Colombia

Profile

Relevant Laws

• The Anti-corruption Act, Law 1474, of 2011: criminalizes active and passive bribery, foreign bribery, political corruption, and money laundering, among other crimes and establishes administrative, criminal, and fiscal sanctions as well as creating new agencies to tackle corruption.
  • English version
• Transnational Bribery Law, Law 1778 of 2016: creates direct corporate liability for bribes paid abroad and increases financial sanctions for individuals and corporations engaged in bribery. Legal entities subject to investigation by the Superintendence of Companies may also receive credit, and reduce potential penalties, for establishing compliance programs, self-reporting misconduct, and cooperating with authorities.

Relevant International Agreements

• United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
• Inter-American Convention against Corruption (ICAC)
• OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Anti-Bribery Convention)
• Member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Committee

Enforcement Authorities

• Superintendence of Companies
• National Office of the Attorney General (OAG)
• Special Directorate for Financial Investigations
• Secretary of Transparency

Publicly-Available Resources

• Colombian Secretariat of Transparency, Useful Legal Mechanisms for Combatting Corruption
• OECD profile page for Colombia
• OECD Working Group on Bribery page for Colombia
• OAS Country Reports
• GAN Integrity Risk & Compliance Country Risk Report for Colombia
• U.S. Department of State Investment Climate Statements for Colombia
• State Department Country Reports
• Transparency and Anticorruption Observatory for Colombia, an online portal designed to facilitate public information sharing regarding anticorruption indicators and to provide centralized access to information on sanctions and penalties imposed by government agencies: