You shipped the goods or delivered the service, the Colombian buyer has stopped paying, and you are abroad. The first thing worth knowing is that you probably do not need a judgment from your own courts to collect here. Colombian procedure lets a creditor go straight to enforcement on the strength of documents the debtor himself signed or accepted, and ask for the debtor’s assets to be attached from the moment the claim is filed. That route is open to a foreign company, acting through a Colombian attorney under a power of attorney granted as described further down. What decides whether it works is the paperwork you already have, and how old it is.
The rules below are quoted in Spanish with an unofficial translation in brackets, because the Colombian codes have no official English version. Where a quotation is cut short, the cut is marked […].
What counts as an enforceable document in Colombia
Article 422 of the General Code of Procedure (Law 1564 of 2012) defines it: «Pueden demandarse ejecutivamente las obligaciones expresas, claras y exigibles que consten en documentos que provengan del deudor o de su causante, y constituyan plena prueba contra él, o las que emanen de una sentencia de condena proferida por juez o tribunal de cualquier jurisdicción, o de otra providencia judicial […] y los demás documentos que señale la ley» [unofficial translation: obligations that are express, clear and due, evidenced in documents originating from the debtor or his predecessor and constituting full proof against him, or arising from a judgment ordering payment or performance rendered by a court or tribunal of any jurisdiction, or from another judicial decision […] and such other documents as the law may specify, may be claimed by way of enforcement].
Two points of translation matter here, because both mislead foreign readers. «Sentencia de condena» is a judgment ordering payment or performance, not a criminal conviction. And «cualquier jurisdicción» means any of the branches of the Colombian judiciary, not any country: a judgment obtained abroad is not an enforceable instrument in Colombia by itself, and needs exequatur, which is dealt with at the end of this page.
Three words in the definition do the rest of the work. Express: the amount owed has to be stated, not inferred. Clear: it must be legible from the document without argument. Due: the payment date must have passed. And the document must originate from the debtor, which is the requirement foreign creditors most often miss. An invoice you issued and the debtor never accepted did not originate from him. Where several documents are read together, as they often are, each of them must originate from the debtor and the set as a whole must show an obligation that is express, clear and due.
Your invoice: negotiable instrument or just evidence
Article 772 of the Commercial Code, as amended by Law 1231 of 2008, makes the invoice a negotiable instrument in its own right: «Factura es un título valor que el vendedor o prestador del servicio podrá librar y entregar o remitir al comprador o beneficiario del servicio» [unofficial translation: an invoice is a negotiable instrument which the seller or service provider may issue and deliver or send to the buyer or beneficiary of the service]. The same article requires that no invoice be issued that does not correspond to goods actually and physically delivered or to services actually rendered, and provides that for all legal purposes arising from the character of negotiable instrument «el original firmado por el emisor y el obligado, será título valor negociable por endoso por el emisor y lo deberá conservar el emisor, vendedor o prestador del servicio» [unofficial translation: the original signed by the issuer and by the obligor shall be a negotiable instrument transferable by endorsement by the issuer, and the issuer, seller or service provider must keep it].
Article 774 lists what the invoice must contain, on top of the general requirements for negotiable instruments in Article 621 of the same Code and the tax requirements of Article 617 of the Tax Statute, and then states: «No tendrá el carácter de título valor la factura que no cumpla con la totalidad de los requisitos legales señalados en el presente artículo. Sin embargo, la omisión de cualquiera de estos requisitos, no afectará la validez del negocio jurídico que dio origen a la factura» [unofficial translation: an invoice that does not meet all the legal requirements set out in this article shall not have the character of a negotiable instrument. However, the omission of any of those requirements shall not affect the validity of the transaction that gave rise to the invoice].
That is the difference between a fast case and a slow one, but it is narrower than it looks, and the article’s own last sentence is the part creditors are never told: «La omisión de requisitos adicionales que establezcan normas distintas a las señaladas en el presente artículo, no afectará la calidad de título valor de las facturas» [unofficial translation: the omission of additional requirements established by rules other than those set out in this article shall not affect the character of the invoices as negotiable instruments]. An invoice a client believes is lost to a formal defect may still be a negotiable instrument, if the defect comes from a rule other than Article 774.
