10. Promulgate the laws, obey them, and protect their strict fulfillment. 11. Exercise the regulatory power [potestad] by issuing decrees, resolutions, and orders necessary for the complete execution of the laws. 12. Present a report to the Congress, at the initiation of each legislature concerning the acts of the Administration, concerning the execution of the plans and programs of economic and social development, and concerning the Bills which the Government proposes to forward during the validity of the new legislature. 13. Appoint the presidents, directors, or managers of national public establishments and the persons who must perform national employments [empleos], the provision of which is not by competitive examinations or which does not correspond to other officials or corporations, according to the Constitution or the law. In any case, the Government has the power to appoint and remove its agents freely. 14. Create, merge, or eliminate, in conformity to the law, the employments [empleos] that the central administration requires, specify their special functions and specify their benefits and emoluments. The Government may not create, with responsibility [cargo] to the Treasury, obligations which exceed the total amount specified for the respective service in the law of initial appropriations. 15. Eliminate or merge national administrative entities or organs in conformity with the law. 16. Modify the structure of the Ministries, Administrative Departments, and other national administrative entities or organs, subject to the principles and general regulations that the law defines. 17. Distribute business [negocios] according to their nature among Ministries, Administrative Departments, and Public Establishments. 18. Concede permission to national public employees who request it to accept, on a temporary basis, posts or benefits from foreign governments. 19. Confer ranks on the members of the Public Force and submit for the approval of the Senate those that correspond in accordance with Article 173. 20. Protect the strict collection and administration of the public revenues and wealth and decree their investment in accordance with the laws. 21. Exercise the inspection and oversight of education in conformity with the law. 22. Exercise the inspection and oversight of the provision of public services. 23. Conclude the contracts that correspond to him subject to the Constitution and the law. 24. Exercise, in accordance with the law, the inspection, oversight, and control of the persons who undertake financial, stock market, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, use, or investment of resources collected from the public. Similarly, those involving the cooperative entities and the commercial companies. 25. Organize the Public Credit; determine [reconocer] the national debt and arrange for its servicing; modify the customs duties, tariffs, and other provisions concerning the regime of customs; regulate foreign trade; and exercise intervention in financial, stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, use, and investment of resources originating from the savings of third parties in accordance with the law. 26. Exercise the inspection and oversight of institutions of common utility so that their revenues are preserved and are properly applied and so that in all that is essential the will of the founders is complied with. 27. Concede patents of temporal privilege to the authors of useful inventions and improvements in accordance with the law. 28. Issue cards of naturalization, in conformity with the law. Article 190 The President of the Republic will be elected for a period of four years by one-half plus one of the votes which, in secret and direct manner, the citizens will cast on the date and with the formalities that the law determines. If no candidate obtains said majority, a new vote will be held three weeks later in which only those two candidates who received the highest vote will participate. [The candidate] who obtains the larger number of votes will be declared President. In the case of the death or permanent physical incapacity of one of the two candidates with majority of votes, his party or political movement can register a new candidate for the second round. If failing to do so or if the vacancy results from another cause, he will be replaced by whoever obtained the third [place] vote, and so on in successive form and descending order. If the vacancy occurs less than two weeks in advance the second round of balloting, the latter will be postponed by fifteen days. Article 191 To be President of the Republic, it is required to be Colombian by birth, in full exercise of citizenship, and over thirty years of age. Article 192 The President of the Republic will take possession of his office [destino] before the Congress and will take [the] oath as follows: "I swear to God and promise to the people to faithfully comply with the Constitution and the laws of Colombia." If for any reason the President should not be able to take possession [of his office] before the Congress, he will do so before the Supreme Court of Justice or, in default of that, before two witnesses. Article 193 It corresponds to the Senate to concede approval to the President of the Republic to temporarily withdrawal from his responsibilities [cargo]. On account of sickness, the President of the Republic may stop performing his responsibilities, for the necessary period, through notice to the Senate or, in the recess of the latter, to the Supreme Court of Justice. Article 194 Permanent incapacities of the President of the Republic are his death, his accepted resignation, his removal decreed by a sentence, permanent physical incapacity and relinquishment [abandono] of the responsibilities, these last two being declared by the Senate. Temporary incapacities are the approval and sickness, in conformity with the previous Article, and suspension in the exercise of the responsibilities decreed by the Senate, with prior public admission of the charge in the case specified in the first paragraph of Article 175. Article 195 The [person] entrusted with the Executive will have the same pre-eminence and the same attributions as the President[,] whom he replaces. Article 196 The President of the Republic, or whoever replaces him, may not move to aforeign territory during the exercise of his office without prior notification to the Senate or, in the recess of the latter, to the Supreme Court of Justice. The infraction of this provision implies relinquishment of the responsibilities. The President of the Republic, or whoever has occupied the Presidency as [the person] entrusted [with it], may not leave the country during the year following the date when he ceased in the exercise of his functions without the prior permission of the Senate. When the President of the Republic travels to a foreign territory in exercise of his office, the Minister, to whom it corresponds, according to the order of legal precedence, will exercise under his own responsibility the constitutional functions that the President delegates to him, both those which are proper to him as well as those that he exercises in the capacity of Head of Govermnent. The Delegated Minister will belong to the same party or political movement as the President. Article 197 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2004] No one may be elected to occupy the Presidency of the Republic for more than two terms. Those who have incurred any of the causes of disqualification consecrated in numerals 1, 4 and 7 of Article 179 may not be elected President of the Republic or Vice President, nor the citizen who, a year before the election, has exercised any of the following offices: Minister, Director of an Administrative Department, Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Constitutional Court, of the Council of State, of the Supreme Council of the Judicature or, of the National Electoral Council, Procurator General of the Nation, Defender of the People, Comptroller General of the Republic, Attorney General of the Nation, National Registrar of the Civil Status, of Commanders of Military Forces, Director General of the Police, or the Governor of a Department or Mayor. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. Whoever exercises or has exercised the Presidency of the Republic before the entry into force of this Legislative Act may only be elected for one new presidential term. Article 198 The President of the Republic, or whoever replaces him, will be responsible for his acts or omissions that violate the Constitution or the laws. Article 199 The President of the Republic, during the period for which he is elected, or whoever is entrusted with the Presidency, may not be prosecuted or tried for crimes, except by virtue of an accusation by the Chamber of Representatives and when the Senate has declared that there are grounds for legal proceedings. Chapter 2 Of the Government Article 200 It corresponds to the Government, in relation to the Congress: 1. To concur in the formation of the laws, presenting Bills by the intermediary of the Ministers, exercising the right of objecting to them, and fulfilling the duty to sanction them in accordance with the Constitution. 2. To convoke extraordinary sessions. 3. To present the national plan of development and of public investments, in conformity with that provided in Article 150. 4. To send to the Chamber of Representatives the Bill of the budget of revenues and expenditures. 5. To give to the Chambers the reports that the latter request on issues that do not require secrecy. 6. To give effective support to the Chambers when the latter request it, placing at their disposal the Public Force, if it should be necessary. Article 201 It corresponds to the Government, in relation to the Judicial Branch: 1. To provide the judicial functionaries, in accordance with the laws, the necessary assistance to make their decisions [providencias] effective. 2. To grant pardons for political crimes, in accordance with the law, and to inform the Congress concerning the exercise of this faculty. In no case may these pardons involve the responsibility which the favored [person] may incur in respect to individuals. Chapter 3 Of the Vice President Article 202 The Vice President of the Republic will be elected by popular vote on the same day and in the same pairing [f6rmula] with the President of the Republic. The candidates for the second round, if there should be one, must be the same pairing that participated in the first [round]. The Vice President will have the same terms as the President and will replace him in case of temporary or absolute incapacities, even in the case that these occur before his possession [of the responsibilities]. In the temporary absences of the President of the Republic, it will be sufficient that the Vice President takes possession of the responsibilities at the first opportunity, so that he may exercise it as many times as it is necessary. In case of a permanent incapacity of the President of the Republic, the Vice President will assume the responsibilities until the end of the term [periodo]. The President of the Republic can entrust [confiar] to the Vice President missions or special assignments and designate any position of the executive branch to him. The Vice President may assume the function of Delegate Minister. Article 203 In the absence of the Vice President when he is exercising the Presidency, the former will be assumed by a Minister in the order that the law establishes. The person who, in conformity with this Article, replaces the President will belong to his same party or movement and will exercise the Presidency until [the time] the Congress, in its own right and within the thirty days following the date when the presidential vacancy occurs, elects the Vice President, who will take possession of the Presidency of the Republic. Article 204 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2004] To be elected Vice-President will require the same qualifications as for President of the Republic. The Vice President may be reelected for the following term if completing the same formula with the President in office. The Vice President may be elected President of the Republic for the next term when the President in office does not present himself as a candidate. Article 205 In case of an absolute incapacity of the Vice President, the Congress will meet in its own right or on convocation by the President of the Republic in order to elect whoever will replace him for the rest of the term. Absolute incapacities of the Vice President are: his death, his accepted resignation and permanent physical incapacity recognized by the Congress. Chapter 4 Of the Ministers and Directors of the Administrative Departments Article 206 The number, denomination, and order of precedence of the ministries and administrative departments shall be determined by the law. Article 207 To be [a] minister or [a] director of an administrative department, the same qualifications as for representative in the Chamber are required. Article 208 The Ministers and directors of administrative departments are the heads of the administration in their respective dependencies. Under the direction of the President of the Republic, it corresponds to them to formulate policies pertaining to their office [despacho], direct the administrative activity, and execute the law. The Ministers, in relation to the Congress, are spokesmen of the Government, present Bills of law to the Chambers, attend to the requests that they make to them, and take part in the debates directly or by means of the vice ministers. The Ministers and directors of administrative departments will present to the Congress, within the first fifteen days of each legislature, a report on the state of affairs assigned to their ministry or administrative department and on the reforms that they consider advisable. The Chambers may require the assistance of the Ministers, [and] the permanent commissions, [and] in addition, that of the vice ministers, directors of administrative departments, the Manager of the Bank of the Republic, the presidents, directors, or managers of the decentralized entities of the national order, and that of other functionaries of the executive branch of the public power. Chapter 5 Of the Administrative Function Article 209 The administrative function is at the service of the general interests and is developed on the foundation of the principles of equality, morality, efficiency, economy, swiftness, impartiality, and publicity through the decentralization, the delegation, and the deconcentration of functions. The administrative authorities must coordinate their actions for the appropriate fulfillment of the objectives of the State. The public administration, in all its orders, shall have an internal control that shall be exercised within the terms that the law specifies. Article 210 The entities of the national order, decentralized by services, may only be created by law or by authorization of it, based on the principles that guide administrative activity. Individuals may carry out administrative functions under the conditions that the law specifies. The law shall specify the juridical regime of the decentralized entities and the responsibility of their presidents, directors or managers. Article 211 The law shall specify the functions which the President of the Republic can delegate to the Ministers, directors of administrative departments, legal representatives of decentralized entities, superintendents, governors, mayors and agencies of the State which the same law determines. Equally, it shall specify the conditions so that the administrative authorities may delegate to their subordinates or to other authorities. The delegation exempts the delegator from responsibility, which will correspond exclusively to the delegate, whose actions or resolutions the former will always be able to amend or revoke by reassuming the consequent responsibility. The law shall establish the recourses that maybe interposed against the actions of the delegatees. Chapter 6 Of the States of Exception Article 212 The President of the Republic, with the signature of all the Ministers, can declare the State of Foreign War. By means of such declaration, the Government will have the powers strictly essential to repel the aggression, defend the sovereignty [of the State], attend to the requirements of the war, and produce the restoration of normality. The declaration of a State of Foreign War may proceed only when the Senate has authorized the declaration of war, except when in the judgment of the President it is necessary to repel aggression. While the State of War subsists, the Congress will meet with the totality of its constitutional and legal attributions and the Government will report to it, substantially and periodically, concerning the decrees that it has issued and the evolution of the events. The legislative decrees that the Government issues suspend the laws incompatible with the State of War, apply during the time which [the decrees] themselves specify, and will no longer have force as soon as the reestablishment of normality is declared. At any time, the Congress can reform or derogate the decrees through the favorable vote of two-thirds of the members of each Chamber. Article 213 In the case of a serious disruption of the public order threatening in an imminent manner the institutional stability, the security of the State, or the coexistence of citizens, and which may not be met by the use of the ordinary powers of the Police authorities, the President of the Republic, with the signature of all the Ministers, can declare a State of Internal Disturbance throughout the entire Republic or part of it, for a period of no longer than ninety days, extendable up to two similar periods, the second of which requires the previous and favorable vote of the Senate of the Republic. By means of such declaration, the Government will have the faculties strictly necessary to deal with the causes of the disruption and prevent the spread of its effects. The legislative decrees that the Government issues may suspend the laws incompatible with the State of Disturbance and will no longer govern as soon as public order is declared restored. The Government can prorogue its application up to ninety more days. Within the three days subsequent to the declaration or extension of the State of Disturbance, the Congress will meet in its own right, with the totality of constitutional and legal attributions. The President will immediately transmit to it a report concerning the reasons which determined the declaration. In no case may civilians be investigated or tried by the penal military justice. Article 214 The States of Exception to which the previous Articles refer will be subject to the following provisions: 1. The legislative decrees will have the signature of the President of the Republic and all his Ministers and must only refer to matters that have direct and specific relationship with the situation which the declaration of the State of Exception may have determined. 2. Neither human rights nor fundamental freedoms may be suspended. In all cases, the rules of international humanitarian law will be respected. A statutory law shall regulate the faculties of the Government during the States of Exception and shall establish the judicial controls and guarantees to protect the rights in conformity with international treaties. The measures which are adopted must be proportionate to the gravity of the facts. 3. The normal functioning of the branches of the public power or the organs of the State shall not be interrupted. 4. As soon as the foreign war or the causes that gave rise to the State of Internal Disturbance will have ceased, the Government will declare the public order restored and will lift the State of Exception. 5. The President and the Ministers will be responsible when they declare states of exception without the occurrence of the cases of a foreign war or internal disturbance, and they will also [be responsible], [an] equally the other functionaries, for any abuse that they may have committed in the exercise of the faculties to which the above Articles refer. 6. The Government will send to the Constitutional Court on the day following their issuance the legislative decrees that it issued in the use of the faculties to which the above Articles refer, so that the latter may decide definitively concerning their constitutionality. If the Government does not comply with the duty of sending them, the Constitutional Court will obtain them of office and take cognizance of them in immediate form. Article 215 When events different from those provided for in Articles 212 and 213 occur that disrupt or threaten to disrupt in serious or imminent manner the economic, social, or ecological order of the country or which constitute a grave public calamity, the President, with the signature of all the Ministers, can declare a State of Emergency for periods up to thirty days in each case which, added up, must not exceed ninety days in a calendar year. By means of such a declaration, which must be substantiated, the President can, with the signature of all the Ministers, issue decrees with the force of law, intended exclusively to ward off the crisis and impede the extension of its effects. These decrees must refer to matters that have direct and specific relationship with the State of Emergency, and may, in provisional manner, establish new taxes or modify the existing ones. In these last cases, the measures will cease to govern at the end of the subsequent fiscal year, except when the Congress, during the subsequent year, gives them a permanent character. The Government, in the decree declaring the State of Emergency, will specify the term within which it will use its extraordinary faculties to which this Article refers, and will convoke the Congress if the latter is not meeting for the ten days following the expiration of the said term. The Congress will examine for up to a period of thirty days, extendable by agreement of the two Chambers, the explanatory report presented to it by the Government on the causes which determined the State of Emergency and the measures adopted, and it will specifically decide on the appropriateness or opportuneness of them. The Congress, during the year subsequent to the declaration of emergency, can derogate, modify, or add to the decrees to which this Article refers in those matters which ordinarily fall under the initiative of the Government. In relation to those which fall under the initiative of its members, the Congress can exercise said attributions at all times. The Congress if it is not convoked, will meet of its own right, under the conditions and for the purposes provided for in this Article. The President of the Republic and the Ministers will be responsible when they declare a State of Emergency without there being present any of the circumstances provided for in the first paragraph and will also [be responsible] for any abuse committed in the exercise of the faculties which the Constitution assigns to the Government during the emergency. The Government may not infringe [desmejorar] on the social rights of workers through the decrees contemplated in this Article. PARAGRAPH. The Government will send to the Constitutional Court on the day following their issuance the legislative decrees that it dictates under the faculties to which this Article refers, so that the it may decide concerning their constitutionality. If the Government does not comply with the duty to send them, the Constitutional Court will obtain them of office and take cognizance of them in immediate form. Chapter 7 Of the Public Force Article 216 The Public Force will consist in exclusive form of the Military Forces and the National Police. All Colombians are obligated to bear arms when public necessity requires it to defend the national independence and the public institutions. The law shall determine the conditions which at all times exempt [a person] from military service and the prerogatives for the service. Article 217 The Nation will have for its defense permanent Military Forces made up of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. The Military Forces will have as their primary objective the defense of the sovereignty, the independence, and the integrity of the national territory and of the constitutional order. The law shall determine the system of replacements in the Military Forces as well as the promotions, rights and obligations of its members and the special career, benefits, and disciplinary regime that are proper to them. Article 218 The law shall organize the corps of Police. The National Police is a permanent armed body of a civil nature, at the responsibility [cargo] of the Nation, whose primary objective is the maintenance of the conditions necessary for the exercise of public rights and freedoms, and to assure that the inhabitants of Colombia coexist in peace. The law shall determine its career, benefits, and disciplinary regime. Article 219 The Public Force is not deliberative; it may not assemble except by order of the legitimate authority, nor direct petitions, except concerning matters related with the service and morality of the respective corps and in accordance with the law. The members of the Public Force may not exercise the function of suffrage while they are on active service, nor participate [intervenir] in activities or debates of parties or political movements. Article 220 The members of the Public Force may not be deprived of their ranks, honors, or pensions except in the cases and in the manner determined by the law. Article 221 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of 1995] Concerning the crimes committed by the members of the Public Force in active service, and related to this same service, [and] in accordance with the prescriptions of the Military Penal Code, the Courts Martial or Military Tribunals will take cognizance of them. These Courts or Tribunals will be composed of members of the Public Force in active service or in retirement. Article 222 The law shall determine the systems of professional, cultural, and social promotion of the members of the Public Force. In the stages of their training, education concerning the foundation of democracy and human rights shall be given to them. Article 223 Only the Government may introduce and manufacture arms, munitions, and explosives of war. No one may possess them or carry them without permission from the competent authority. This permission may not be extended to the cases of gatherings at political meetings, elections, or sessions of public corporations or assemblies, be it to act in them or to attend them. The members of the national organs of security and other official armed bodies, of a permanent character, created or authorized by the law, may carry arms under the control of the Government, in conformity with the principles and procedures that the former specifies. Chapter 8 Of International Relations Article 224 Treaties, for their validity, must be approved by the Congress. However, the President of the Republic can give temporary effect to the treaties of economic and commercial nature agreed upon in the context of international organs which so provide. In this case, as soon as a treaty enters into force provisionally, it must be sent to the Congress for its approval. If the Congress does not approve it, the application of the treaty will be suspended. Article 225 The Advisory Committee of Foreign Relations [La Comisidn Asesora de Relaciones Exteriores], whose composition shall be determined by the law, is a consultative body of the President of the Republic. Article 226 The State shall promote the internationalization of political, economic, social, and ecological relations on the basis of equity, reciprocity, and national coexistence. Article 227 The State shall promote the economic, social, and political integration with other nations and especially, with the countries of Latin America and of the Caribbean by means of the celebration of treaties which on the basis of equity, equality, and reciprocity create supranational organs, inclusive for constituting a Latin American community of nations. The law may establish direct elections for the constitution of the Andean Parliament and the Latin American Parliament. Title VIII Of the Judicial Branch Chapter 1 Of the General Provisions Article 228 The Administration of Justice is a public function. Its decisions are independent. The actions will be public and permanent with the exceptions that the law establishes, and substantive law will prevail in them. The procedural terms [tirminos] will be observed with diligence and their nonfulfillment will be sanctioned. Its functioning will be deconcentrated and autonomous. Article 229 The right of any person to have access to the administration of justice is guaranteed. The law shall indicate in which cases [a person] can do so without the representation of an attorney. Article 230 The judges in their providence, are only subject to the rule [imperio] of the law. Equity, jurisprudence, and the general principles of the law and of doctrine are auxiliary criteria of the judicial activity. Article 231 The Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Council of State will be appointed by the respective corporation, from lists sent by the Superior Council of the Judicature. Article 232 To be a Magistrate of the Constitutional Court, of the Supreme Court of Justice, and of the Council of State, it is required: 1. To be Colombian by birth and a citizen in full exercise of citizenship. 2. To be a lawyer. 3. Not to have been condemned by judicial sentence to a punishment depriving freedom, except for political or culpable [culposos] crimes. 4. To have performed, for ten years, offices in the Judicial Branch or in the Public Ministry, or to have exercised with good reputation, for the same period, the profession of lawyer, or university professorship in the juridical disciplines in establishments officially recognized. PARAGRAPH. In order to be a Magistrate of these corporations it will not be a requirement to have followed [pertenecer] a judicial career. Article 233 The Magistrates of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and of the Council of State will be elected for individual periods of eight years, may not be reelected and will remain in the exercise of their responsibilities while they display good conduct, have a satisfactory performance and have not reached the age of mandatory retirement. Chapter 2 Of the Ordinary Jurisdiction Article 234 The Supreme Court of Justice is the highest tribunal of ordinary jurisdiction and will be composed of an uneven number of magistrates that the law determines. The latter will divide the Court into Chambers, will specify to each of them the matters that it must take cognizance of separately[,] and will determine those [matters] in which the Court in plenum must intervene. Article 235 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 6 of201] Attributions of the Supreme Court of Justice are: 1. To act as tribunal of cassation. 2. To judge the President of the Republic or whoever replaces him and the high functionaries which Article 174 specifies for any punishable act imputed to them, in conformity with Article 175, numerals 2 and 3. 3. To investigate and judge the members of the Congress. 4. To judge, [on] prior accusation by the Attorney General of the Nation, the Vice Attorney General of the Nation or their delegates of the unit of offices of attorneys [unidades de fiscalias] before the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ministers of the Cabinet, the Procurator General, the Defender of the People, the Agents of the Public Ministry before the Court, before the Council of State, and before the Tribunals; the Directors of the Administrative Departments, the Controller General of the Republic, the Ambassadors and chiefs of diplomatic or consular mission, the Governors, the Magistrates of Tribunals, and the Generals and Admirals of the Public Force, for the punishable acts imputed to them. 5. To take cognizance of all contentious issues of diplomatic agents accredited before the Government of the Nation in the cases provided by International Law. 6. To enact [darse] its own regulations. 7. The other attributions that the law specifies. PARAGRAPH. When the functionaries specified above have ceased in the exercise of their responsibilities [cargos], the authority will be maintained only for punishable conduct that is related to the functions performed. Chapter 3 Of the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction Article 236 The Council of State will have the uneven number of Magistrates that the law determines. The Council will be divided into Chambers and sections to separate its jurisdictional functions from the others that the Constitution and the law assign to it. The law shall specify the functions of each of the Chambers and sections, the number of magistrates that must form them, and their internal organization. Article 237 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2009] Attributions of the Council of State are: 1. To exercise the functions of supreme tribunal for contentious administrative [matters] in conformity with the rules that the law specifies. 2. To take cognizance of the actions of nullity for unconstitutionality of the decrees issued by the National Government, of which the competence does not correspond to the Constitutional Court. 3. To act as the supreme consultative body of the Government in matters of administration, which must mandatorily be heard in all the cases that the Constitution and the laws determine. In the cases of the transit of foreign troops across the national territory, of the stationing or transit of foreign ships or aircraft of war in the waters or in territory or in airspace of the Nation, the Government must previously hear the Council of State. 4. To prepare and present Bills of acts reforming the Constitution and Bills of law. 5. To take cognizance of the cases regarding the loss of the investiture of the congressmen in conformity with this Constitution and the law. 6. To enact its own regulations and exercise the other functions that the law determines. 7. To take cognizance of the recourse of electoral nullity subject to the rules of competence established in the law. PARAGRAPH. To exercise the Contentious Electoral [procedure] before the Administrative Jurisdiction against the act of election of popular character when the demand is based on grounds of nullity for irregularities in the process of voting and in the ballot, it is [a] procedural requirement to submit it, before the declaration of the election, to examination by the corresponding administrative authority, that heads the National Electoral Council. Article 238 The contentious administrative jurisdiction can temporarily suspend, for the reasons and with the requirements that the law establishes, the effects of the administrative acts that are susceptible to challenge by judicial means. Chapter 4 Of the Constitutional Jurisdiction Article 239 The Constitutional Court will have the uneven number of members that the law determines. In its composition the criterion of designation of Magistrates engaged in the various specialties of the Law will be attended to. The Magistrates of the Constitutional Court will be elected by the Senate of the Republic for individual terms of eight years from terms [lists of three candidates], presented to it by the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State. The Magistrates of the Constitutional Court may not be reelected. Article 240 Those who during the year previous to the election have performed as Ministers of the Cabinet or Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice or of the Council of State may not be elected. Article 241 The safeguarding of the integrity and the supremacy of the Constitution is entrusted to the Constitutional Court, in the strict and precise terms of this Article. With this objective it will fulfill the following functions: 1. To decide on the recourses of unconstitutionality [demandas de inconstitucionalidad] initiated by the citizens against the acts reforming the Constitution, whatever their origin may be, only for errors of procedure in their formation. 2. To decide, prior to the popular pronouncement, concerning the constitutionality of the convocation for a referendum or a Constituent Assembly to reform the Constitution, only for errors of procedure in their formation. 3. To decide on the constitutionality of referendums concerning laws and the popular consultations and plebiscites of national order. These last ones only for errors of procedure in their convocation and implementation. 4. To decide on the actions of unconstitutionality presented by the citizens against the laws, both for their substantive content as well as for errors of procedure in their formation. 5. To decide on the actions of unconstitutionality brought by the citizens against the decrees with the force of law issued by the Government on the basis of Articles 150 numeral 10, and 341 of the Constitution, for their substantive content or for errors of procedure in their enactment [formaci6n]. 6. To decide on the absences [excusas] concerning which Article 137 of the Constitution treats. 7. To decide definitively on the constitutionality of the legislative decrees that the Government issues on the basis of Articles 212, 213, and 215 of the Constitution. 8. To decide definitively on the constitutionality of the Bills of law which have been opposed by the Government as unconstitutional and of Bills of statutory laws, both for their substantive content as well as for errors of procedure in their makeup. 9. To revise, in the form that the law determines, the judicial decisions related to the action of protection of the constitutional rights. 10. To decide definitively on the constitutionality [exquibilidad/executability] of the international treaties and on the laws that approve them. To this end, the Government will submit them to the Court, within the six days subsequent to the sanction of the law. Any citizen can intervene to defend or challenge their constitutionality [constitucionalidad]. If the Court declares them constitutional, the Government may effect the exchange of notes; in the contrary case they will not be ratified. When one or several norms of a multilateral treaty are declared unconstitutional [inexquibilidad/unexecutable] by the Constitutional Court, the President of the Republic may only declare consent formulated [with] the corresponding reservation. 11. Enact its own regulations. PARAGRAPH. When the Court finds correctable errors of procedure in the development of acts subject to its control, it will order their return to the authority which issued them so that, if possible, it amends the observed defect. Once the error is corrected, it will proceed to decide on the constitutionality [exquibilidad/executability] of the measure. Article 242 The processes promoted before the Constitutional Court in the matters to which this Article refers shall be regulated by the law in conformity with the following provisions: 1. Any citizen can exercise the public recourses [acciones] provided for in the preceding Article and intervene as impugnor or defender of the norms submitted to control in the processes promoted by others, as well as in those cases where no public action exists. 2. The Procurator General of the Nation must intervene in all these processes. 3. The actions for errors of form lapse within the term of a year counting from the publication of the respective act. 4. Ordinarily, the Court will have a time period of sixty days to decide, and the Procurator General of the Nation, thirty days to give his opinion. 5. In the processes to which numeral 7 of the previous Article refers, the ordinary time periods will be reduced to a third and their nonfulfillment is a cause of misconduct which will be sanctioned in conformity with the law. Article 243 The decisions [fallos] issued by the Court in the exercise of the jurisdictional control make final the matter [hacer trdnsito a cosa] judged constitutional. No authority may reproduce the material content of the juridical act declared unconstitutional [inexquibilidad/unexecutable] for fundamental reasons, while the provisions that served to make the confrontation, between the ordinary norm and the Constitution, subsist in the Charter [Carta]. Article 244 The Constitutional Court will communicate to the President of the Republic or the President of the Congress, depending on the case, the initiation of any process that has the object of an examination of the constitutionality of norms issued by them. This communication will not delay the time periods of the process. Article 245 The Government may not provide employment to the Magistrates of the Constitutional Court during the period of exercise of their functions or in the year following their retirement. Chapter 5 Of the Special Jurisdictions Article 246 The authorities of the indigenous peoples can exercise their jurisdictional functions within their territorial scope, in conformity with their own norms and procedures, as long as these are not contrary to the Constitution and the laws of the Republic. The law shall establish the forms of coordination of this special jurisdiction with the national judicial system. Article 247 The law may create justices of the peace entrusted to resolve individual and community conflicts in equity. It may also order that they be elected by popular vote. Article 248 The sentences handed down in judicial rulings in a definitive form uniquely have the quality of criminal and contraventional precedents in all the legal orders. Chapter 6 Of the Office of the Attorney General [Fiscalial of the Nation Article 249 The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation will be formed by the Attorney General, the delegate attorneys [fiscales delegados], and the other functionaries that the law determines. The Attorney General of the Nation will be elected for a period of four years by the Supreme Court of Justice from a terna [list of three] sent by the President of the Republic and may not be reeligible. [The candidate] must meet the same qualifications required to be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is part of the judicial branch and will have administrative and budgetary autonomy. Article 250 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of2002, No. 2 of2003 (declared unconstitutional) and No. 6 of2011] The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is obligated to advance the exercise of prosecution and to conduct the investigation of acts which show the characteristics of a crime which have been brought to its attention by means of complaint, special petition, legal action or of office, provided and when [there are] sufficient reasons and factual circumstances that indicate the possible existence of the same. It may not, consequentially, suspend, interrupt or renounce the criminal prosecution, except in cases that the law establishes for the application of the principle of opportunity [principio de oportunidad] regulated within the framework of the criminal policy of the State, which shall be subject to control of legality by the judge who exercises the functions of control of guarantees. The crimes committed by Members of the Public Force on active service and in relation to the same service, are excepted. In exercising its functions the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, shall: 1. Solicit from the judge who exercises the functions of control of guarantees the measures necessary to assure the appearance of the accused at the criminal proceedings, the conservation of the evidence and the protection of the community, especially of the victims. The judge, who exercises the functions of control of guarantees, may not be, in any case, the presiding judge, in those matters in which he has exercised this function. The law may enable [facultar] the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to make exceptional arrests; equally, the law may establish the limits and events in which the arrest may proceed. In these cases the judge who performs the function of control of guarantees will do so not later within the thirty-six (36) hours which follow. 2. Act on registrations, searches, seizures, and interceptions of communications. In these events the judge who exercises the functions of control of guarantees will effect the respective control subsequently, at the latest within the thirty-six (36) hours which follow. 3. Assure the evidentiary material elements, guaranteeing custody while the adversarial [process] is exercised. In the case that additional measures are required that imply infringement of fundamental rights, the respective authorization by the judge who exercises the functions of control of guarantees must be obtained, for the power to proceed with them. 4. Present [an] indictment to the presiding judge, in order to initiate a public trial, oral, with direct contact with the evidence, adversarial, concentrated and with all the guarantees. 5. Solicit before the presiding judge the preclusion of the investigations when, according to what the law provides, there is no merit for charges. 6. Solicit before the presiding judge the judicial measures necessary for assistance to the victims, as well as to provide for the restoration of rights and the total reparation to those affected by the offense. 7. See to the protection of the victims, the jurors, the witnesses and others involved in the criminal process; the law shall determine the terms in which the victims may have recourse to criminal proceedings and mechanisms of restorative justice. 8. Direct and coordinate the functions of the Judicial Police that in permanent form comply with the National Police and the other organs that the law specifies. 9. Perform the other functions that the law specifies. The Attorney General and his deputies have competence throughout the national territory. In the event of presentation [of an] indictment, the Attorney General or his deputies shall provide, by way of the presiding judge, all the evidentiary elements and information of which they have knowledge including those that are favorable to the accused. PARAGRAPH. The Office of the Procurator General of the Nation will continue to fulfill in the new system of inquiry, investigation and criminal prosecution, the functions referred to in Article 277 of the National Constitution. SECOND PARAGRAPH. Attending to the nature of good jurisprudence and the least harm [lesividad] concerning the punishable conduct, the legislator may assign the exercise of the criminal action to the victim or to other authorities separate [distintas] from the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. In each case the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation can act in preferential form. Article 251 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of2002 and No. 6 of2011] Special functions of the Attorney General are: 1. To investigate and accuse, where appropriate, directly and for conduct the Vice Attorney General of the Nation or his delegates of the unit of offices of attorneys [unidades defiscalias] before the Supreme Court of Justice, [and] the senior [public] servants who enjoy constitutional benefit [fuero constitutional], with the exceptions provided in the Constitution. 2. To appoint and remove, in accordance with law, [public] servants under his dependency. 3. To assume directly the investigations and proceedings, whatever the state in which they may be found[;] likewise to assign and move freely to his [public] servants [the] investigations and processes. Similarly, by virtue of the principles of unity of management and of hierarchy, to determine the criteria and the position that the Office [Fiscalia] must assume, without prejudice to the autonomy of delegate [delegados] prosecutors in the terms and conditions established by the law. 4. To participate in the design of the policy of the State in criminal matters and to present Bills of law respecting it. 5. To grant transitory attributions to public entities that can fulfill functions of [the] Judicial Police, under the responsibility and functional dependency of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. 6. To provide to the Government information concerning investigations that are being carried out, when necessary for the preservation of public order. Article 252 Even during the States of Exception concerning which the Constitution treats in its Articles 212 and 213, the Government may not eliminate or modify either the organizations or the basic functions of accusation and trial. Article 253 The law shall determine that relative to the structure and functioning of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the entry into [the] career and retirement from the service, the disqualifications and incompatibilities, designation, qualifications, compensation, social benefits, and disciplinary regime of the functionaries and workers under its authority. Chapter 7 Of the Superior Council of the Judicature Article 254 The Superior Council of the Judicature will be divided into two Chambers: 1. The Administrative Chamber, composed of six magistrates elected for a period of eight years as follows: two by the Supreme Court of Justice, one by the Constitutional Court, and three by the Council of State. 2. The Disciplinary Jurisdictional Chamber, composed of seven magistrates elected for a period of eight years by the National Congress from terms [lists of three] sent by the Government. There may be Sectional Councils of the Judicature composed as the law specifies. Article 255 To be a member of the Superior Council of the Judicature it is required to be Colombian by birth, in full exercise of citizenship, and over thirty five years old; to hold the title of lawyer and have exercised the profession for ten years with good reputation. The members of the Council may not be selected from among the Magistrates of the same postulating corporations. Article 256 The following attributions correspond to the Superior Council of the Judicature or to the Sectional Councils, depending on the case and according to the law: 1. To administer the judicial career. 2. To prepare the lists of candidates for the designation of judicial functionaries and send them to the entity which must do so. Excepted is the criminal military jurisdiction which is to be ruled by special norms. 3. To examine the conduct and sanction the faults [faltas] of the functionaries of the judicial branch, as well as those of the lawyers in the exercise of their profession, in the instance that the law specifies. 4. To direct the control of performance of judicial corporations and offices. 5. To prepare the Bill of the Budget of the Judicial Branch which must be sent to the Government, and to implement it in conformity with the approval that the Congress makes. 6. To settle the jurisdictional conflicts that occur between different jurisdictions. 7. The others that the law specifies. Article 257 Subject to the law, the Superior Council of the Judicature will fulfill the following functions: 1. To determine the division of the territory for judicial purposes and to locate and redistribute the judicial offices. 2. To create, eliminate, merge, or transfer positions in the administration of justice. In the exercise of this power, the Superior Council of the Judicature may not establish, at the responsibility [cargo] of the treasury, obligations that exceed the total [global] amount established for the respective service in the law of initial appropriations. 3. To enact [dictar] the regulations necessary for the effective functioning of the administration of justice, the ones related to the organization and internal functions assigned to the different offices [cargos], and the regulations of judicial and administrative procedures advanced in the judicial offices [despachos], in those aspects not provided by the legislator. 4. To propose Bills of law relative to the administration of justice and the substantive and procedural codes. 