COLOMBIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Rodrigo Castillo Cottin, Ana María López and Alejandra Becerra, Rimon, P.C.
Rimôn, P.C. Calle 84A No 10–33
Oficina 803 Bogotá DC 110221 Colombia Tel: +57 1514 2858 Email: bogota@rimonlaw.com Web: www.rimonlaw.com
Colombia: Fiscal Emergency, Constitutional Limits, and Political Transition Introduction Between December 2025 and February 2026, the Colombian government declared two successive states of emergency and issued exceptional regu - lations that overrode legislative acts by executive decree. For a country in which the tax system had already undergone constant reform, the shift towards legislating by decree marked a qualitative rupture: no deference to congressional oversight and a fracture of the constitutional balance of powers. The Constitutional Court, in Ruling C-075 of 2026, declared the first emergency unconstitutional by majority vote. The court concluded that the govern - ment failed to demonstrate the existence of a grave, imminent and exceptional crisis that could not be addressed through ordinary legal mechanisms. Emer - gency powers, particularly those relating to the crea - tion or modification of taxes, must meet strict consti - tutional standards of necessity, proportionality, and direct connection to the causes of the crisis. As a consequence, Decree 1390 of 2025 was annulled for exceeding constitutional limits and undermining the principle of separation of powers. The second emergency (Decree 150 of 2026) remains in force, though the Constitutional Court, in its 24 June 2026 ruling, limited revenue collection exclusively to emer - gency relief in 181 municipalities at risk due to the rainy season, as reported by the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management ( Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres , or UNGRD).
A new government led by Abelardo de la Espriella, elected on 21 June 2026 in the presidential election runoff, will take office on 7 August 2026 with an ambi - tious fiscal adjustment programme of COP70 trillion. This article examines the implications of these devel - opments for legal certainty in Colombia during the ongoing political transition. The pattern: Congress rejects, the government decrees Congress rejected three successive tax reform pro - posals between 2024 and 2025, legitimately exercis - ing its constitutional prerogative on each occasion. In response, the executive branch of the government declared an economic emergency that the Constitu - tional Court suspended, under the doctrinal frame - work of Interim Resolution 272 of 2023, then extended through Interim Resolution 082 of 2026, and ultimately declared unconstitutional. On 9 December 2025, the Fourth Committee of the Senate voted nine to four to reject the latest tax bill for fiscal year 2026. Just 13 days later, on 22 December 2025, the execu - tive branch declared a State of Economic and Social Emergency through Decree 1390 of 2025, invoking Article 215 of the Constitution. The legal community responded immediately, arguing that states of exception cannot be declared for rea - sons of mere political convenience. Congress’s rejec - tion of a tax bill constitutes a legitimate exercise of a constitutional prerogative, not a supervening crisis justifying extraordinary executive powers.
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