One requirement of Article 774 catches foreign sellers regularly. The invoice must state a due date, and «En ausencia de mención expresa en la factura de la fecha de vencimiento, se entenderá que debe ser pagada dentro de los treinta días calendario siguientes a la emisión» [unofficial translation: in the absence of an express statement of the due date on the invoice, it shall be understood that it must be paid within thirty calendar days following issuance]. If your standard terms say ninety days but the invoice itself says nothing, the Colombian default is thirty calendar days, which moves the date your clock started running.
Acceptance: the three working days that work in your favour
An invoice becomes a negotiable instrument through acceptance. Article 773 of the Commercial Code requires the buyer to accept expressly, «por escrito colocado en el cuerpo de la misma o en documento separado, físico o electrónico» [unofficial translation: in writing placed on the body of the invoice or in a separate document, physical or electronic], and Article 772 speaks of the original signed by issuer and obligor. Where there is no signature, what the seller relies on is the tacit acceptance in the final paragraph of Article 773, and that is the first thing a Colombian debtor litigates: «La factura se considera irrevocablemente aceptada por el comprador o beneficiario del servicio, si no reclamare en contra de su contenido, bien sea mediante devolución de la misma y de los documentos de despacho, según el caso, o bien mediante reclamo escrito dirigido al emisor o tenedor del título, dentro de los tres (3) días hábiles siguientes a su recepción» [unofficial translation: the invoice is deemed irrevocably accepted by the buyer or beneficiary of the service if he does not object to its content, either by returning it together with the dispatch documents, as the case may be, or by written claim addressed to the issuer or holder of the instrument, within the three (3) working days following its receipt].
The same article requires that receipt of the goods or service be recorded, on the invoice or on the transport document, with the name, identification or signature of whoever receives it and the date. And it closes a defence that Colombian debtors reach for constantly: «El comprador del bien o beneficiario del servicio no podrá alegar falta de representación o indebida representación por razón de la persona que reciba la mercancía o el servicio en sus dependencias, para efectos de la aceptación del título valor» [unofficial translation: the buyer of the goods or beneficiary of the service may not plead lack of representation or improper representation by reason of the person who receives the goods or the service at his premises, for the purposes of acceptance of the negotiable instrument]. The warehouse clerk who signed for the delivery is enough.
Electronic invoices
The rules above were written for paper, and Colombian invoicing has largely moved to electronic issuance. The Commercial Code anticipates the point in the final paragraph of Article 772: «Para la puesta en circulación de la factura electrónica como título valor, el Gobierno Nacional se encargará de su reglamentación» [unofficial translation: for the circulation of the electronic invoice as a negotiable instrument, the National Government shall be responsible for its regulation]. Article 773 already contemplates acceptance recorded in a separate document, «físico o electrónico» [unofficial translation: physical or electronic].
What that means for you is practical. Do not send us a PDF print-out and assume it is the instrument. Send the electronic invoice file as issued, the record of its delivery to the buyer, and any written acceptance or objection. Whether a given electronic invoice circulates as a negotiable instrument is a question we check file by file against the regulation in force, and it is the first thing we check.
How long you have: three years or five, and it is not the same claim
This is where most foreign creditors are given a single number, and a single number is wrong. There are two clocks, and which one runs depends on what you are suing on.
If you hold a valid negotiable instrument, Article 789 of the Commercial Code applies: «La acción cambiaria directa prescribe en tres años a partir del día del vencimiento» [unofficial translation: the direct action on a negotiable instrument is time-barred three years from the date of maturity]. Three years from the due date on the instrument.
If you are suing on the underlying transaction, on a contract or on other documents originating from the debtor, the civil limitation periods apply. They reach commercial obligations through Article 822 of the Commercial Code, which extends the civil rules on the formation, effects, interpretation and extinction of obligations to commercial ones «a menos que la ley establezca otra cosa» [unofficial translation: unless the law provides otherwise]. That closing clause is the hinge of the whole section: where the invoice is a valid negotiable instrument, the law does provide otherwise, in Article 789. Article 2536 of the Civil Code, as amended by Article 8 of Law 791 of 2002, provides: «La acción ejecutiva se prescribe por cinco (5) años. Y la ordinaria por diez (10). La acción ejecutiva se convierte en ordinaria por el lapso de cinco (5) años, y convertida en ordinaria durará solamente otros cinco (5)» [unofficial translation: the enforcement action is time-barred after five (5) years, and the ordinary action after ten (10). The enforcement action becomes an ordinary action after five (5) years, and once converted it lasts only another five (5)].
So a debt that looks lost at three years may not be, and the two clocks are the first thing to date on any file. There is also a rule pulling the other way that has to be read carefully rather than repeated as a slogan. Article 882 of the Commercial Code governs payment made with negotiable instruments delivered «por una obligación anterior» [unofficial translation: for a prior obligation], and provides that «Si el acreedor deja caducar o prescribir el instrumento, la obligación originaria o fundamental se extinguirá así mismo; no obstante, tendrá acción contra quien se haya enriquecido sin causa a consecuencia de la caducidad o prescripción. Esta acción prescribirá en un año» [unofficial translation: if the creditor allows the instrument to lapse or become time-barred, the original or underlying obligation shall likewise be extinguished; he shall nevertheless have an action against whoever has been unjustly enriched as a consequence of the lapse or limitation. That action shall be time-barred after one year]. Whether that rule reaches an ordinary sales invoice is contested, because the invoice is the instrument of the transaction itself, issued by the seller, rather than an instrument handed over by the debtor for a prior debt, and because Article 774 expressly preserves the validity of the transaction that gave rise to the invoice. We do not assume the point either way. We date every invoice against both clocks and we do not let the shorter one run out.
Stopping the clock, and the one-year service rule
Article 94 of the General Code of Procedure gives the creditor a tool that costs nothing: «El término de prescripción también se interrumpe por el requerimiento escrito realizado al deudor directamente por el acreedor. Este requerimiento solo podrá hacerse por una vez» [unofficial translation: the limitation period is also interrupted by a written demand made to the debtor directly by the creditor. That demand may be made only once]. A written demand letter, once, restarts the period. Two conditions travel with it: the demand must come from the creditor, or expressly on the creditor’s behalf, and you need proof that it reached the debtor. It interrupts limitation, not the lapse periods that run on negotiable instruments. If you are in the thirty-third month, that is the step to take this week.
The same article sets the condition that catches claims against debtors who make themselves hard to find: filing the claim interrupts limitation «siempre que el auto admisorio de aquella o el mandamiento ejecutivo se notifique al demandado dentro del término de un (1) año contado a partir del día siguiente a la notificación de tales providencias al demandante» [unofficial translation: provided that the order admitting the claim or the enforcement order is served on the defendant within one (1) year counted from the day following notice of those decisions to the claimant]. Past that year, the effects only arise with actual service on the debtor.
Interest, and the clause that can cost you all of it
Foreign supply contracts often carry a late-payment rate written for another market. Article 884 of the Commercial Code sets both the default and the ceiling: «Cuando en los negocios mercantiles haya de pagarse réditos de un capital, sin que se especifique por convenio el interés, éste será el bancario corriente; si las partes no han estipulado el interés moratorio, será equivalente a una y media veces del bancario corriente y en cuanto sobrepase cualquiera de estos montos el acreedor perderá todos los intereses, sin perjuicio de lo dispuesto en el artículo 72 de la Ley 45 de 1990» [unofficial translation: where interest on capital is payable in commercial transactions and no rate has been agreed, it shall be the current bank rate; if the parties have not stipulated default interest, it shall be one and a half times the current bank rate, and to the extent that either of those amounts is exceeded the creditor shall lose all interest, without prejudice to the provisions of article 72 of Law 45 of 1990].
Note what the sanction is. It is not an automatic reduction to the cap: the article says the creditor loses interest, and it does so subject to Law 45 of 1990, so the consequence in a given case is argued on both texts. What is not arguable is that the ceiling exists and that exceeding it puts your interest at risk instead of increasing it.