5. The others that the law specifies. Title IX Of the Elections and of the Electoral Organization Chapter 1 Of Suffrage and of the Elections Article 258 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 and No. 1 of2009] The vote is a right and a civic duty. The State will take cognizance [of it] in order that it is exercised without any form of coercion and in secret form by the citizens, in individual cubicles installed in each place [mesa] of voting, without prejudice to the use of electronic or informatic media. In the election of candidates, electoral cards numbered and printed on paper that offers security will be employed, which will be distributed officially. The electoral organization will equally provide instruments to the voters, in which the political movements and parties with juridical personality and the candidates must appear, identified with clarity and in equal conditions. The law may establish mechanisms of voting which grant more and better guarantees for the free exercise of this right of the citizens. PARAGRAPH 1. The voting to elect members of public corporations, governor, mayor, or the first round of the presidential elections, must be repeated one sole time, when, of the total of valid votes, the blank votes constitute the majority. Concerning the uni-personal elections, the same candidates may not be presented; while in those for public corporations, the lists that have not reached the threshold may not be presented in the new elections. PARAGRAPH 2. The electronic vote will be implemented to achieve efficiency [agilidade] and transparency in all voting. Article 259 Those who elect governors and mayors impose through [the] mandate of the elected [person] the program that he presented on registering as a candidate. The law shall regulate the exercise of the programmatic vote. Article 260 The citizens elect in direct form the President and Vice President of the Republic, Senators, Representatives, Governors, Deputies, Mayors, municipal and district Councilors, members of the local administrative boards and, when opportune, the members of the Constituent Assembly and the other authorities or functionaries that the Constitution specifies. Article 261 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of 1993 and No. 1 of2009] The absolute vacancies will be filled by the candidates that, according to the order of registration or of voting, in successive and descending form correspond to the same electoral list, depending as it concerns the closed lists or preferential voting. Article 262 The election of the President and Vice President may coincide with another election. That of Congress will be carried out on a date separate from the election of departmental and municipal authorities. Article 263 [Amended by Legislative A ct No. 1 of2003 and No. I of2009] For all the processes of popular election, the Political Parties and Movements will present lists and sole candidates of which the number of members may not exceed that of seats or offices to be filled in the respective election. To guarantee the equitable representation of Political Parties and Movements and significant groups of citizens, the seats of the Public Corporations will be distributed through the system of cifra repartidora [reapportioning denominator] between the lists of candidates surpassing a minimum of votes that may not be less than three percent (3%) of the suffrage for the Senate of the Republic or fifty percent (50%) of the electoral quotient in the case of the other Corporations, conforming to that established in the Constitution and the law. When none of the lists of candidates [aspirantes] surpasses the threshold, the seats shall be distributed in accordance with the system of cifra repartidora [reapportioning denominator]. The law shall regulate the other effects of this matter. The lists for Corporations in the circumscriptions in which they elect up to two (2) members to the corresponding Corporation, may consist of up to three (3) candidates. In the circumscriptions in which one member is elected, the seat will be awarded to the majority list. In the circumscriptions in which two members are elected the electoral quotient system will be applicable between the lists in that surpass in votes 30% of that quotient. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH.. For elections to the Congress of the Republic to be held in 2010, the percentage referred to the 2nd paragraph of this Article will be two percent (2%). Article 263-A [Inserted by Legislative Act No. I of 2003] The allocation of seats among the members of the respective corporation shall be made by the system of cifra repartidora [reapportioning denominator]. This results by successively dividing the number of votes obtained by each list by one, two, three, or more, ordering the results in decreasing form until a total number of results equal to the number of seats to be filled has been obtained. The lower result will be called the cifra repartidora. Each list will obtain as many seats as the multiple of the cifra repartidora is contained in the total of its votes. Each political party or movement can opt for the mechanism of preferential vote. In this case, the elector can specify the candidate of his preference [from] among the names on the list that appears on the electoral card. The list will be re-ordered to accord with the quantity of votes obtained by each one of the candidates. The allocation of the seats among the members of the respective list will be in descending order beginning with the candidate who obtained the greatest number of preferential votes. In the case of the political parties and movements that have opted for the mechanism of preferential vote, the votes for the party or movement that have not been attributed by the elector to any candidate in particular, will be accounted in favor of the respective list for the effects of the application of the norms concerning the threshold and the cifra repartidora, but are not computed for the re-ordering of the list. When the elector votes simultaneously for the political movement or party and for the candidate of his preference within [a] respective list, the votes will be valid and will be computed in favor of the candidate. Chapter 2 Of the Electoral Authorities Article 264 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003] The National Electoral Council shall consist of nine (9) members elected by the Congress of the Republic in plenary, for an institutional period of four (4) years, by the system of cifra repartidora, with prior nomination by the political parties or movements with juridical personality, or by coalitions [from] among themselves. Its members will be dedicated public servants exclusively, have the same qualities, disqualifications, and incompatibilities and rights as the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and may be reelected one sole time. PARAGRAPH. The Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction will decide on the action of electoral annulment in the maximum period of one (1) year. In cases of sole instance, provided by the law, the period may not exceed six (6) months. Article 265 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2009] The National Electoral Council shall regulate, inspect, monitor and control all the electoral activities of the Political Parties and Movements, of the significant groups of citizens, of their legal representatives, directors and candidates, guaranteeing compliance with the principles and duties that correspond to them and shall enjoy budgetary and administrative autonomy. It will have the following special attributions: 1. To exercise the supreme inspection, oversight and control of the electoral organization. 2. To habilitate the National Registrar of Civil Status. 3. To take cognizance of and decide definitively the recourses that are interposed against the decisions of its delegates concerning general ballots and in such cases to make the declaration of election and issue the corresponding credentials. 4. Furthermore, of office, or on request, to review ballots and the electoral documents concerning any of the stages of the administrative process of election with the object of guaranteeing the veracity of the results. 5. To serve as [a] consultative body of the Government concerning matters of its competence, to present Bills of Legislative Acts and of law, and to recommend drafts [proyectos] of decree[s]. 6. To see to compliance with the norms concerning [the] Political Parties and Movements and the provisions concerning publicity and political opinion polls; for the rights of the opposition and of the minorities, and for the development of the electoral processes in conditions of full guarantees. 7. To distribute the contributions that, for the financing of the electoral campaigns and to assure the right of political participation of the citizens, are established by the law. 8. To effect the ballot of all national voting, to make the declaration of the elections and to issue the credentials that may arise. 9. To recognize and revoke the Juridical Personality, of the Political Parties and Movements. 10. To regulate the participation of the Political Parties and Movements in the media of social communication of the State. 11. To collaborate for the holding of the consultations of the parties and movements for making decisions and the choosing of their candidates. 12. To decide on the revocation of the registration of candidates for Public Corporations or offices [cargos] of popular election, when full evidence exists that these have incurred a cause of disqualification specified in the Constitution and the law. In no case shall the election of such candidates be declared. 13. To establish its own regulations. 14. The others that the law confers. Article 266 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003] Article 266. The National Registrar of the Civil Status will be chosen by the Presidents of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State by agreement on the merits organized under the law. His term shall be of four (4) years, [he] must meet the same qualifications [that] the Political Constitution requires to be a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice and [he] must not have been exercising functions of directive office in political parties or movements within the year immediately preceding his election. He may be reelected one sole time and will exercise the functions the law establishes, including the direction and organization of the elections, the civil register and the identification of persons, as well as to conclude contracts in the name of the Nation, in the cases that it provides. The Office of the National Registry will be composed of public servants belonging to a special administrative career which will be paid only on merit and which shall provide for flexible retirement in accordance with the requirements of the service. In any case, the offices [cargos] of administrative or electoral responsibility [responsibilidad] will be of free dismissal, in accordance with the law. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The term of the current members of the National Electoral Council and National Registrar of the Civil Status will be until 2006. The next election of each shall be in accordance with the provisions of this Legislative Act. Title X Of the Organisms of Control Chapter 1 Of the Office of the Controller General of the Republic Article 267 The fiscal control is a public function that the Office of the Controller General of the Republic will exercise, which oversees the fiscal management of the administration and of individuals or entities which manage funds or assets of the Nation. This control will be exercised in subsequent and selective form conforming to the procedures, systems, and principles that the law establishes. However, the law may authorize, in special cases, that the oversight be performed by Colombian private enterprises selected through public competition of merits and contracted after the approval of the Council of State. The oversight of the fiscal management of the State includes the exercise of financial control, [and control of] management, and results, based on efficiency, economy, equality, and appraisal of the environmental costs. In the exceptional cases specified by the law, the Office of the Controller can exercise subsequent control over the accounts of any territorial entity. The Office of the Controller is an entity of a technical character with administrative and budgetary autonomy. It will not have administrative functions different from those inherent in its own organization. The Controller will be elected by the Congress in plenum in the first month of its sessions for a term equal to that of the President of the Republic, from a terms [list of three] made up of candidates presented at a rate of one each by the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State, and he will not be reeligible for the following period or continue in exercise of his functions on the expiration of the same. The person who has held this position as the titular member [en propiedad] may not perform any public job of the national order, except for teaching, nor aspire to a position of popular election until one year after having ceased in his functions. Only the Congress can accept the resignations that the Controller presents and fill definitive vacancies in the position; temporary absences will be provided for by the Council of State. To be elected Controller General of the Republic it is required to be Colombian by birth and in full exercise of citizenship, be more than 35 years of age; and have a university degree or have been a university professor for a period no less than 5 years; and to substantiate the additional qualifications that the law requires. [A person] who is or has been a member of the Congress or has occupied any public position at a national level, except for teaching, during the year immediately preceding the election may not be elected Controller General. Neither may [a person] be elected who has been sentenced to a penalty of prison for common crimes. Persons who find themselves within the fourth grade of consanguinity, second of affinity or first civil [grade] with respect to the candidates will in no case be able to intervene in the postulation or election of the Controller. Article 268 The Controller General of the Republic will have the following attributions: 1. To prescribe the methods and the form to render account of those responsible for the managing of funds or assets of the Nation and to establish the criteria for financial evaluation, [and evaluation of] operation and of results which must be followed. 2. To review and to close the accounts which those responsible for the treasury [erario] must manage and to determine the degree of efficiency, efficacy, and economy with which they have worked. 3. To keep a record of the public debt of the Nation and of the territorial entities. 4. To require reports on their fiscal management from official employees of any level and from any person or public or private entity that administers funds or assets of the Nation. 5. To establish the responsibility that is derived from the fiscal management, to impose the pecuniary sanctions which may be the case, to collect their amount, and to exercise coactive jurisdiction over the balances deducted from the same. 6. To judge the quality and efficiency of the internal fiscal control of the entities and organs [organismos] of the State. 7. To present to the Congress of the Republic an annual report on the state of the natural resources and of the environment. 8. To promote before the competent authorities, providing the respective evidence, criminal or disciplinary investigations against those who have caused harm to the patrimonial interests of the State. The Office of the Controller, under its responsibility, can demand, knowing the truth and guarding good faith, the immediate suspension of functionaries while the investigations or the appropriate criminal or disciplinary proceedings are completed. 9. To present Bills of law concerning the regime of fiscal control and the organization and functioning of the Office of the Controller General. 10. To fill through public competition the jobs [empleos] of his dependency which the law has created. [The law] shall establish a special regime of the administrative career for the selection, promotion and retirement of the functionaries of the Office of the Controller. Giving personal and political recommendations for jobs in their office [despacho] is prohibited to those who form part of the corporations which are involved in the application and election of the Controller. 11. To present reports to the Congress and to the President of the Republic concerning the fulfillment of his functions and certification concerning the situation of the finances of the State, in accordance with the law. 12. To dictate general norms for harmonizing the systems of fiscal control of all the public entities of the national and territorial order. 13. The others that the law specifies. To present to the Chamber of Representatives the General Account of the Budget and of the Treasury [Tesorio] and to certify the balance of the Treasury [Hacienda] presented to the Congress by the Accountant General. Article 269 In the public entities, the corresponding authorities are obligated to design and implement, depending on the nature of their functions, methods and procedures of internal control, in conformity with what the law specifies, which may establish exceptions and authorize the contracting of said services with private Colombian enterprises. Article 270 The law shall organize the forms and the systems of citizen participation which allow for the oversight of the public management which is completed at the various administrative levels, and their results. Article 271 The results of the preliminary inquiries advanced by the Office of the Controller will have evidential value before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation and the competent judge. Article 272 The oversight of the fiscal administration of the departments, districts, and municipalities which have controller's offices, corresponds to the these [offices] and will be exercised in subsequent and selective form. That of municipalities is incumbent on the departmental controller's offices, except for what the law determines with regard to the municipal controller's offices. It corresponds to the assemblies and to the district and municipal councils to organize the respective controller's offices as technical entities endowed with administrative and budgetary autonomy. Similarly, it corresponds to them to elect a controller for a period equal to that of the governor or mayor, depending on the case, from terms [lists of three] composed of two candidates presented by the superior tribunal of the judicial district and one by the corresponding tribunal of contentious and administrative [matters]. No controller will be reeligible for the immediate period. Departmental, district, and municipal controllers will exercise, within the scope of their jurisdiction, the functions assigned to the Controller General of the Republic in Article 268 and can, based on authorization by law, contract with private Colombian enterprises for the exercise of the fiscal oversight. In order to be elected departmental, district, or municipal controller, it is required to be Colombian by birth, in full exercise of citizenship, be over twenty-five years old, have a university degree, and have the other qualifications that the law establishes. Whoever is or has been in the previous year a member of the assembly or council which must make the election, is not eligible, nor is [a person] who has held public office in the departmental, district, or municipal order, except for the teaching profession. Whoever has occupied as titular [member] the position of departmental, district, or municipal controller may not perform any official position in the respective department, district, or municipality, nor be registered as a candidate for positions of popular election until a year after having ceased in his functions. Article 273 At the request of any of the proponents, the Controller General of the Republic and other competent authorities of fiscal control may order that any act of award by bidding take place in public audience. The cases in which the mechanism of public audience is applied, the manner in which the evaluation of the proposals and the conditions under which they will be made, shall be specified by the law. Article 274 The oversight of the fiscal management of the Office of the Controller of the Republic will be exercised by an auditor elected for periods of two years by the Council of State from a terms [list of three] sent by the Supreme Court of Justice. The law shall determine the manner of exercising said oversight at the departmental, district, and municipal level. Chapter 2 Of the Public Ministry Article 275 The Procurator General of the Nation is the supreme director of the Public Ministry. Article 276 The Procurator General of the Nation will be elected by the Senate for a period of four years from a terms [list of three] composed of candidates from the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Council of State. Article 277 The Procurator General of the Nation, by himself or through his delegates and agents, will have the following functions: 1. To oversee compliance with the Constitution, the laws, the judicial decisions, and the administrative acts. 2. To protect the human rights and assure their effectiveness, with the assistance of the Defender of the People. 3. To defend the interests of the society. 4. To defend the collective interests, especially of the environment. 5. To see to the diligent and efficient exercise of the administrative functions. 6. To exercise superior oversight of the official conduct of those who perform public functions, including those popularly elected; exercise preferentially the disciplinary power; advance the corresponding investigations and impose the respective sanctions in conformity with the law. 7. To intervene in the processes and before the judicial or administrative authorities, when necessary, in defense of the legal order, the public patrimony, or the fundamental rights and guarantees. 8. To render annually a report of his management to the Congress. 9. To require of the public functionaries and persons the information that he considers necessary. 10. The others that the law determines. For the fulfillment of its functions, the Office of the Procurator General will have attributions of judicial police and can interpose the actions that it considers necessary. Article 278 The Procurator General of the Nation will exercise the following functions directly: 1. Discharging from office, following a hearing and by a substantiated decision, the public functionary who incurs in any of the following acts [faltas]: violating the Constitution or the laws in manifest manner; deriving evident and undue material advantage from the exercise of his position or functions; impeding in serious manner, the investigations that the Office of the Procurator General or an administrative or juridical authority carries out; performing with manifest negligence the investigations and sanctioning of the disciplinary acts [faltas] of employees under his authority or in the denunciation of the punishable acts that he has knowledge of by virtue of exercising his position. 2. Issuing briefs [conceptos] in the disciplinary processes which are advanced against functionaries subject to special benefit [fueros]. 3. Presenting Bills of law concerning matters relative to his competence. 4. Exhorting the Congress so that it adopts the laws that assure the promotion, exercise, and protection of human rights, and demanding their fulfillment from the competent authorities. 5. Rendering briefs in the processes of control of constitutionality. 6. Appointing and removing, in conformity with the law, the functionaries and employees of his dependency. Article 279 The law shall determine that relative to the structure and the functioning of the Office of the Procurator General of the Nation, shall regulate that relating to the entry and competition of merits and to retirement from the service, to disqualifications, incompatibilities, denomination, qualifications, compensation, and the disciplinary regime of all the functionaries and employees of said organ [organismo]. Article 280 The agents of the Public Ministry will have the same qualifications, categories, compensation, rights, and benefits as the magistrates and judges of the upper hierarchy before whom they exercise the responsibilities [cargo]. Article 281 The Defender of the People will form part of the Public Ministry and will exercise his functions under the supreme direction of the Procurator General of the Nation. He will be elected by the Chamber of Representatives for a period of four years from a terms [list of three] prepared by the President of the Republic. Article 282 The Defender of the People will see to the promotion, the exercise, and the diffusion of human rights, for which he will exercise the following functions: 1. Orientating and instructing the inhabitants of the national territory and the Colombians abroad in the exercise and defense of their rights before the competent authorities or entities of a private character. 2. Disseminating the human rights and recommending the policies for teaching them. 3. Invoking the right of Habeas Corpus and interposing actions of protection [tutela], without prejudice to the right which corresponds [asiste] to interested [persons]. 4. Organizing and directing the public defense in the terms that the law specifies. 5. Interposing popular actions in matters related to his competence. 6. Presenting Bills of law on matters relating to his competence. 7. Rendering reports to the Congress on the fulfillment of his functions. 8. The others that the law determines. Article 283 The law shall determine [matters] relating to the organization and functioning of the Office of the Defender of the People. Article 284 Save the exceptions provided in the Constitution and the law, the Procurator General of the Nation and the Defender of the People can require of the authorities the information necessary for the exercise of their functions, without being able to oppose them under any reserve whatever. Title XI Of the Territorial Organization Chapter 1 Of the General Provisions Article 285 Outside of the general division of the territory, there shall be the ones that the law determines for the fulfillment of the functions and services under the responsibility of the state. Article 286 The departments, districts, municipalities, and indigenous territories are territorial entities. The law may give the status of territorial entities to the regions and provinces that are constituted in the terms of the Constitution and the law. Article 287 The territorial entities enjoy autonomy for the management of their interests, and within the limits of the Constitution and the law. By such virtue they will have the following rights: 1. To govern themselves by their own authorities. 2. To exercise the competences that correspond to them. 3. To administer the resources and establish the taxes necessary for the fulfillment of their functions. 4. To participate in the national revenues. Article 288 The Organic Law of Territorial Order [ordenamiento] shall establish the distribution of competences between the Nation and the territorial entities. The competences attributed to the different territorial levels shall be exercised in conformity with the principles of coordination, concurrence, and subordination in the terms that the law establishes. Article 289 By mandate of the law, the departments and municipalities located in border zones may promote directly, with the bordering territorial entity of the neighboring country, of the same level, programs of cooperation and integration, intended to promote the community development, the provision of public services, and the protection of the environment. Article 290 With the fulfillment of the requirements and formalities that the law specifies, and in the cases that the latter determines, the periodic review of the limits of the territorial entities will be effected and the official map of the Republic will be published. Article 291 The members of the public corporations of the territorial entities may not accept any position in the public administration and if they do they will lose their investiture. The controllers and representatives may only assist the directive boards which operate in the respective territorial entities, when they are expressly invited for specific purposes. Article 292 The deputies and councilors and their kin up to the degree that the law specifies may not participate in the directive boards of the decentralized entities of the respective department, district or municipality. Neither the spouses, permanent companions of the deputies and councilors nor relatives to second degree of consanguinity, first in affinity or sole civil, may not be appointed functionaries of the corresponding territorial entity. Article 293 Without prejudice to what is established in the Constitution, the law shall determine the qualifications, disabilities, incompatibilities, date of possession, durations of sessions, absolute or temporary disqualifications, causes of dismissal, and forms of filling the vacancies of the citizens who are elected by popular vote for the performance of the public functions in the territorial entities. The law shall also dictate the other provisions necessary for their election and performance of [their] functions. Article 294 The law may not concede exemptions nor preferential treatment in relation to the property taxes of the territorial entities. Nor may it impose surtaxes on their taxes except [for] what is specified in Article 317. Article 295 The territorial entities can issue securities [titulos] and bonds of public debt, subject to the conditions of the financial market, and also to contract foreign credit, all of this in conformity with the law that regulates the matter. Article 296 For the preservation of the public order or for its restoration where it has been disturbed, the decrees and orders of the President of the Republic will be applied immediately and with preference over those of the governors; the acts and orders of the governors will be applied in the same manner and with the same effects in relation to those of the mayors. Chapter 2 Of the Departmental Regime Article 297 The National Congress may decree the formation of new Departments as long as the requirements specified [exigidos] in the Organic Law of the Territorial Order are fulfilled and once the procedures, studies, and popular consultation established by this Constitution are verified. Article 298 The departments have autonomy for the administration of sectional matters as well as the planning and promotion of economic and social development within their territory in the terms the limits established by this Constitution. The departments exercise administrative functions, [functions] of coordination, complementation of the municipal action, of intermediation between the Nation and the Municipalities, and the provision of the services that the Constitution and the laws determine. The law shall regulate that related to the exercise of the attributions that the Constitution grants to them. Article 299 [Amended by Legislative Act No.] of 1996, No. 2 of2002 and No. 1 of2007] Each department will have a political-administrative corporation of popular election that is denominated the Departmental Assembly, which will consist of not less than II members nor more than 3 1. This corporation enjoys its own administrative and budgetary autonomy, and exercises political control over the departmental administration. The regime of disqualifications and incompatibilities of the deputies shall be established by the law. It may not be less strict than those specified for Congressmen, correspondingly. The term of the deputies is four years and [they] have the quality of public servants. To be elected a deputy [it] is required to be in [full] exercise of citizenship, not having been condemned to a penalty that deprives liberty, with the exception of political or culpable [culposos] crimes or misconduct and to have resided in the respective electoral circumscription during the year immediately preceding the date of the election. The members of the Departmental Assembly have the right to [a] remuneration for the corresponding sessions and will be covered by a regime of benefits and social security, in the terms that the law establishes. Article 300 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of 1996 and No. 1 of2007] It corresponds to the Departmental Assemblies, by means of ordinances: 1. To regulate the exercise of the functions and the provision of the services [for which] the Department is responsible. 2. To enact the provisions concerned with the planning, the economic and social development, the financial and credit support to the municipalities, tourism, transportation, the environment, the public works, routes of communication and the development of their frontier zones. 3. To adopt in accordance with the Law the plans and programs of economic and social development and those of public works, with the determination of the investments and measures that are considered necessary to implement their execution and assure their fulfillment. 4. To decree, in conformity with the Law, the taxes and contributions necessary for the completion of the departmental functions. 5. To enact the organic norms of the departmental budget and the annual budget of revenues and expenses. 6. To create and suppress municipalities, segregate and aggregate municipal territories, and organize provinces, subject to the requirements that the law specifies. 7. To determine the structure of the Departmental Administration, the function of its dependencies, the scale of remuneration corresponding to its distinct categories of employment; to create public establishments and the industrial or commercial enterprises of the department and to authorize the formation of societies of mixed economy. 8. To dictate norms of policy in anything that is not a matter of legal provision. 9. To authorize the Governor of the Department to make contracts, negotiate loans, transfer assets and exercise, temporarily, specific functions among those which correspond to the Departmental Assemblies. 10. To regulate, in concurrence with the municipality, sports, education and health in the terms that the law determines. 11. To solicit reports concerning the exercise of their functions from the Comptroller General of the Department, the Secretaries of the Cabinet, the Heads of Administrative Departments and Directors of Centralized Institutes of the Departmental Order. 12. To fulfill those other functions assigned to them by the Constitution and the law. The plans and programs of development of public works, will be coordinated and integrated with the municipal, regional and national plans and programs. The ordinances to which the numerals 3, 5 and 7 of this Article refer, those which decree investments, participations or cessions of revenues and departmental assets, and those the create services of the responsibility of the Department or transferring them to it, may only be established or reformed at the initiative of the Governor. 13. To summon and to require the Secretaries of the Office of the Governor to participate in the sittings of the assembly. The summons must be made with no less than five days notice and formulated as a written questionnaire. In the case that the Secretaries of the Office of the Governor do not concur, without an excuse accepted by the assembly, it may propose a motion of censure. The Secretaries must be heard at the sitting for which they were summoned, without prejudice to the debate continuing in subsequent sessions by decision of the assembly. The debate may not extend to matters unrelated to the questionnaire and must precede the agenda of the sitting. 14. To propose a motion of censure concerning the Secretaries of the Office of the Governor in matters concerning the proper functioning of the office, or neglect of the requirements and summons of the assembly. The motion of censure must be proposed by one-third of the Members that compose the assembly. The vote will be taken between the third and tenth day following the termination of the debate, with public audience of the respective functionary. Its adoption will require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members that compose the corporation. Once approved, the functionary will be removed from office. If it is rejected, another concerning the same matter, may not be presented, unless new facts motivate it. The resignation of the respective functionary, in respect of whom the motion of censure was promoted, is no obstacle to the [motion] being approved in conformity to that specified in this Article. Article 301 The law shall specify the cases in which the assemblies may delegate in the municipal councils the functions that the law itself determines. At any moment, the assemblies can resume the exercise of the delegated functions. Article 302 The law may establish for one or several Departments various capacities and competences of administrative and fiscal management different from those specified for them in the Constitution, with attention to the need of improving the administration or provision of public services in accordance with their population, economic and natural resources, and social, cultural, and ecological circumstances. To develop the above, the law may delegate to one or several Departments attributions proper to the national public organs [organismos] or entities. Article 303 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2002] In each of the departments there will be a Governor who will be [the] head of the sectional administration and legal representative of the department; the governor will be the agent of the President of the Republic for the maintenance of the public order and for the execution of the general economic policy as well as for those matters which, through agreements, the Nation agrees to delegate to the department. The governors will be popularly elected for institutional periods of four (4) years and are not re-eligible for the next period. The law shall determine the qualifications, requirements, disabilities, and incompatibilities of the governors; shall regulate their election; shall determine their absolute or temporary incapacities and the form to fill them finally; and dictate [dictar] the other provisions necessary for the normal performance of their responsibilities. When absolute incapacity occurs for more than eighteen (18) months [before] the termination of the term, a governor will be elected for the time that remains. In the case of incapacity [for] less than eighteen (18) months, the President of the Republic will appoint a Governor for the remainder of the period, respecting the party, political group or coalition to which the governor [who had been] elected was registered. Article 304 The President of the Republic, in the cases restrictively specified by the law, can suspend or dismiss governors. Their regime of disabilities and incompatibilities will be no less strict than that established for the President of the Republic. Article 305 The attributions of the governor are: 1. To comply with the Constitution, the laws, the decrees of Government, and the ordinances of the Departmental Assemblies and have [them] complied with. 2. To direct and coordinate the administrative actions of the department and to act in its name as manager and promoter of the integral development of its territory, in conformity with the Constitution and the laws. 3. To direct and coordinate national services in the conditions of the delegation that the President of the Republic confers on him. 4. To opportunely present to the departmental assembly Bills of ordinances concerning plans and programs of economic and social development, public works, and the annual budget of revenues and expenditures. 5. To appoint and to remove freely managers or directors of public establishments and of industrial or commercial enterprises of the department. The representatives of the department on the directive boards of such organs [organismos] and the directors or managers of the same are agents of the governor. 6. To promote, in accordance with general plans and programs, the enterprises, industries, and activities suitable to the cultural, social and economic development of the department which do not correspond to the Nation or to the municipalities. 7. To create, eliminate, and merge positions under its authority, to specify their special functions, and establish their emoluments subject to the law and to the respective ordinances. The governor may not create obligations, of the responsibility of the departmental treasury, that exceed the total amount specified for the respective service in the budget initially approved. 8. To eliminate or merge departmental entities in conformity with the ordinances. 9. To object on grounds of unconstitutionality [inconstitucionalidad], illegality, or untimeliness the Bills of ordinances, or to sanction and promulgate them. 10. To revise the acts of municipal councils and mayors, on grounds of unconstitutionality or illegality, remitting them to the competent Tribunal so that it decides concerning their validity. 11. To see to the exact collection of the departmental revenues, of the decentralized entities, and those which are the object of transfers by the Nation. 12. To convoke the departmental assembly to extraordinary sessions in which only the subjects and matters for which it was convoked will be dealt with. 13. To select from the terms [lists of three] sent by the respective national head [iefe nacional], the managers or sectional heads of public establishments at the national level which operate in the department, in accordance with the law. 14. To exercise the administrative functions that the President of the Republic delegates to him. 15. The others that the Constitution, the laws, and the ordinances specify to him. Article 306 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2003 (declared unconstitutional in part)] Two or more departments can constitute themselves into administrative or planning regions, with juridical personality, autonomy, and their own patrimony. Their principal objective shall be the economic and social development of the respective territory. Article 307 The respective organic law, with prior opinion of the Commission of Territorial Ordering [Comisi6n de Ordamiento Territorial], shall establish the conditions to solicit the conversion of the region into a territorial entity. The decision taken by the Congress will be submitted in each case to a referendum by the citizens of the interested departments. The same law shall establish the attributions, the organs of administration, and the resources of the regions and their participation in the handling of revenues originating from the National Fund of Perquisites [Fondo Nacional de Regalias]. It shall also define the principles for the adoption of the special statute of each region. Article 308 The law may limit the departmental appropriations designated for the honoraria of deputies and the operating expenses of the assemblies and departmental controllers' offices. Article 309 The intendancies [intendencias] of Arauca, Casanare, Putumayo, the Archipelago of San Andr~s, Providencia, and Santa Catalina and the Commissaries [Comisarias] of Amazonas, Guaviare, Guainia, Vaupds, and Vichada are established as Departments. The assets and rights which used to belong to the intendancies and commissaries on any account will continue being the property of the respective departments. Article 310 The Department of the Archipelago San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina shall be regulated, in addition to the norms provided by the Constitution and the laws for the other departments, by the special norms which, in administrative, immigration, fiscal, foreign trade, exchange, financial, and economic development matters, the legislator shall establish. By means of a law approved by the majority of the members of each Chamber, it will be possible to limit the exercise of the rights of movement and residence, establish controls on the density of population, regulate the use of the land, and submit to special conditions the transfer of real estate, with the purpose of protecting the cultural identity of the native communities and preserving the environment and natural resources of the Archipelago. By means of the creation of the municipalities that may occur, the Departmental Assembly will guarantee the institutional expression of the original [raizales] communities of San Andrds. The municipality of Providencia will have participation in the departmental revenues of no less than 20% of the total value of said revenues. Chapter 3 Of the Municipal Regime Article 311 It corresponds to the municipality as the fundamental entity of the political-administrative division of the State, to provide those public services that the law determines, to construct the works required by local progress, to arrange the development of its territory, to promote community participation, the social and cultural improvement of its inhabitants, and to perform the other functions that the Constitution and the laws assign to it. Article 312 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2002 and No. 1 of2007] In each municipality there will be a political-administrative corporation popularly elected for terms of four (4) years to be denominated the municipal council, consisting of not fewer than 7, nor more than 21 members following that determined by the law in accordance with the respective population. This corporation may exercise political control concerning the municipal administration. The law shall determine the qualifications, disqualifications, and incompatibilities of the councilors and the time of ordinary sessions of the councils. The councilors will not have the quality of public employees. The law may determine the cases in which they have the right to honoraria for their attendance at the sessions. The acceptance of any public employment constitutes an absolute incompatibility. Article 313 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of2007] It corresponds to the councils: 1. To regulate the functions and efficient provision of the services under the responsibility of the municipality. 2. To adopt the corresponding plans and programs of economic and social development and of public works. 3. To authorize the mayor to celebrate contracts and exercise pro tempore specific functions of those which correspond to the Council. 4. To vote for taxes and local expenditures in conformity with the Constitution and the law. 5. To dictate the organic norms of the budget and to issue annually the budget of revenues and expenditures. 6. To determine the structure of the municipal administration and the functions of their dependencies; the scales of remuneration corresponding to the different categories of jobs; to create, at the initiative of the mayor, public institutions and industrial or commercial enterprises and to authorize the constitution of companies of mixed economy. 7. To regulate the uses of the land and, within the limits that the law specifies to oversee and control the activities connected with the construction and sale of real property assigned for housing. 8. To elect a Personero [Representative] for the period that the law specifies and the other functionaries that he determines. 9. To dictate the norms necessary for the control, the preservation, and the defense of the ecological and cultural patrimony of the municipality. 10. The others that the Constitution and the laws assign to it. 11. In the capitals of the departments and the municipalities with a population greater than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, to summon and to require the Secretaries of the Office of the Mayor to attend the sittings. The summons must be made with no less than five (5) days notice and formulated as a written questionnaire. In the case that the Secretaries do not concur, without excuse accepted by the District or Municipal Council, it may propose a motion of censure. The Secretaries must be heard at the sitting for which they were summoned, without prejudice to the debate continuing in subsequent sessions by decision of the council. The debate may not extend to matters unrelated to the questionnaire and must precede the agenda of the sitting. The councils of the other municipalities, may summon and require the Secretaries of the Office of the Mayor to attend the sessions. The summons must be made with no less than five (5) days notice and formulated as a written questionnaire. In the case the Secretaries do not concur, without excuse accepted by the District or Municipal Council, any member may propose a motion of observations [mocidn de observaciones] that does not entail the removal of the officer concerned. Its adoption will require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members that compose the corporation. 12. To propose a motion of censure concerning the Secretaries of the Office of the Mayor in matters concerning the proper functioning of the office, or neglect of the requirements and summons of the District or Municipal Council. The motion of censure must be proposed by half plus one of the Members that compose the District or Municipal Council. The vote will be taken between the third and tenth day following the termination of the debate, with public audience of the respective functionary. Its adoption will require the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members that compose the corporation. Once adopted, the functionary will be removed from office. If it is rejected, another concerning the same matter, may not be presented, unless new facts motivate it. The resignation of the respective functionary, in respect of whom the motion of censure was Promoted, is no obstacle to the [motion] being approved in conformity to that specified in this Article. Article 314 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2002] In each municipality there will be a mayor, head of the local administration and [the] legal representative of the municipality, who will popularly elected for institutional periods of four (4) years and who is not re-eligible for the next period Provided that [if] absolute incapacity occurs for more than eighteen (18) months [before] the termination of the period, a mayor will be elected for the time that remains. In the case of incapacity of less than eighteen (18) months, the governor will appoint a mayor for the remainder of the period, respecting the party, political group or coalition to which the mayor [who had been] elected was registered. The President and the governors in those limited cases specified by the law, may suspend or dismiss the mayors. The Law shall establish the penalties for the unlawful exercise of this attribution. Article 315 Attributions of the mayor are: 1. To comply with the Constitution, the law, the decrees of the government, the ordinances, and the resolutions of the council and have them complied with. 2. To preserve the public order in the municipality, in conformity with the law and the instructions and orders that he receives from the President of the Republic and the respective governor. The mayor is the first authority of the police of the municipality. The National Police will comply with promptness and diligence to the orders that the mayor imparts to it through the channel of the respective commander. 3. To direct the administrative action of the municipality; secure the fulfillment of the functions and the provision of services under his responsibility; represent it judicially and extrajudicially; and appoint and remove the functionaries under his dependency as well as the managers or directors of the public institutions and the industrial or commercial enterprises of a local character, in accordance with the pertinent provisions. 4. To eliminate or merge municipal entities and dependencies, in conformity with the respective resolutions. 5. To present opportunely to the Council, the Bills of agreement concerning the plans and programs of economic and social development, public works, the annual budget of revenues and expenditures, and the others that he deems appropriate [convenientes] for the good operation of the municipality. 6. To sanction and promulgate the resolutions which the Council may have approved and to object to those that he considers inappropriate or contrary to the juridical order. 7. To create, eliminate, or merge the jobs [empleos] under his dependency, to specify the special functions and determine their emoluments in accordance with the corresponding agreements. The mayor may not create obligations that exceed the total amount allocated for expenditures of personnel in the initially approved budget. 