There is a criminal dimension as well, which foreign suppliers are rarely told about. Article 305 of the Criminal Code defines usury as receiving or charging, directly or indirectly, in exchange for a loan of money or for the sale of goods or services on credit, «utilidad o ventaja que exceda en la mitad del interés bancario corriente que para el período correspondiente estén cobrando los bancos, según certificación de la Superintendencia Bancaria […]» [unofficial translation: a profit or advantage exceeding by half the current bank interest rate being charged by banks for the corresponding period, according to certification by the Superintendencia Bancaria […]], whatever form is used to record, conceal or disguise the transaction, and punishes it with imprisonment and a fine. A paragraph added by Law 1142 of 2007 increases the penalty where the advantage triples that rate, «según certificación de la Superintendencia Financiera o quien haga sus veces» [unofficial translation: according to certification by the Superintendencia Financiera or whoever performs its functions].
The current bank rate is not a market rate you negotiate: it is an official rate, certified periodically by the financial supervisor. Article 884 provides that it is proved by a certificate of the Superintendencia Bancaria, the entity whose functions are exercised today by the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, which is the one Article 305 itself names in its later paragraph. The practical conclusion is that the late-payment rate in a contract with a Colombian buyer should be checked against Colombian law before it is signed, not after the debtor raises it.
Attachment: what you can ask for, and what it costs
Article 599 of the General Code of Procedure: «Desde la presentación de la demanda el ejecutante podrá solicitar el embargo y secuestro de bienes del ejecutado» [unofficial translation: from the filing of the claim the enforcing creditor may request the attachment and seizure of the debtor’s assets]. What exists from the filing is the right to ask. The court orders the measure with the enforcement order, and it takes effect once it is registered or communicated to the bank or third party holding the asset, which takes time. No prior judgment is needed, and no separate injunction proceeding, but nothing is frozen on the day you file.
The same article caps the measure: the value of the assets may not exceed twice the total of the debt claimed, its interest and costs prudently calculated, with exceptions where there is a single asset or assets secured by mortgage or pledge. Bank accounts, receivables owed to the debtor by third parties, vehicles and real estate are the usual targets, subject to the list of assets that cannot be attached in Article 594 of the General Code of Procedure, which protects savings deposits up to the amount fixed by the competent authority, public budget and social security resources, and public-use assets.
And it has a price the creditor should know before deciding. Under the same Article 599, a debtor who raises substantive defences, or a third party affected by the measure, may ask the court to order the creditor to post security of up to ten per cent of the current value of the enforcement, to answer for the damage the measure causes, failing which the measure is lifted; the security must be posted within fifteen days of service of the order requiring it. Article 443 adds that if the defences succeed in full, the creditor is ordered to pay costs and the damages the debtor suffered both from the precautionary measures and from the proceeding itself. Attachment is a lever, not a free one.
What the debtor can do, and when
Two separate windows. Formal defects in the document are dealt with under Article 430: «Los requisitos formales del título ejecutivo sólo podrán discutirse mediante recurso de reposición contra el mandamiento ejecutivo. No se admitirá ninguna controversia sobre los requisitos del título que no haya sido planteada por medio de dicho recurso» [unofficial translation: the formal requirements of the enforceable instrument may only be disputed by way of a motion for reconsideration against the enforcement order. No dispute regarding the requirements of the instrument shall be admitted that has not been raised by means of that motion].
If that motion succeeds and the enforcement order is revoked for want of the requirements of the instrument, the same article gives the creditor a way back: within the five days following the order becoming final, a declaratory claim may be filed in the same file without new allocation, and «en el nuevo proceso seguirá teniendo vigencia la interrupción de la prescripción y la inoperancia de la caducidad generados en el proceso ejecutivo» [unofficial translation: in the new proceeding the interruption of limitation and the non-operation of lapse generated in the enforcement proceeding shall remain in effect]. For a creditor near the limitation date, that sentence is the difference between a setback and a loss.
Substantive defences run on a different clock. Article 442 gives the debtor ten days from service of the enforcement order to raise them, stating the facts and attaching the evidence. On a claim based on the debtor’s own documents he may raise any substantive defence; the closed list of payment, set-off, merger, novation, remission, limitation or settlement, together with nullity for improper representation or want of service and loss of the thing owed, applies only where what is being enforced is a judgment, a conciliation or a settlement approved by a body exercising judicial functions, and then only where the defence rests on facts subsequent to that decision.
If the debtor enters insolvency, the race is over
Article 20 of Law 1116 of 2006 is categorical: «A partir de la fecha de inicio del proceso de reorganización no podrá admitirse ni continuarse demanda de ejecución o cualquier otro proceso de cobro en contra del deudor» [unofficial translation: from the date of commencement of the reorganisation proceeding, no enforcement claim or any other collection proceeding against the debtor may be admitted or continued]. Enforcement proceedings already under way are sent to the insolvency proceeding, pending defences are treated as objections for the purpose of ranking the claim, and the precautionary measures pass to the insolvency judge, who decides whether they stay or are lifted.
For a creditor abroad this is the real deadline behind the legal one. Filing early matters because it may produce payment before the reorganisation opens. Once it opens, that advantage is gone: the measures pass to the insolvency judge and payment follows the statutory ranking of claims, whoever attached first.
What you have to send us from abroad
A power of attorney, first. Article 74 of the General Code of Procedure allows it to be granted outside Colombia: «Los poderes podrán extenderse en el exterior, ante cónsul colombiano o el funcionario que la ley local autorice para ello; en ese último caso, su autenticación se hará en la forma establecida en el artículo 251» [unofficial translation: powers of attorney may be granted abroad, before a Colombian consul or before the officer authorised for that purpose by local law; in the latter case, their authentication shall be carried out in the manner established in article 251]. Where the grantor is a company and the consul records that he had before him the evidence of its existence and that the signatory is its representative, those circumstances are taken as established.
The same article contains the requirement that most foreign powers fail: «En los poderes especiales los asuntos deberán estar determinados y claramente identificados» [unofficial translation: in special powers of attorney the matters must be specified and clearly identified]. A general power of attorney drawn in your own jurisdiction, granting broad authority in open terms, does not meet that requirement: under the same article, general powers for all kinds of proceedings can only be granted by public deed. The power has to name the debtor and the matter.
Then the documents. Article 251 requires that documents drawn up in a language other than Spanish be filed with a translation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by an official interpreter, or by a translator appointed by the judge, and that public documents issued abroad be filed «apostillados de conformidad con lo establecido en los tratados internacionales ratificados por Colombia» [unofficial translation: apostilled in accordance with the international treaties ratified by Colombia], or, where the foreign country is not a party to that instrument, duly authenticated by the Colombian consul or diplomatic agent in that country. Apostille and translation run in parallel with the demand letter, not after it.
If you already have a foreign judgment or award
A judgment obtained abroad does not enforce itself here. Article 605 provides that judgments and other decisions of that character rendered by foreign authorities, «en procesos contenciosos o de jurisdicción voluntaria» [unofficial translation: in contentious or non-contentious proceedings], «tendrán en Colombia la fuerza que les concedan los tratados existentes con ese país, y en su defecto la que allí se reconozca a las proferidas en Colombia» [unofficial translation: shall have in Colombia the force granted to them by the treaties in existence with that country, and failing that, the force recognised there for judgments rendered in Colombia]. That second limb is the first filter: reciprocity. If your country does not recognise Colombian judgments, yours will not be recognised here. The exequatur of arbitral awards made abroad is governed by the rules on that subject.
Article 606 then lists the requirements. The judgment must not concern rights in rem over assets located in Colombia when the proceeding began; must not conflict with Colombian public-order law, other than procedural rules; must be final under the law of its country of origin and filed in a duly legalised copy; must not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of Colombian judges; there must be no proceeding pending or final judgment of Colombian courts on the same matter; and, if rendered in contentious proceedings, the defendant must have been duly summoned and heard under the law of the country of origin, which the code presumes from the judgment being final. A last requirement closes the list: that the exequatur requirement itself be met.