8. To cooperate with the Council for the good performance of its functions, present to it general reports on his administration, and convoke it to extraordinary sessions in which it may only be occupied with the issues and matters for which it was cited. 9. To arrange the municipal expenditures in accordance with the plan of investment and the budget. 10. The others which the Constitution and the law specify. Article 316 In the votes that are made for the election of local authorities and for the decision of matters of the same character, only citizens residing in the respective municipality may participate. Article 317 Only municipalities may tax real property. This said, notwithstanding that other entities may impose value-added contributions. The law shall allocate a percentage of these taxes, which may not exceed the average of existing surtaxes, to the entities in charge of the management and conservation of the environment and the renewable natural resources, in accordance with the plans of development of the municipalities of the area of their jurisdiction. Article 318 With the purpose of improving the provision of the services and securing the participation of the citizenry in the handling of public affairs of a local character, the councils can divide their municipalities into communes when dealing with urban areas and into territories [corregimientos] in the case of the rural zones. In each of the communes or territories, there will be a local administrative board of popular election, composed of the number of members that the law determines, which will have the following functions: 1. To participate in the enactment [elaboraci6n] of the municipal plans and programs of economic and social development and of public works. 2. To oversee and control the provision of municipal services in its commune or territory and the investments realized with public resources. 3. To formulate proposals of investment before the national, departmental, and municipal authorities responsible for the elaboration of the respective plans of investment. 4. To distribute the total amounts that the municipal budget assigns to them. 5. To exercise the functions that the council and other local authorities delegate to them. The departmental assemblies can organize administrative boards for the fulfillment of the functions that the act of their creation specifies to them in the territory, which [that act] determines. Article 319 When two or more municipalities have economic, social, and fiscal relations which give to the whole the characteristics of a metropolitan area, they can organize themselves as an administrative entity responsible for the programming and the coordinating of the harmonious and integrated development of the territory placed under their authority; to rationalize the provision of public services [for which] those who form them are responsible, and, if such is the case, jointly provide some of them; and execute works of metropolitan interest. The Law of Territorial Ordering shall adopt for the metropolitan areas an administrative and fiscal regime of special character; will guarantee that in their organs of administration the respective municipal authorities have adequate participation; and shall specify the form of convoking and holding the popular consultations that decide concerning the connection between the municipalities. Once the popular consultation is completed, the respective mayors and municipal councils shall establish protocols for [protocolizardn] the formation of the area and shall define its attributions, financing, and authorities, in accordance with the law. The metropolitan areas can convert themselves into Districts in conformity with the law. Article 320 The law may establish categories of municipalities in accordance with their population, fiscal resources, economic importance, and geographic situation, and specify a different regime for their organization, government and administration. Article 321 The provinces are constituted by municipalities or adjacent indigenous territories belonging to the same department. The law shall enact [dictar] the basic statute and specify the administrative regime of the provinces that may be organized for the execution of the functions that national or departmental entities delegate to them and which the law and the municipalities that form them assign to them. The provinces will be created by ordinance, by initiative of the governor, the mayors of the respective municipalities, or the number of citizens that the law determines. For admission [ingreso] into an already constituted province, a popular consultation must be held in the interested municipalities. The department and the municipalities will furnish to the provinces the percentage of their current revenues that the assembly and the respective councils determine. Chapter 4 Of the Special Regime Article 322 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2000] Bogot6, capital of the Republic and of the Department of Cundinamarca, is organized as [the] Capital District. Its political, fiscal, and administrative regime will be the one determined by the Constitution, the special laws that are adopted for the same, and the provisions valid for the municipalities. Based on the general norms that the law establishes, the council, at the initiative of the Mayor, will divide the district territory into localities, in accordance with the social characteristics of its inhabitants, and will make the corresponding distribution of competences and administrative functions. It will correspond to the district authorities to guarantee the harmonious and integrated development of the city and the efficient provision of the services under the responsibility of the District; [it will correspond] to the local [authorities], the management of the matters proper to their territory. Article 323 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2002 and No. 3 of2007] The district council will be composed of forty-five (45) councilors. In each of the localities there will be an administrative board, popularly elected for periods of four (4) years, which will be made up of no less than seven ediles [aldermen], in accordance with what the District Council determines, given the respective population. The election of the Senior Mayor [Alcalde Mayor], of district councilors and of ediles [alderman] will be made on the same day of four (4) years and the mayor may not be reelected for the next period. Provided that [if] absolute incapacity occurs for more than eighteen (18) months [before] the termination of the period, a senior mayor will be elected for the time that remains. In the case of incapacity of less than eighteen (18) months, the President of the Republic will appoint a senior mayor for the remainder of the period, respecting the party, political group or coalition to which the mayor [who had been] elected was registered. The local mayors will be appointed by the Senior Mayor from a list of three [terms] submitted by the corresponding administrative board. In those limited cases specified by the law, the President of the Republic may suspend or dismiss the senior mayor. The councilors and ediles may not form part of the directive boards of the decentralized entities. Article 324 The local administrative boards will distribute and appropriate the global entries which are assigned to the localities in the annual budget of the District, taking into account the basic unsatisfied needs of their population. Concerning the departmental revenues that are produced in Santa Fe de Bogot5, the law will determine the participation that corresponds to the capital of the Republic. Such participation may not be superior to that established at the date of entry into force of this Constitution. Article 325 With the purpose of guaranteeing the execution of the plans and programs of integral development and the timely and efficient provision of the services under its responsibility, within the conditions that the Constitution and the law specify, the Capital District may form a metropolitan area with the adjacent municipalities and a region with other territorial entities of departmental character. Article 326 The adjacent municipalities may become incorporated into the Capital District if the citizens who reside in them so determine by means of a vote that will take place when the district council has manifested its approval of this linking. If the latter occurs, the constitutional and legal norms in force will be applied to the old municipality for the other localities that form the Capital District. Article 327 In the elections of Governor and deputies to the Departmental Assembly of Cundinamarca, the citizens registered in the electoral rolls of the District Capital will not participate. Article 328 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 2 of2007 (declared unconstitutional in part)] The Tourist and Cultural District of Cartagena de Indias, [and the] Tourist, Cultural and Historical District of Santa Marta and Barranquilla, will retain their regime and character, and Buenaventura and Tumaco will be organized as a Special, Industrial, Port, Biodiversity and Ecotourism District. Article 329 The form of the indigenous territorial entities will be made subject to what the Organic Law of Territorial Ordering provides, and their delimitation will be made by the National Government, with the participation of the representatives of the indigenous communities, after the opinion of the Commission of Territorial Ordering. The reservations [resguardos] are collective property and non-alienable. The law shall define the relations and coordination of these entities with those of which they form a part. PARAGRAPH. In the case of an indigenous territory that comprises the territory of two or more departments, its administration will be made by indigenous councils in coordination with the governors of the respective departments. In case that such territory decides to constitute itself as territorial entity, this will be done in compliance with the requirements established in the first paragraph of this Article. Article 330 In conformity with the Constitution and the laws, the indigenous territories will be governed by councils formed and regulated according to the usages and customs of their communities and will exercise the following functions: 1. To see to the application of the legal norms concerning the uses of the soil and settlement of their territories. 2. To design the policies and the plans and programs of economic and social development within their territory, in harmony with the National Plan of Development. 3. To promote the public investments in their territories and see to their appropriate execution. 4. To receive and distribute their resources. 5. To see to the conservation of the natural resources. 6. To coordinate the programs and projects promoted by the different communities in their territory. 7. To collaborate with the maintenance of the public order within their territory in accordance with the instructions and provisions of the National Government. 8. To represent the territories before the National Government and the other entities into which they are integrated; and 9. The ones that the Constitution and the law specify to them. PARAGRAPH. The exploitation of the natural resources in the indigenous territories shall be done without impairment of the cultural, social, and economic integrity of the indigenous communities. In the decisions that are adopted with respect to said exploitation, the Government shall encourage the participation of the representatives of the respective communities. Article 331 The Autonomous Regional Corporation of the Rio Grande de la Magdalena is created, responsible for [encargada] the recovery of navigation, of port activity, the fitness and conservation of lands, the generation and distribution of energy, and the use and preservation of the environment, fishing resources, and other renewable natural resources. The law shall determine its organization and sources of financing and shall define in favor of the river [riberehos] municipalities an special treatment in the assignment of perquisites and in the participation in the current revenues of the Nation that corresponds to them. Title XII Of the Economic Regime and of the Public Finance IHacienda Ptiblical Chapter 1 Of the General Dispositions Article 332 The State is the owner of the subsoil and of the natural, non-renewable resources, without prejudice to the rights acquired and completed in accordance with the preexisting laws. Article 333 Economic activity and private initiative are free within the limits of the public good. For their exercise, no one may demand prior permits or requirements without authorization of the law. Free economic competition is a right of everyone which implies responsibilities. The enterprise, as a basis of development, has a social function that implies obligations. The State shall strengthen the organizations of solidarity and stimulate the enterprise development. The State, by mandate of the law, shall impede the obstruction or restriction of economic freedom and shall avoid or control any abuse that persons or enterprises make from their dominant position in the national marketplace. The law shall delimit the scope of economic freedom when the social interest, the environment, and the cultural patrimony of the nation require it. Article 334 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of 1 July 2011] The general management of the economy will be under the responsibility of the State. It will intervene, by mandate of the law, in the exploitation of the natural resources, in the use of the soil, in the production, distribution, use, and consumption of goods [biennes], and in the public and private services, in order to rationalize the economy with the objectives of achieving [conseguir] in the national and territorial plan, in the framework [marco] of fiscal sustainability, the improvement of quality of life of the inhabitants, the equitable distribution of opportunities and the benefits of development and the preservation of a healthy environment. The framework of fiscal sustainability must serve [funjir] as an instrument to achieve [alcanzar] in a progressive manner the objectives of the Social State of Law. In any case the social public expenditures shall be [of] priority. The State, in a special manner, shall intervene to give full employment to the human resources and to assure that all persons, in particular those with lower incomes, have effective access to the whole [conjunto] of the basic goods and services. Also, to promote the productivity and competitiveness and the harmonious development of the regions. The Procurator General of the Nation or one of the Ministers of the Government, once the decision [sentencia] by any of the highest [maximas] judicial corporations has been proferred, can solicit the opening of an Incidental Issue [incidente] of Fiscal Responsibility, whose continuance [tramite] will be obligatory. The explication of the proponents [proponentes] concerning the consequences of the decision on the public finances shall be heard, as well as the specific [concreto] plan for their fulfillment and whether to proceed, to modulate, to modify or to defer the effects of the same, with the objective of avoiding serious alteration of fiscal sustainability. In no case may the essential nucleus of the fundamental rights be affected. PARAGRAPH. To interpret this Article, under no circumstances may any authority of administrative, legislative or judicial nature, invoke fiscal sustainability to diminish the fundamental rights, restrict their scope or negate their effective protection. Article 335 The financial, stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities related to the handling, use, and investment of the resources referred to in literal d) of numeral 19 of Article 150 are of public interest and may only be exercised with the prior authorization of the State, in conformity with the law, which shall regulate the form of intervention of the Government in these matters and promote the democratization of credit. Article 336 No monopoly may be established except through the free play of revenues with an object of public or social interest and by virtue of the law. The law which establishes a monopoly may not be applied before the persons, who by virtue of it must be deprived of the exercise of a licit economic activity, are fully indemnified. The organization, administration, control, and exploitation of the revenues of monopolies will be submitted to its own regime, specified by a law of government initiative. The revenues obtained in the exercise of the monopolies of luck and chance will be allocated exclusively to the services of health. The revenues obtained in the exercise of the monopoly of liquors will be allocated preferentially to the services of health and education. Tax evasion with respect to revenues originating from revenues of monopolies will be penally sanctioned in the terms that the law establishes. The Government will transfer or liquidate the monopolistic enterprises of the State and will grant to third parties the development of their activity when they do not fulfill the requirements of efficiency in the terms that the law determines. In all cases the rights acquired by the workers shall be respected. Article 337 The law may establish for land or sea zones of the border, special norms in economic and social matters tending to promote their development. Article 338 In time of peace only the Congress, the departmental assemblies, and the district and municipal councils can impose fiscal or fiscal-like contributions. The law, ordinances, and agreements must specify, directly, the active and passive cases, taxable events and bases, and the rates of the taxes. The law, ordinances, and agreements may permit that the authorities specify the rate of taxes and contributions that are collected from taxpayers to recover the costs of the services which the authorities provide to them or participation in the benefits that these give to them; but the system and the method to define such costs and benefits and the manner of distributing them must be determined by the law, the ordinances, or the agreements. The laws, ordinances, or agreements that regulate contributions in which the base is the result of events [that] occurred during a specific period, may only be applied from the beginning of the period that commences with the initiation of the effectiveness of the respective law, ordinance or agreement. Chapter 2 Of the Plans of Development Article 339 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of ] July 2011] There will be a National Plan of Development composed of a general part [parte] and a plan [plan] of investments of the public entities of the national order. In the general part the long-term national purposes and objectives, the goals and priorities of the state action of the intermediate-term, and the strategies and general orientations of the economic, social, and environmental policy that shall be adopted by the government shall be specified. The plan of public investments shall include the multi-annual budgets of the principal programs and projects of national public investment and the specification of the financial resources required for their execution, within a framework that guarantees fiscal sustainability. The territorial entities shall elaborate and adopt in concerted manner between them and the national government, plans of development with the purpose of securing the efficient use of their resources and the adequate performance of the functions that have been assigned to them by the Constitution and the law. The plans of the territorial entities will be formed by a strategic part [parte] and an intermediate- and short-term plan of investments. Article 340 There will be a National Council of Planning made up of the representatives of the territorial entities and of the economic, social, ecological, community, and cultural sectors. The Council will have a consultative character and shall serve as forum for the discussion of the National Plan of Development. The members of the National Council will be appointed by the President of the Republic from lists that the authorities and organizations of the entities and sectors to which the previous paragraph refers, present to him, who must be or to have been involved in said activities. Their term will be of eight years, and each four [years] the Council will be partially renewed in the form that the law establishes. In the territorial entities there will also be councils of planning, in accordance with what the law determines. The National Council and the territorial councils of planning constitute the National System of Planning. Article 341 The Government shall draft [elaborar] the National Plan of Development with the active participation of the planning authorities of the territorial entities and of the Superior Council of the Judicature and will submit the corresponding project to the review [concepto] of the National Council of Planning; having heard the opinion of the Council it will proceed to effect those amendments that it considers appropriate and will present the draft [proyecto] to the consideration of the Congress within the six months following the initiation of the respective presidential term. Based on the report that the joint committees of economic affairs elaborates [elaboren], each corporation will discuss and evaluate the plan in plenary session. The disagreements about the content of the general part, if there are any, will not be an obstacle to the Govermnent from executing the proposed policies in what falls under its competence. However, when the Government decides to modify the general part of the plan, it must follow the procedure indicated in the following Article. The National Plan of Investments will be adopted by means of a law which will have priority over the other laws; consequently, its mandates will constitute suitable mechanisms for its execution and shall support those existing without the need for the adopting subsequent laws, nevertheless, in the annual law of the budget it will be possible to increase or decrease the shares and resources approved in the law of the plan. If the Congress does not approve the National Plan of Public Investments within a period of three months after being presented [with it], the Government can put it into effect through a decree with the force of law. The Congress can modify the Plan of Public Investments as long as the financial balance is maintained. Any increment in the authorizations of indebtedness requested in the governmental project or the inclusion of projects of investment not provided in it will require the approval of the National Government. Article 342 The corresponding organic law shall regulate all that concerns the procedures of elaboration, approval, and execution of the plans of development and shall provide the appropriate mechanisms for its harmonization and for the subjection to them of the official budgets. It shall also determine the organization and functions of the National Council of Planning, and of the territorial councils, as well as the procedures according to which the citizens' participation will be made effective, in the discussion of the plans of development and the corresponding modifications, in accordance with what is established in the Constitution. Article 343 The national entity of planning that the law specifies will be given the charge [cargo] of the design and organization of the systems of evaluation of the management and results of the public administration, both regarding policies and projects of investment in the conditions that it determines. Article 344 The departmental organs of planning shall make the evaluation of management and results concerning the plans and programs of development and investment of the departments and municipalities and shall participate in the preparation of the budgets of the latter in the terms the law specifies. In any case, the national organ of planning can, in selective manner, exercise said evaluation of any territorial entity. Chapter 3 Of the Budget Article 345 In time of peace, it will not be possible to receive contributions or taxes that do not appear in the budget of revenues, or to make payment with charge to the Treasury which is not included in the budget of expenses. Nor may any public expenditure be made that has not been decreed by the Congress, the departmental assemblies, or the district or municipal councils, or any credit transferred for a purpose not provided in the respective budget. Article 346 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 3 of 1 July 2011] The Government will formulate annually the budget of revenues [rentas] and law of appropriations, that shall be presented to the Congress within the first ten days of each legislature. The budget of revenues and law of appropriations must be enacted [elaborarse], presented and adopted [aprobarse] within a framework of fiscal sustainability and correspond to the National Plan of Development. In the Law of Appropriations, no entry may be included that does not correspond to a credit judicially recognized, or to an expenditure decreed in conformity with the previous law, or one proposed by the Government to duly attend to the functioning of the branches of the public power, or to the servicing of the debt, or allocated to achieve the fulfillment of the National Plan of Development. The Commissions of economic matters of the two Chambers will deliberate in joint form to bring to first debate the Bill of the Budget of Revenues and Law of Appropriations. Article 347 [Amended by Legislative Act No. I of2001] The Bill of the Law of Appropriations must contain the totality of the expenditures which the State intends to make during the respective effective fiscal [period]. If the legally authorized revenues are not sufficient to attend to the projected expenditures, the Government will propose, separately, before the same commissions that study the Bill of the Law of the Budget, the creation of new revenues or the modification of the existing [ones] to finance the amount of expenditures contemplated. The budget may be approved without the Bill of law regarding the additional resources having been completed, the procedures of which can continue in the subsequent legislative term. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. During the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 the total amount of the appropriations authorized by the annual law of the budget for general expenses, different than those allocated for payment of pensions, health, defense spending, personal services, to [the] General System of Participation and [to the] other transfers that the law specifies, may not be increased from year to year, at a percentage [rate] higher than the rate of inflation for each of them, plus one point five percent (1.5 %). The restriction on the amount of the appropriations, may not apply to those necessary to meet expenditures decreed by [exercise of] the faculties of the States of Exception. Article 348 If the Congress does not enact the budget, the one presented by the Government will rule within the terms of the preceding Article; if the budget has not be presented within the same time period, that of the previous year will rule, but the Government can reduce expenditures and in consequence, to eliminate or recast jobs when the computations of the revenues of the new fiscal year [ejercicio] so recommend. Article 34 During the first three months of each legislature, and strictly in accord with the rules of the Organic Law, the Congress will discuss and enact the General Budget of Revenues and Law of Appropriations. The calculations of the revenues, credit resources, and [the ones] proceeding from the balance of the Treasury may not be augmented by the Congress except with the previous opinion and favorable counter signature of the minister of the branch. Article 350 The Law of Appropriations must have a component denominated [the] social public expenditure that will group the entries of such nature according to a definition made by the respective organic law. Except in the cases of foreign war or for reasons of national security, the social public expenditure must have priority over any other allocation. In the territorial distribution of the social public expenditures, account shall be taken of the number of persons with unsatisfied basic needs, the population, and the fiscal and administrative efficiency, according to the regulations that the law shall make. The budget of investment may not be reduced proportionally compared to the previous year with respect to the total expenditure of the corresponding Law of Appropriations. Article 351 The Congress may not increase any of the entries of the budget of expenditures proposed by the Government or include a new [one], except with the written acceptance of the minister of the branch. The Congress can eliminate or reduce entries of expenditures proposed by the Government with the exception of those needed for the servicing of the public debt, the other contractual obligations of the State, the complete attention to the ordinary services of the administration, and the investments authorized in the plans and programs to which Article 341 refers. If the computation of revenues is increased or if some of the entries of the respective Bill are eliminated or reduced, the amounts so made, without exceeding their amount, may be applied to other investments or expenditures authorized in conformity with what is prescribed in the final paragraph of Article 349 of the Constitution. Article 352 In addition to that specified in this Constitution, the Organic Law of the Budget shall regulate that corresponding to the programming, approval, modification, and execution of the budgets of the Nation, of the territorial entities, and of the decentralized entities of any administrative level, and their coordination with the National Plan of Development, as well as the capacity of the organs and State entities to contract. Article 353 The principles and provisions established in this title will apply, in what is pertinent, to the territorial entities for the elaboration, approval, and execution of their budgets. Article 354 There will be a General Accountant [Contador General], functionary of the executive branch, who will handle the general accounting of the Nation and will consolidate the latter with that of its entities decentralized by territories or services, whatever the level to which they belong, except that relating to the execution of the Budget, the authority of which is attributed to the Office of the Controller. The functions of standardizing [uniformar], centralizing, and consolidating the public accounting, elaborating the general balance, and determining the accounting norms that must rule in the country, correspond to the General Accountant in conformity with the law. PARAGRAPH. Six months after the close of the fiscal year, the National Government will send to the Congress the balance of the Public Finance [balance de la Hacienda], audited by the Office of the Controller General of the Republic, for its cognizance and analysis. Article 355 None of the branches or organs of the Public Power may decree subsidies or donations in favor of natural persons or legal entities of private law. At the national, departmental, district, and municipal levels, the Government may, with the resources of the respective budgets, make contracts with non-profit private entities and of recognized suitability in order to promote programs and activities of public interest, in accordance with the National Plan and the sectional plans of development. The National Government shall regulate the matter. Chapter 4 Of the Distribution of Resources and of the Competences Article 356 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of 1993, No. 1 of2001, No. 2 of2007 (declared unconstitutional in part) and No. 4 of 2007] Except as provided by the Constitution, the Law, at the initiative of the Government, shall determine the services provided [by] the Nation and [by] the Departments, Districts, and Municipalities. In order make effective the services provided by them and to provide the resources to adequately finance their provision, the General System of Participations of the Departments, Districts and Municipalities, is created. The Districts will have the same competences as the municipalities and the departments for the purposes of distributing the General System of Participations that the law establishes. For these effects, the indigenous territorial entities, once constituted, will be beneficiaries. Likewise, the law shall establish as beneficiaries the protected indigenous [peoples], provided that they have not been constituted [as an] indigenous territorial entity. The resources of the General System of Participations of the departments, districts and municipalities will be allocated to the financing of the services of their responsibility, giving priority to health services, preschool, primary, secondary and higher [media] services of education and public household services of potable water and basic sanitation, guaranteeing the provision and the expansion of coverage with an emphasis on the population [of the] poor. Taking into account the principles of solidarity, complementariness and subsidiarity, the law shall specify the cases in which the Nation may participate in the financing of expenditures on services that are specified by the law as of the competence of the departments, districts and municipalities. The Law shall regulate the criteria of distribution of the General System of Participations of the Departments, Districts, and Municipalities, in accordance with the competences allocated to each of these entities; and [it shall] contain the necessary arrangements to put the General System of Participations concerning them into operation, incorporating principles of distribution that take into account the following criteria: a) for education, health and potable water and basic sanitation: population served and to be served, distribution between urban and rural populations, administrative and fiscal efficiency, and equity. In the distribution by territorial entity of each one of the components of the General System of Participations, priority will be given to factors that favor the population [of the] poor, in the terms that the law establishes. b) For other sectors: population, distribution between urban and rural population, administrative and fiscal efficiency, and relative poverty. Competences may not be decentralized without the prior allocation of sufficient fiscal resources to meet them. The resources of the General System of Participations of the Departments, Districts, and Municipalities will be distributed by sectors as defined by the law. The amount of resources allocated to the sectors of health and education, may not be less than that transferred at the adoption of this Legislative Act to each of these sectors. The city of Buenaventura is organized as [a] Special Industrial, Port, Biodiversity and Ecotourism District. Its political, fiscal and administrative regime shall be determined by the Constitution and the special laws which are enacted to this effect, and [concerning matters] not provided in them, the norms in force for the municipalities. The National Government shall define a strategy of monitoring, review [seguimiento] and integral control for spending executed by the territorial entities with resources from the General System of Participations, to assure compliance with the goals of coverage and quality. This strategy must enhance the opportunities [espacios] for citizen participation in social control and the processes of the rendering of accounts. For the implementation and compliance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the National Government, within a period not exceeding six (6) months from the adoption of this Legislative Act, shall regulate, among other aspects, that which is pertinent to define the events in which adequate provision of the services of [their] responsibility by the territorial entities will be at risk, the measures that can be taken to avoid such situations, and the effective determination of the necessary corrections to deal with them. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH. The Government must present the Bill of Law regulating the organization and functioning of the General System of Participations of the Departments, Districts, and Municipalities, by the first month of the next legislative period. Article 357 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 1 of 1995, No. 1 of 2001 and No. 4 of2007] The General System of Participations of the departments, districts and municipalities will be incremented annually by a percentage equal to the average of the percentage changes that have affected the current revenue of the Nation during the preceding four (4) years, including the one corresponding to the valuation of the budget in execution. For the effects of calculation of the variation of the current revenues of the Nation referred to in the preceding paragraph, the taxes imposed [arbitren] by way of the state of exception will be excluded, save that the Congress, during the following year, has given them permanent character. Seventeen percent (17%) of the resources of the General Proposal [Prop6sito General] of the General System of Participations will be distributed among the municipalities with population of less than 25,000 inhabitants. These resources will be allocated exclusively for investment, conforming to the competence assigned by the law. These resources shall be distributed based on the same criteria of population and poverty as defined by law for the Participation of General Proposal [Paticipaci6n de Prop6sito General]. The Municipalities classified in the fourth, fifth and sixth categories, in accordance with the norms in force, may allocate freely, for investment and other expenses inherent in the functioning of the municipal administration, up to forty-two [percent] (42%) of the resources they receive under the framework [concepto] of the General System of Participations of General Proposition, except those resources to be distributed according to the preceding paragraph. When a territorial entity reaches universal coverage and complies with the standards of quality established by the competent authorities, in the sectors of education, health and/or public housing services of potable water and basic sanitation, with prior certification by the competent national entity, it may allocate the surplus resources to investment in other sectors of its competence. The National Government shall regulate the matter. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 1. The amount of the General System of Participations, SGP, of the Departments, Districts and Municipalities will be incremented based on the amount paid [liquidado] in the prior year. During the years 2008 and 2009 the SGP will be incremented by a percentage equal to the rate of inflation plus a real growth rate of 4%. During 2010 the increment will be equal to the rate of inflation, plus a real growth rate of 3 .5%. Between the year 2011 and the year 2016 the increment will be equal to the rate of inflation, plus a real growth rate of 3%. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 2. If the real growth rate of the economy (Gross Domestic Product, GDP) [Producto Interno Bruto, P1B] certified by DANE for the respective year is more than 4%, the increment in the SGP will be equal to the rate of inflation, plus the real growth rate specified in Transitory Paragraph I of this Article, plus the percentage points of difference [that result] from comparing the real growth rate of the economy certified by DANE and 4%. These additional resources will be allocated to the comprehensive attention to primary infants. The augmentation of the SGP by greater economic growth, that this paragraph concerns, will not create [a] basis for settlement of the SGP in later years. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 3. The General System of Participations, SGP, will have an additional increase to that established in the previous transitory paragraphs for the education sector. The evolution of that additional increase will be as follows: in the years 2008 and 2009 of one point three percent (1.3%), in the year 2010 of one point six percent (1.6%), and during the years 2011 to 2016 of one point eight percent (1. 8%). In each of these years, this System will not generate [a] basis for settlement of the amount of the SGP for the next period [vigencia]. These resources will be allocated for coverage and quality. TRANSITORY PARAGRAPH 4. The National Government shall define the criteria and transitions in the application of the results of the last census taken [realizado], in order to avoid the negative effects derived from variations in the census data on the distribution of the General System of Participations. The System will orient the resources necessary so that in no manner, for reasons of population, may the resources that the territorial entities actually receive be diminished. Article 358 For the effects contemplated in the two previous Articles, current revenues are understood as those constituted by the tributary and contributory tax revenues with the exception of the resources of capital. Article 359 There will not be national revenues with specific allocation. Excepted are: 1. The participations provided in the Constitution in favor of the departments, districts, and municipalities. 2. Those allocated to social investment. 3. Those which, based on the earlier laws, the Nation assigns to entities of social security and to the former intendencies and commisaries [comisarias]. Article 360 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 5 of 18 July 2011] The exploitation of a nonrenewable natural resource will cause, in favor of the State, an economical consideration [contraprestaci6n] in the form of a perquisite [a titulo de regalia], without prejudice to any other right or compensation agreed on. The law shall determine the conditions for the exploitation of the non-renewable natural resources. Through another law, at the initiative of the Government, the law shall determine the distribution, objectives, goals [fines], administration, execution, control, the efficient use and the allocation [destinacidn] of the revenues originating from the exploitation of the nonrenewable natural resources, specifying [precisando] the conditions of participation of its beneficiaries. This set [conjunto] of revenues, allocations, organs, procedures and regulations constitute the General System of Perquisites [Sistema General de Regalias]. Article 361 [Amended by Legislative Act No. 5 of 18 July 2011] The revenues of the General System of Perquisites will be allocated to financing of projects for the social, economical and environmental development of the territorial entities; for the savings for their pension liability; for physical investments in education, for investment in science, technology and innovation; for the generation of public savings; for the fiscal control of the exploration and exploitation of the deposits [yacimientos] and the cognizance and the geological cartography of the subsoil; and to augment the general competitiveness of the economy looking to improve the social conditions of the population. The departments, municipalities and districts in whose territory exploitations of nonrenewable natural resources are undertaken [se adelanten], as well as the municipalities and districts with maritime and river ports through which said resources or products derived from the same are transported, will have the right to participate in the perquisites and compensations, as well as to execute these resources directly. To the effects of fulfilling the objectives and goals of the General System of Perquisites, the Funds for Science, Technology and Innovation; for Regional Development; for Regional Compensation; and for Saving and Stabilization, are created. The revenues of the General System of Perquisites will be distributed as follows: a percentage equivalent to 10% for the Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation; [to] 10% for territorial pension savings, and up to 30% for the Fund for Savings and Stabilization. The remaining resources will be distributed in a percentage equivalent to 20% for the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article, and to 80% for the Funds for Regional Compensation, and Regional Development. From the total allocated to these last two Funds, a percentage equivalent to 60% will be allocated to the Fund for Regional Compensation and to 40% to the Fund for Regional Development. Of the revenues of the General System of Perquisites, a percentage of 2% will be allocated to the fiscal control of the exploration and exploitation of the deposits [vacimientos], and the cognizance and the geological cartography of the subsoil. This percentage will be discounted in [a] proportional form of the total of the revenue of the General System of Perquisites distributed in the previous paragraph. The functions established here will be realized by the Ministry of Mines and Energy or by the entity which will be delegated by it. The sum of the resources corresponding to the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article, and of the resources of the Fund for Regional Development and of the Fund for Regional Compensation, will grow annually at a rate equivalent to half of the total growth rate of the revenues of the General System of Perquisites. The law that shall regulate the system shall define a mechanism to mitigate the diminution of the mentioned resources, which will activate [se presante] as [a] consequence of a drastic reduction of the revenues of the General System of Perquisites. The difference between the total of the revenues of the General System of Perquisites and the resources allocated to the territorial pension savings, to the Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation, to the Fund for Regional Development, to the Fund for Regional Compensation, as well as to those referred to in the second paragraph of this Article will be allocated to the Fund for Savings and Stabilization. The Funds for Science, Technology and Innovation and for Regional Development shall have as an objective [finalidad] the financing of the regional projects agreed on between the territorial entities and the National Government. The resources of the Fund for Regional Compensation will be allocated to financing of projects of development with regional or local impact in the poorest territorial entities of the country, in accordance with the criteria of Unsatisfied Basic Necessities [Necesidades Bdsicas Insatisfechas (NBI)], population and unemployment, and with priority in the coastal, frontier and periphery zones. The duration of the Fund for Regional Compensation will be thirty (30) years, counted from the entry into force of the law referred to in the second paragraph of the preceding Article. This period lapsing, these resources will be allocated to the Fund for Regional Development. The resources of the Fund for Stabilization and Savings, as well as their yields [rendimientos], will be administered by the Bank of the Republic under the terms established by the National Government. In the periods of non-savings [desahorro], the distribution of these resources among the other components of the System shall be governed by the criteria specified by the law referred to in the second paragraph of the preceding Article. In the case that the resources allocated annually to the Fund for Saving and Stabilization exceed thirty percent (30%) of the annual revenues of the General System of Perquisites, such surplus will be distributed among the other components of the System, according to the terms and conditions defined by the law referred to in the second paragraph of the preceding Article. PARAGRAPH 1. The resources of the General System of Perquisites will not form part of the General Budget of the Nation, or of the General System of Participations. The General System of Perquisites will have its own budgetary system which shall be governed by the norms contained in the law referred to in the second paragraph of the previous Article. In any case, the Congress of the Republic will enact biannually the budget of the General System of Perquisites. PARAGRAPH 2. The execution of the resources corresponding to the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article, as well as the resources of the Funds for Science, Technology and Innovation; for Regional Development, and for Regional Compensation, will be done in accordance with the National Plan for Development and the plans for development of the territorial entities. The priority projects that will be financed with these resources will be defined by the collegiate organs [6rganos colegiados] of administration and decision, in accordance with that established in the law that regulates the General System of Perquisites. For the case of the departments referred to in the second paragraph of this Article, the collegiate organs of administration and decision will be integrated by two (2) Ministers or their delegates, the respective Governor or his delegate and a representative number of Mayors [alcaldes]. The law that regulates the General System of Perquisites may create committees of consultative character for the collegiate organs of administration and decision, with the participation of the civil society. As for the municipalities and/or districts referred to in the second paragraph of this Article, the collegiate organs of administration and decision will be composed of a delegate of the National Government, the Governor or his delegate and the Mayor. The programs and/or projects in science, technology and innovation of the departments, municipalities and districts to be financed with the resources from the Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation, will be defined by a collegiate organ of administration and decision, in which the National Government, represented by three (3) Ministers or their delegates, one (1) representative of the National Organ [Organismo] for Planning and one (1) representative from the National Organ [Organismo] in charge of the managing [manejo] of the public policy of science and technology and innovation, who will also exercise the Technical Secretariat, one (1) Governor for each one of the regional planning instances referred to in the next paragraph of this Article; four (4) representatives of the public universities and two (2) representatives of the private universities[,] will have a seat. Likewise, the resources of this Fund for Science, Technology and Innovation, will be distributed in the same proportion in which the resources from the Funds for Regional Compensation and for Regional Development will be distributed to the departments. In no case may [podrdn] the resources of this fund finance current expenditures. The projects of regional impact of the departments, municipalities and districts to be financed with the resources of the Funds for Regional Development and for Regional Compensation will be defined through exercises of regional planning by collegiate organs of administration and decision where four (4) Ministers or their delegates and one (1) representative of the National Organ for Planning, the respective Governors or their delegates and a representative number of Mayors, will have a seat. The law regulating the General System of Perquisites, may create committees of consultative character for the collegiate organs of administration and decision with the participation of the civil society. In any case, the representation of the territorial entities in the collegiate organs is preponderant [mayoritaria], in relation to the National Government. PARAGRAPH 3. The System of Monitoring, Following, Control and Evaluation of the Perquisites [Sistema de Monitoreo, Seguimiento, Control y Evaluaci6n de las Regalias] is created, the objective of which will be to see to the efficient and effective use of the resources of the General System of Perquisites, strengthening transparency, the participation of the citizens and Good Governance. The law referred to the second paragraph of the preceding Article, will define its functioning and the procedure for the imposition of preventive, corrective and sanctioning measures for the inadequate use of the resources of the General System of Perquisites. Within these measures, the suspension of transfers [giros], [the] cancellation of projects and/or the reimbursement of [the] resources, may be applied to the Departments, Municipalities and/or Districts and other executors. The law referred to in the second paragraph of the preceding Article will define equally, the annual percentage of the resources of the General System of Perquisites allocated to its functioning and to that of the System of Monitoring, Following, Control and Evaluation of the Perquisites. This percentage will be deducted in proportional form from the total of the revenues of the General System of Perquisites distributed in the fourth paragraph of this Article. PARAGRAPH 1. TRANSITORY. The National Fund of Perquisites [Fondo Nacional de Regalias] is suppressed from the date determined by the law referred to in the second paragraph of the preceding Article. The National Government will appoint the liquidator and will specify the procedure and the term [plazo] for the liquidation. The uncommitted resources possessed by the National Fund of Perquisites at the entry into force of this Legislative Act, will be allocated by priority to the reconstruction of the vial infrastructure of the country and to the environmental recovery of the zones affected by the winter emergency of 2010-2011. PARAGRAPH 2. TRANSITORY. Concerning the resources that will be allocated to the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article and to the Funds for Regional Compensation, and for Regional Development, their distribution during the first three years will be as follows: during the first year it will correspond to a percentage equivalent to 50% for the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article and of 50% for the funds mentioned [enunciados] in this paragraph; in the same form, during the second year will be allocated a percentage equivalent to 35% and of 65% respectively, and during the third year will be allocated a percentage equivalent to 2 5% and of 75% respectively. In the event that during the period included [comprendido] between 2012 and 2014, the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article, would be inferior to 50% of the annual average, in constant pesos of 2010, of the direct allocations caused less discounts of law between the years 2007 and 2010; and during the period included between the years 2015 and 2020, would be inferior to 40% of the annual average, in constant pesos of 2010, of the direct allocations caused less discounts of law between the years 2007 and 2010, the department, municipality or district may use the resources of the allocation of the respective department in the Fund for Regional Development, until reaching such percentage or until exhausting the resources of the department in the mentioned Fund, whichever occurs first. PARAGRAPH 3. TRANSITORY. In the first year of operation of the General System of Perquisites, twenty-five percent (25%) of its resources will be allocated to the Fund for Savings and Stabilization. During the period 2012-2014, a fifth part of the annual resources of the Fund for Savings and Stabilization will be allocated to the direct allocations treated in the second paragraph of this Article. PARAGRAPH 4. TRANSITORY. The National Government will have [contard] a term of three (3) months counting from the date of promulgation of this Legislative Act, to file [radicar] before the Congress of the Republic the bill of law to which the second paragraph of the preceding Article referrers, that adjusts the regime of perquisites to the new constitutional framework. Once the bill referred to in the preceding paragraph is filed [radicado], the Congress of the Republic will have [contardi] a term that may not exceed nine (9) months for its approval. If this term expires [and] the law has not been enacted on the part of the Congress, the President of the Republic is empowered [sefaculta] for one (1) month to issue decrees with the force of law to regulate the matter. PARAGRAPH 5. TRANSITORY. The General System of Perquisites shall govern from the 1st of January of 2012. If by this date the law treated in the second paragraph of the preceding Article has not entered into force, the National Government will guarantee the operation of the System through transitory decrees with the force of law, that it will issue no later than the 31st of December of 2011. PARAGRAPH 6. TRANSITORY. To assure the execution of the resources in the year [vigencia] of 2012, the National Government will issue the budget of the General System of Perquisites for the mentioned fiscal year [vigenciafiscal], through a decree with the force of law. Article 362 The tributary and contributory assets and revenues or [those] deriving from the exploitation of monopolies of the territorial entities, are their exclusive property and enjoy the same guarantees as the property and income of individuals. Departmental and municipal taxes enjoy constitutional protection and in consequence the law may not transfer them to the Nation, except temporarily in the case of a foreign war. Article 363 The tributary system is based on the principles of equity, efficiency, and progressivity. The tributary laws will not be applied with retroactivity. Article 364 The internal and external indebtedness of the Nation and the territorial entities may not exceed their capacity of payment. The law shall regulate this matter. Chapter 5 Of the Social Purpose of the State and of the Public Services Article 365 The public services are inherent in the social purpose of the State. It is the duty of the State to assure their efficient provision to all the inhabitants of the national territory. The public services will be subject to the juridical regime that the law specifies, may be provided by the State, directly or indirectly, by organized communities, or by individuals. In any case, the State will maintain the regulation, the control, and the vigilance of said services. If for reasons of sovereignty or of social interest, the State, by means of a law approved by the majority of the members of both Chambers, at the initiative of the Government, decides to reserve for itself specific strategic activities or public services, they must indemnify previously and fully those persons who by virtue of the said law become deprived of the exercise of a licit activity. Article 366 The general well-being and improvement of the quality of life of the population are social purposes of the State. A basic objective of its activity will be the solution of the unsatisfied needs of health, of education, of the environment, and of potable water. For these effects, in the plans and budgets of the Nation and of the territorial entities, the social public expenditure will have priority over any other allocation. Article 367 The law shall specify the competences and responsibilities relative to the provision of domiciliary public services, their coverage, quality, and financing, and the regime of rates which will take into account in addition to the criteria of costs, those of solidarity and redistribution of revenues. Domiciliary public services will be provided directly by each municipality when the technical and economic characteristics of the service and the general usefulness permit it and recommend it, and the departments will perform functions of support and coordination. The law shall determine the competent entities for determining the rates. Article 368 The Nation, the departments, the districts, the municipalities, and the decentralized entities may concede subsidies in their respective budgets, so that the persons with lower incomes may pay the rates of domiciliary public services that cover their basic needs. Article 369 The law shall determine the duties and rights of the users, the regime of their protection, and their forms of participation in the management and financing of the State enterprises that provide the service. Similarly, the law shall define the participation of the municipalities or their representatives in the entities and enterprises that provide the domiciliary public services. Article 370 It corresponds to the President of the Republic to specify, subject to the law, the general policies of administration and control of efficiency of the domiciliary public services and to exercise through the Office of the Superintendent of Domiciliary Public Services [Superintendencia de Servicios Pfiblicos Domicilarios] the control, the inspection, and the oversight of the entities that provide them. Chapter 6 Of the Central Bank Article 371 The Bank of the Republic will exercise the functions of the central bank. It will be organized as a juridical person of public law with administrative, patrimonial, and technical autonomy, subject to its own legal regime. Basic functions of the Bank of the Republic will be: to regulate the currency, the international exchanges, and credit; to issue legal tender; to administer the international reserves; to be lender of last resort and banker of the establishment of credit; and to serve as the fiscal agent of the Government. All these functions shall be exercised in coordination with the general economic policy. The Bank will render a report to the Congress on the execution of the policies under its responsibility and on other matters solicited from it. Article 372 The Executive Board of the Bank of the Republic will be the monetary, exchange, and credit authority, in conformity with the functions that the law assigns to it. It will be responsible for the direction and executing of the functions of the Bank and will be made up of seven members, among them the Minister of Finance [Ministro de Hacienda], who will preside over it. The Manager of the Bank [Gerente del Banco] will be elected by the Directive Board and will be one of its members. The five other members, of exclusive dedication, will be appointed by the President of the Republic for proroguable periods of four years, replacing two of them, every four years. The members of the directive board will represent the interest of the Nation exclusively. The Congress shall enact [dictar] the law to which the Bank of the Republic must adhere for the exercise of its functions and the norms subject to which the Government will issue the statutes of the Bank, in which it shall be determined, among other things, the form of its organization, its legal regime, the functioning of its directive board and its council of administration, the term of the manager, the rules for the constitution of its reserves, among them, those of exchange and monetary stabilization, and the allocation of the surplus of its earnings. The President of the Republic will exercise the inspection, oversight, and control of the Bank within the terms that the law specifies. Article 373 The State, by means of the Bank of the Republic, will see to the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency. The Bank may not establish quotas of credit or grant guarantees in favor of individuals, except when the intermediation of foreign credit is involved for its allocation through the institutions of credit, or of transitory support of liquidity for the same. The operations of financing in favor of the State will require the unanimous approval of the directive board, unless operations of the open market are involved. In no case may the legislator be able to mandate quotas of credit in favor of the State or of individuals. Title XIII Of the Reform of the Constitution Article 374 The Political Constitution can be reformed by the Congress, by a Constituent Assembly, or by the people through referendum. Article 375 The Government, ten members of the Congress, twenty percent of the councillors or of the deputies, and the citizens with a number equivalent to at least five percent of the valid electoral roll can introduce Bills of Legislative Act. The enactment [trdmite] of the Bill will take place in two ordinary and consecutive periods. Approved in the first of them by the majority of those present, the Bill will be published by the Government. In the second period the approval will require the vote of the majority of the members of each Chamber. In this second period only initiatives presented in the first period may be discussed. Article 376 By means of the law approved by the members of both Chambers, the Congress can propose that the people in popular voting decide if a Constituent Assembly is [to be] convoked with the competence, the term, and the composition that the same law determines. It is understood that the people convoke the Assembly, if they so approve it by, at least, a third part of those composing the electoral roll. The Assembly must be elected by the direct vote of the citizens, by electoral act that must not coincide with another. With the election, the ordinary faculty of the Congress to reform the Constitution will be held in suspension during the term specified for the Assembly to fulfill its functions. The Assembly shall adopt its own regulations. Article 377 The constitutional reforms approved by the Congress must be submitted to referendum, when they refer to the rights recognized in Chapter 1 of Title II and to their guarantees, to the procedures of popular participation, or to the Congress, if it is so solicited, within the six months subsequent to the promulgation of the Legislative Act, by five percent of the citizens who make up the electoral roll. The reform will be understood to be abrogated [derogada] by the negative vote of the majority of the voters as long as at least one-fourth of the electoral roll has participated in the voting. Article 378 At the initiative of the Government or the citizens under the conditions of Article 155, the Congress, through a law which requires the approval of the majority of the members of both Chambers, can submit to referendum a Bill of constitutional reform which the same Congress includes in the law. The referendum will be presented in such a manner that the voters may freely select from the whole or articles [temario o articulado] what they vote positively and what they vote negatively. The approval of reforms to the Constitution by means of referendum requires the affirmative vote of more than half of the voters and that the number of these exceeds one-fourth of the total [number] of citizens that form the electoral roll. Article 379 The Legislative Acts, the convocation to referendum, the popular consultation, or the act of convocation of the Constituent Assembly may be declared unconstitutional [inconstitucionales] only when the requirements established in this Title are violated. The public action against these acts may only proceed within the year following their promulgation, observing that provided in Article 241, numeral 2. Article 380 The Constitution in force previously [now] becomes abrogated with all its reforms. This Constitution rules from the day of its promulgation. Transitory Dispositions Chapter 1 Transitory Article 1 General elections for the Congress of the Republic are convoked for October 27, 1991. The Congress so elected will have a term that terminates on July 19, 1994. The Registry Office of the Civil Status [Registraduria del Estado Civil] will open a period of registration for cards of citizenry. Transitory Article 2 Delegates [of right] of the Constituent Assembly or present Ministers of the Cabinet may not be candidates in said election. Neither will the functionaries of the Executive Branch who do not renounce their responsibilities before June 14, 1991. Transitory Article 3 Until December 1, 1991, [when] the new Congress is installed, the present [Congress] and its commissions will enter recess and may not exercise any of their attributions either at their own initiative or by convocation by the President of the Republic. Transitory Article 4 The Congress elected on October 27, 1991, will hold ordinary sessions as follows: From December I to 20, 1991, and from January 14 to June 26, 1992. From July 20, 1992, its regime of sessions will be the one specified in this Constitution. Transitory Article 5 The President of the Republic is invested with precise extraordinary faculties in order to: a. Enact the norms that organize the office of the Attorney General and the norms of the criminal procedure; b. Regulate the right of protection [tutela]; c. Take the administrative measures necessary for the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the Superior Council of the Judicature; d. Enact the General Budget of the Nation for the period of 1992; e. Enact transitory norms to relieve [descongestionar] the judicial offices [despachos]. Transitory Article 6 A Special Commission of thirty-six members elected by electoral quotient by the National Constituent Assembly, half of whom may be Delegates, that will meet between July 15 and October 4, 1991, and between November 18, 1991, and the day of the installation of the new Congress, will be created. The election will be made at a session convoked to this effect on July 4, 1991. This Special Commission will have the following attributions: a. To disapprove by the majority of its members, totally or in part, the proposed Bills of decree which the National Government prepares in exercise of its extraordinary faculties conceded to the President of the Republic by the previous Article and in other provisions of this Constituent Act, with the exception of those of appointments. The disapproved Articles may not be issued by the Government. b. Prepare the Bills of law which it considers suitable to develop the Constitution. The Special Commission may present said Bills so that they are debated and approved by the Congress of the Republic. c. Regulate its functioning. PARAGRAPH. If the Special Commission does not approve before December 15, 1991, the Bill of the budget for the fiscal period of 1992, that of the previous year will rule, but the Government can reduce expenditures and, in consequence, eliminate or merge jobs when the computations of the revenues of the new fiscal year so advise. Transitory Article 7 The President of the Republic will designate a representative of the Government before the Special Commission, who has voice [tener voto] and initiative. Transitory Article 8 The decrees issued in exercise of the powers of a State of Siege up to the date of the promulgation of this Constituent Act will continue to rule for a maximum period of ninety days, during which the National Government can convert them into permanent legislation by means of decree if the Special Commission does not disapprove them. Transitory Article 9 Those extraordinary faculties for the exercise of which no special period has been specified will expire fifteen days after the Special Commission ceases definitively in its functions. Transitory Article 10 The decrees which the Government issues in the exercise of the faculties granted in the previous Articles will have the force of law, and control of constitutionality [concerning] them will correspond to the Constitutional Court. Transitory Article 11 The extraordinary faculties to which Transitory Article 5 refers will cease on the day when the Congress elected on October 27, 1991, is installed. On the same date, the Special Commission created by Transitory Article 6 will also cease in its functions. Transitory Article 12 With the purpose of facilitating the reincorporation into civilian life of the guerrilla groups that are demonstrably [decididamente] involved in a process of peace under the direction of the Government, the latter may establish, for one sole time, special peace districts for the elections to public corporations that will take place on October 27, 1991, or appoint directly for one sole time a plural number of Congressmen in each Chamber in representation of the said groups in a process of peace and demobilization. The number will be established by the National Government, according to the assessment that it makes of the circumstances and the advancement of the process. The names of the Senators and Representatives to whom this Article refers will be agreed on by the Government and the guerrilla groups, and their designation will correspond to the President of the Republic. For the effects provided in this Article, the Government may not take into account specific disqualifications and requirements necessary to be congressman. Transitory Article 13 Within the three years following the entry into force of this Constitution, the Government can issue the provisions that are necessary to facilitate the rehabilitation of demobilized guerrilla groups which are involved in a process of peace under its direction; to improve the economic and social conditions of the regions where they were present; and to provide to the territorial organization, organization and municipal competence, public services, and functioning and integration of the collective municipal bodies in said zones. The National Government will deliver periodic reports to the Congress of the Republic concerning the fulfillment and development of this Article. Transitory Article 14 Within the legislature that starts on the first of December 1991, the National Congress, the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Representatives, will enact their respective regulations, Should they not do so, the Council of State will issue them within the subsequent three months. Transitory Article 15 The first election of the Vice President of the Republic will be held in the year 1994. In the meantime, to fill the absolute or temporary absences of the President of the Republic, the previous system of Designate [Designado] will be retained, for which purpose, once the term of the [one] elected in 1990 expires, the Congress in plenum will elect a new [one] for the period from 1992-1994. Transitory Article 16 Except in the case that the Constitution specifies, the first popular election of governors will be held on October 27, 1991. The governors elected on that date will take possession on January 2, 1992. Transitory Article 17 The first popular election of Governors in the departments of Amazonas, Guaviare, Guainia, Vaup~s and Vichada will be made in 1997 at the latest. The law may establish an earlier date. Until then, the governors of the aforementioned departments will be appointed and can be removed by the President of the Republic. Transitory Article 18 While the law establishes the regime of disqualifications for governors, in the elections of October 27, 1991, [the following] may not be elected as such: 1. Those who at any time have been condemned by judicial sentence to penalty depriving freedom, with the exception of those who have been so for political or culpable [culposos] crimes. 2. Those who within the six months prior to the election have exercised as public employees, political, civil, administrative, or military jurisdiction or authority at the national level or in the respective department. 3. Those who are linked through marriage or kinship within the third degree [grado] of consanguinity, second [degree] of affinity, or first civil [degree] with those who register as candidates in the same elections [as] to the Congress of the Republic. 4. Those who within the six months prior to the election have participated [intervenido] in the management of affairs or in the celebration of contracts with public entities, in their own interest or the interest of third parties. The prohibition established in numeral two of this Article does not apply to members of the National Constituent Assembly. Transitory Article 19 The mayors, councilors, and deputies who are elected in 1992 will exercise their functions until December 31, 1994. Chapter 2 Transitory Article 20 The National Government, for a period of eighteen months counting from the entry into force of this Constitution and taking into account the evaluation and recommendations of a Commission formed by three experts in Public Administration or Administrative Law appointed by the Council of State, three members appointed by the National Government, and one in representation of the Colombian Federation of Municipalities, will eliminate, merge, or restructure the entities of the executive branch, the public establishments, the industrial and commercial enterprises, and the companies of mixed economy of the national order with the goal of harmonizing them with the mandates of the present constitutional reform, and especially, with the redistribution of competences and resources that it establishes. Transitory Article 21 The legal norms that develop the principles stated in Article 125 of the Constitution will be enacted by the Congress in the year subsequent to its installation. If in this period the Congress does not enact them, the President of the Republic becomes empowered to issue them within a period of three months. With the issuing of the legal norms that regulate the career, the appointers of the public servants will apply it within a term of six months. The non-fulfillment of the terms specified in the previous paragraph will be cause for misconduct. While the norms to which this Article refers are enacted, those which presently regulate the matter will continue to be valid as long as they are not contrary to the Constitution. Chapter 3 Transitory Article 22 While the law does not specify another number, the first Constitutional Court will be made up of seven magistrates who will be appointed for a period of one year as follows: Two by the President of the Republic; One by the Supreme Court of Justice; One by the Council of State; One by the Procurator General of the Nation. The magistrates so elected will appoint the two remaining, from terms [lists of three] that the President of the Republic will present. The election of the magistrates that corresponds to the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the President of the Republic, and the Procurator General of the Nation, must be done within the five days following the entry into force of this Constitution. The non-fulfillment of this duty will be cause for misconduct, and if the election is not held by any of the organs mentioned within the said term, the same will be done by the remaining duly-elected magistrates. PARAGRAPH 1. The members of the Constituent Assembly may not be designated as Magistrates of the Constitutional Court by virtue of this extraordinary procedure. PARAGRAPH 2. The disability established in Article 240 for the Ministers and Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State is not applicable for the immediate formation of the Constitutional Court that this Article provides. Transitory Article 23 The President of the Republic is invested with the precise extraordinary faculties so that within the two months following the promulgation of the Constitution he issues through decree, the procedural regime of the trials and the actions that must take place in the Constitutional Court. At all times the Congress can abrogate [derogar] or modify the norms established in this manner. While the decree provided in the first paragraph is issued, the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the procedure and expediting of the matters under its responsibility will be ruled by the pertinent norms of Decree 432 of 1969. Transitory Article 24 The public actions of unconstitutionality established before June 1, 1991, will continue to be handled and must be decided by the Supreme Court of Justice within the terms specified in Decree 432 of 1969. Those which have been initiated subsequent to the date cited must be sent to the Constitutional Court in the state in which they are. Once all the processes are decided by the Supreme Court of Justice in conformity with the first paragraph of the present Article, its Constitutional Chamber will cease in the exercise of its functions. Transitory Article 25 The President of the Republic will appoint for the first and only time the members of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judicature. The Administrative Chamber will be formed in accordance with that provided in the first numeral of Article 254 of the Constitution. Transitory Article 26 The processes that are now [being] carried forward in the Disciplinary Tribunal, will continue to be handled without any interruption by the magistrates of the said corporation, and they will proceed to the cognizance of Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judicature from the installation of the same. Transitory Article 27 The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation will enter into [its] function when the extraordinary decrees that organize it and those that establish the new criminal procedures, in development of the faculties conceded by the National Constituent Assembly to the President of the Republic, are issued. In the respective decrees it will be possible, however, to provide that the competence of the different judicial offices becomes assigned gradually as specific conditions allow it, without exceeding June 30, 1992, except for the municipal criminal judges whose term [implantaci6n] may be extended for the period of four years counted from the issuing of this reform, according to what the Superior Council of the Judicature and the Attorney General of the Nation dispose. The current district attorneys' offices of the superior courts, criminal circuit [courts] and superior [courts] of customs, and [courts] of the public order will be transferred to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. The other district attorneys' offices will be integrated into the organic structure and the personnel of the Office of the Procurator General. The Procurator General will specify the denomination, functions, and seats of these public servants, and can appoint those who were filling said posts, retaining their compensation and regime of benefits. The Office of the Procurator Delegated to Criminal [matters] [Procuraduria Delegada en lo Penal] will continue within the structure of the Office of the Procurator General of the Nation. Equally transferred the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation [are] the national directorate and sectional directorates of criminal instruction, the technical body of the judicial police, and the courts of criminal instruction of ordinary justice, of public order and criminal customs. The National Directorate of Legal Medicine of the Ministry of Justice [Direcci6n Nacional de Medicina Legal del Ministerio de Justica], with its sectional offices, will be integrated into the Office of the Attorney General as a public establishment attached to the same. Those dependencies that are integrated into the Office of the Attorney General will be transferred to it with all their human and material resources, in the terms that the law that organizes it specifies. Transitory Article 28 While the law which attributes to the judicial authorities the cognizance of the punishable acts presently punished by penalty of arrest by the police authorities, is enacted, the latter will continue to take cognizance of the same. Transitory Article 29 For the application at any time of the norms that prohibit the reelection of the magistrates of the Constitutional Court, of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Council of State, only those elections that take place subsequent to the promulgation of the present reform will be taken into account. Transitory Article 30 The National Government is authorized to grant pardons, or amnesties for political and related crimes committed prior to the promulgation of the present Constituent Act, to members of guerrilla groups that are reincorporated to civilian life in the terms of the policy of reconciliation. To this effect, the National Government shall issue the corresponding regulations. This benefit may not be extended to atrocities or to homicides committed outside of combat or [to those] exploiting the state of defenselessness of the victim. Chapter 4 Transitory Article 31 After a month following the installation of the Congress elected on October 27, 1991, the Council of State will elect the members of the National Electoral Council in proportion to the representation that the parties and political movements reach in the Congress of the Republic. Said Council will remain in exercise of its functions until September 1, 1994. Transitory Article 32 While the National Electoral Council is formed in the terms that the Constitution establishes, the current composition of this organ will be expanded with four members appointed by the Council of State from terms [lists of three] presented by the parties and political movements which are not represented in the former, in the proportion of the results of the elections held on December 9, 1990, granting two to the majority list and one to each of the lists not represented that followed in [number of] votes. Such appointments must be made before July 15, 1991. Transitory Article 33 The term of the present National Registrar of Civil Status will conclude on September 30, 1994. The term of the National Registrar of Civil Status to whom this Constitution refers will start to run from October 1, 1994. Transitory Article 34 The President of the Republic, within a period no longer than eight working days counted from the promulgation of this Constitution, will designate, for a period of three years, a citizen who will have the function to prevent, of office, or the petition of a [third] party, the use of resources deriving originally from the public treasury, or from outside of it, in the electoral campaigns that are held within the deadline indicated, except the financing of the electoral campaigns in conformity with the Constitution or the law. To this effect, he will have the right to request and obtain the collaboration of the Office of the Procurator General of the Nation, of the Office of the Controller General of the Republic, of all the public entities which exercise attributions of control and oversight, and of the organs which exercise functions of judicial police. The President of the Republic will regulate this norm and will grant to the designated citizen all the administrative and financial support that is indispensable to him. Transitory Article 35 The National Electoral Council will automatically recognize the juridical personality of the parties and political movements represented in the National Constituent Assembly which request it from it. Chapter 5 Transitory Article 36 The present Controller General of the Republic and Procurator General of the Nation will continue to exercise their responsibilities until the Congress, elected for the constitutional period 1994-1998, holds the new election that must be made within the first thirty days following its installation. Transitory Article 37 The first Defender of the People will be elected by the Procurator General of the Nation from a terms[list of three] originating from the President of the Republic within a period of no longer than thirty days. Chapter 6 Transitory Article 38 The Government will organize and make up, within the term of six months, a Commission of Territorial Ordering in charge of realizing the studies and formulating before the competent authorities the recommendations that it considers necessary [del caso] to accommodate the territorial divisions of the country to the provisions of the Constitution. The Commission will perform its functions during a period of three years, but the law may give it permanent character. In such a case, the same law shall establish the periodicity according to which the Commission shall present its proposals. Transitory Article 39 The President of the Republic is vested with precise extraordinary faculties, for a period of three months, to issue decrees with force of law through which the appropriate organization and functioning of the new departments created as such in the Constitution are assured. In exercise of these faculties the Government can abolish the national institutions responsible for the administration of the old intendancies and commissaries and assign to the territorial entities the national assets that in the opinion of the Government belong to them. Transitory Article 40 The creation of municipalities by the Departmental Assemblies prior to December 31, 1990, are valid. Transitory Article 41 If during the two years following the date of promulgation of this Constitution the Congress does not enact the law to which Articles 322, 323, and 324 refer, concerning a special regime for the Capital District of Santa Fe de Bogot5, the Government, for one sole time will issue the corresponding norms. Transitory Article 42 While the Congress enacts the laws which Article 310 of the Constitution concerns, the Government will adopt by decree, the regulations necessary to control the density of population of the Department of Archipelago San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, to achieve the goals expressed in the same Article. Chapter 7 Transitory Article 43 In order to finance the functioning of the new institutions and to attend to the obligations derived from the constitutional reform that have not been offset by a reduction of expenditures or transfers of responsibilities, the Congress can, for one sole time, specify tributary adjustments the product of which is to be allocated exclusively to the Nation. If, within a period of 18 months, counting from the installation of the Congress, the latter has not made such fiscal adjustments and it is evident that the efforts of the administration to make the collection more efficient and to reduce the public expenditure at the national level have not been sufficient to cover these new expenditures, the National Government can, for one time only, to make these adjustments through a decree with force of law. Transitory Article 44 The situado fiscal for the year 1992 should not be less, expressed in constant pesos, than that of 1991. Transitory Article 45 The districts and municipalities will collect as a minimum during the fiscal period of 1992 the participation in the Value Aggregated Tax [Impuesto de Valor Agregado], IVA, established in the Law 12 of 1986. Beginning in 1993, that provided in Article 357 of the Constitution will enter into force, concerning the participation of the municipalities in the current revenues of the Nation. However, the law will establish a gradual and progressive regime of transition from 1993 and for a period of three years, at the end of which the new criteria of distribution specified in the said Article will enter into force. During the period of transition the value that the districts and municipalities receive in terms of participation will in no case be inferior to that collected in 1992, in constant pesos. Transitory Article 46 The National Government will place into functioning, for a period of five years, a fund of solidarity and social emergency, attached to the Presidency of the Republic. This fund shall finance projects of support for the more vulnerable sectors of the Colombian population. The fund may search for, additionally, resources of national and international cooperation. Transitory Article 47 The law shall organize for the regions affected by extreme violence a plan of emergency social security for a period of three years. Transitory Article 48 Within the three months following the installation of the Congress of the Republic, the Government shall present Bills of law concerning the juridical regime of the public services; the determination of competences and general criteria that will regulate the provision of public domiciliary services as well as their financing and regime tariffs; the regime of participation of the representatives of the attendant municipalities and of the users in the management and fiscalization of the State enterprises that provide the services, as well as the ones relating to the protection, duties, and rights of the former and to the specification of the general policies of administration and control of efficiency of the public domiciliary services. If at the conclusion of the two subsequent legislatures the corresponding laws are not enacted, the President of the Republic will put the Bills into effect by way of decrees with force of law. Transitory Article 49 In the first legislature following the entry into force of this Constitution, the Government will present to the Congress the Bills of law referred to in Articles 150, numeral 19, literal (d), Article 189, numeral 24, and Article 335 concerning the financial, stock exchange, [and] insurance [activities], and any other activities related to the management, use, and investment of the resources collected from the public. If at the end of the two subsequent ordinary legislatures the latter does not enact them, the President of the Republic will put the Bills into force by way of decrees with the force of law. Transitory Article 50 While the general provisions which the Government must follow to regulate the financial, stock exchange, [and] insurance [activities], and any other activities connected with the management, use, and investment of resources collected form the public are issued, the President of the Republic will exercise, as his own constitutional attribution, the intervention in these activities. Transitory Article 51 While the corresponding laws are being enacted, the new Board [Junta] of the Bank of the Republic, that the President will provisionally appoint within the month following the entry into force of this Constitution, will assume the functions which presently correspond to the Monetary Board, which it will fulfill in conformity with that provided in the Constitution. The law shall determine the entities to which the funds of promotion [fondos de Foniento] administered by the Bank will be transferred [and] in the meantime, [the Bank] will continue fulfilling this function. The Government will present to the Congress, in the month following its installation, the Bill of law relating to the exercise of the functions of the Bank and the norms subject to which the Government will issue its statutes, in conformity with Article 372 of the Constitution. If, after a year of the presentation of this project, the corresponding law has not been enacted, the President of the Republic will put it into effect by means of decree with the force of law. Transitory Article 52 Beginning with the entry into force of this Constitution, the National Commission of Securities [Comision Nacional de Valores] will have the character of a Superintendency. The National Government shall specify what is necessary for the adequate [functioning] of this institution appropriate to its new nature, without prejudice to what the Government may provide in development of what is established in Transitory Article 20. Transitory Article 53 The Government shall make the administrative decisions and shall make the budgetary transfers that may be necessary to assure the normal functioning of the Constitutional Court. Chapter 8 Transitory Article 54 For all constitutional and legal purposes, the results of the National Census of Population and Housing made in October 15, 1985, are adopted. Transitory Article 55 Within the two years following the entry into force of this Constitution, the Congress will enact, following a study by a special commission that the Government will create for that purpose, a law which will recognize to the black communities which have come to occupy the uncultivated lands in the rural riparian zones of the rivers of the Cuenca del Pacifico, in accordance with their traditional practices of production, the right to collective property over the areas which the same law must demarcate. In the special commission which the previous paragraph concerns, the representatives elected by the communities involved will participate in each case. The property thus recognized will only be alienable in the terms that the law specifies. The same law shall establish mechanisms for the protection of the cultural identity and the rights of these communities and for the promotion of their economic and social development. PARAGRAPH 1. That provided in the present Article may be applied to other zones of the country that have similar conditions through the same procedure and following a study and favorable opinion of the special commission here provided. PARAGRAPH 2. If at the conclusion of the term specified in this Article the Congress has not enacted the law to which it refers, the Government will proceed to do so by way of a norm with force of law. Transitory Article 56 Until the law to which Article 329 refers is enacted, the Government can adopt the necessary fiscal norms and the others concerning the functioning of the indigenous territories and their coordination with the other territorial entities. Transitory Article 57 The Government will form a commission made up of representatives of the Government, the labor unions, the economic associations, the political and social movements, the peasants and the informal workers, so that within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the entry into force of this Constitution, the commission drafts a proposal that develops the norms on social security. This proposal will serve as a basis to the Government for the preparation of the Bills of law that it must present on the issue for the consideration of the Congress. Transitory Article 58 The National Government is authorized to ratify the negotiated treaties or agreements that have been approved by at least one of the Chambers of the Congress of the Republic. Transitory Article 59 The present Constitution and the other acts promulgated by this Constituent Assembly are not subject to any jurisdictional control. Transitory Article 60 [Inserted by Legislative Act No. 2 of 1993] For the effects of the application of the constitutional Articles 346 and 355 and the concordant norms, the National Plan of Development for the years 1993 and 1994, and until the one approved by the Congress of the Republic enters into force, in the terms and conditions established in this Political Constitution, will be that corresponding to the annual laws of the Budget of Revenues and Appropriations of the Nation. The respective bill of law presented by the Government will develop the programs, projects, and plans approved by the National Council of Economic [and] Social Policy (CONPES). For discussion [of] Departmental, District and Municipal Plans of Development, those approved by the respective Public Territorial Corporation will be considered. If the Bill of the Plan of Development has been presented by the respective Head of Administration of the territorial entity, [and] it has not been adopted by the Public Corporation before the expiration of the next period of ordinary sessions after this Legislative Act enters into force, he will give it legal validity by way of Decree. That Plan will apply for the time period established in the law. Transitory Article The Special Commission created by Transitory Article 38, will also be in session between the 1s and the 3 0th of November of 1991, [the] date on which its function will cease. [Note: It refers to Transitory Article 38 of the commission of codification, or 6 of the Constitution.] Transitory Article [Inserted by Legislative Act No. 2 of 2002] All the Mayors and Governors who start their terms between the entry into force of this Legislative Act and the 3 1st of December of the year 2003, shall exercise their functions for a term equivalent to half the time it takes to reach the 31 " of December of the year 2007. Their successors will be elected for a term that will expire on the same [date of] 3 1" of December the year 2007. All Governors and Mayors elected after the 2 9th of October of the year 2000 and before the [entry into] force of this Legislative Act, shall exercise their functions for a term of three years. Their successors will be elected for a term that will expire on the 3 1t of December of the year 2007. In any event, [on] the last Sunday of the month of October of the year 2007, Mayors and Governors will be elected for all Municipalities, Districts and Departments of the country, for institutional periods of four years, which will begin on the 1t of January of the year 2008. The term of four years for the members of the Departmental Assemblies, District and Municipal Councils and ediles [alderman] will begin on the 1st of January of the year 2004. New Transitory Article [Inserted by Legislative Act No. I of 2009] Within the year following the entry into force of this constitutional reform, the Congress shall enact, after investigation on the part of a special commission that the Government will create to this effect, a law that provides for a Special Regime in economic, political, social and administrative [matters], for territories that comprise the ecoregion of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Cidnaga de Zapatosa, the Serrania del Perijd, the Llanos Orientales, Amazonia, Regi6n del Catatumbo, Orinoquia, Choc6 Biogeogrfico, the Montes de Maria, the Mojana, and the various towns of Magdalena and of the Pacific with the objective of reducing the imbalances that exist against their development with the rest of the country. Transitory Article [Inserted by Legislative Act No. 2 of21 June 2011] During the six months following the entry into force of this Legislative Act, the Congress will enact the norms by means of which the distribution of competences between the entities of the State that have as their responsibility [cargo] the formulation of plans, the regulation, the supervision [direcci6n], the management and the control of the services of television[,] shall be defined. Until the corresponding laws are enacted [dicten], the National Commission of Television will continue to exercise the functions that that have been attributed to it by the legislation in force. Transitory Article [Inserted by Legislative Act No. 4 of 7 July 2011] To the end of determining the qualifications [calidades] of the applicants [aspirantes] to enter and to occupy [actualizar] the career offices [cargo de carrera], in accordance with Article 125 of the Political Constitution of Colombia, [and] of those who at present are occupying them with provisional status [calidad] or by commission [encargo], the National Commission of the Civil Service, will make homologous [homologari] the evidence of knowledge established by the public examination, preserving the principle of merit, for the experience and additional studies [beyond] those required to exercise the office [cargo], for which the valuation will be [se calificard] in the following manner: 5 or more years of service : 70 points The homologous [homologada] experience, shall not be taken into account for the evidence of analysis of prior records [antecedentes]. The additional studies, [beyond] those required for the exercise of the office [cargo], will grant [otorgarcin] a score [puntaje] as [follows]: 1. Decree [Titulo] of specialization: 3 points 2. Masters Degree: 6 points 3. Doctoral Degree: 10 points For the technical and assistance level, the additional studies will be taken for the total hours duly certified as [follows]: 1. From 50 to 100 hours: 3 points 2. From 101 to 150 hours: 6 points 3. From 151 hours or more: 10 points The scores recognized for academic qualifications, will not be cumulative between them. This stage of homologation [being] exhausted, the provisional employee, or [employee] by commission[,] will fulfill that established by the National Commission of the Civil Service, that is, the analysis of conduct, which will ultimately make possible [posibilitard] the quantification of the score and its location on the list of eligible [persons]. For this homologation to operate, the public servant must have been exercising the employment provisionally or by commission as of the 31 of December of 2010 and fulfill the qualifications and requirements required in the Convocation of the respective examination. The National Commission of the Civil Service and its equivalent [quien haga las veces de] in other career systems will issue the administrative acts necessary [and] tending to fulfill that established in this Legislative Act. For the employees who are [se encuentren] inscribed in [the] administrative career and who to this date are occupying by commission, for more than three (3) years in an uninterrupted manner, an office that is definitively vacant, and who have obtained an outstanding [sobresaliente] service evaluation [calificaci6n] in the last year, will be evaluated [se les calificard] with the same table established in this Transitory Article, at the time of [the] commencing [realizar] of the respective examinations. The processes of selection for judges and magistrates undertaken [se surtan] in development of numeral 1 of Article 256 of the Political Constitution, relative to the judicial career and teachers [docentes] and official teaching [docentes] directives, are excepted.