Article 607 says where it goes, and this is the part that decides the strategy: the exequatur claim is filed «a la Sala de Casación Civil de la Corte Suprema de Justicia» [unofficial translation: to the Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice], unless a treaty assigns it to another judge. And the sting is in its last rule: «Si la Corte concede el exequátur y la sentencia extranjera requiere ejecución, conocerá de esta el juez competente conforme a las reglas generales» [unofficial translation: if the Court grants the exequatur and the foreign judgment requires enforcement, the competent judge under the general rules shall hear it]. Winning the exequatur is not collecting. You then start the enforcement proceeding you could have started at the beginning.
Hence the advice clients rarely expect. Where the debtor’s assets are in Colombia and your contract documents already satisfy Article 422, filing here directly is one proceeding instead of two. Litigating abroad first and asking about Colombia afterwards is the expensive order of operations.
How we handle a foreign creditor’s file
Send the contract, the unpaid invoices with their delivery and acceptance records, and any written exchange about the debt. We come back with three things: whether what you have already satisfies Article 422 or needs to be completed, the limitation position of each invoice on both clocks, and what the debtor actually owns in Colombia, because a claim against a company with nothing attachable is a different decision from a claim against one with receivables and property.
We act at both stages: the pre-judicial written demand, which also interrupts limitation once under Article 94 and often produces a payment agreement without a court, and the enforcement proceeding with attachment where it does not. Fees are agreed in writing before we start, and we report in English. More than 20 years of practice before the Colombian courts is what we bring; we do not promise outcomes, because no one can.
If your Colombian exposure is contractual rather than overdue, see commercial and corporate law in Colombia. Our full details are on the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign company sue a Colombian debtor without a local judgment first?
Yes. If your documents satisfy Article 422 of the General Code of Procedure, that is, an express, clear and due obligation evidenced in documents originating from the debtor, an enforcement claim can be filed directly in Colombia and attachment of the debtor’s assets requested from the filing.
How long do I have to collect an unpaid invoice in Colombia?
It depends on what you are suing on. On a valid negotiable instrument, Article 789 of the Commercial Code gives three years from the date of maturity. On the underlying contract or on other documents originating from the debtor, Article 2536 of the Civil Code gives five years for the enforcement action and ten for the ordinary action. A written demand letter interrupts the period once, under Article 94 of the General Code of Procedure.
My invoice has no due date on it. When was it payable?
Article 774 of the Commercial Code provides that in the absence of an express due date on the invoice, it is understood to be payable within thirty calendar days following issuance, whatever your general terms say.
The buyer never signed my invoice. Is it still enforceable?
Possibly. Under Article 773 of the Commercial Code the invoice is deemed irrevocably accepted if the buyer does not object, by returning it or by written claim, within the three working days following its receipt. And the buyer may not plead that the person who received the goods or service at his premises lacked authority.
Can I charge the late-payment interest set out in my contract?
Only up to the Colombian ceiling. Under Article 884 of the Commercial Code, where no default interest is stipulated it equals one and a half times the current bank rate, and exceeding the limit puts the interest at risk rather than increasing it. Above that ceiling the conduct may also constitute usury under Article 305 of the Criminal Code. The rate should be checked before the contract is signed.
What do I need to send from abroad to start?
A special power of attorney identifying the debtor and the matter, granted before a Colombian consul or before the officer authorised by local law under Article 74, and the supporting documents. Under Article 251, documents in another language need a translation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an official interpreter or a court-appointed translator, and public documents issued abroad must be apostilled.
I already won a judgment in my country. Is that enough?
No. A foreign judgment needs exequatur, filed before the Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice under Article 607, and must meet the requirements of Articles 605 and 606, starting with reciprocity. If it is granted and the judgment requires enforcement, a separate enforcement proceeding follows. Where the assets are here and your documents are already enforceable, filing directly in Colombia is one proceeding instead of two.
What happens if the debtor enters reorganisation?
Under Article 20 of Law 1116 of 2006, from the commencement of the reorganisation no enforcement or collection claim against the debtor may be admitted or continued, and proceedings already under way are sent to the insolvency proceeding, where the precautionary measures pass to the insolvency judge.
Talk to a lawyer
Send us a message on WhatsApp with the amount, the date of the oldest unpaid invoice and the debtor’s name, and we will tell you whether the file is enforceable here and what it needs. An initial inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship.