Colombia 1991 Constitution (reviewed 2015)

TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

Chapter I

Transitional Article 1

General elections for the Congress of the Republic must be called for October 27, 1991.

The Congress thus elected shall have a term that concludes on July 19, 1994. The Registry Office of Civil Status shall open a registration period of citizen rolls.

Transitional Article 2

Full-fledged delegates of the Constituent Assembly or present Cabinet ministers may not be candidates in said election.

Neither may officials of the executive branch who did not resign their position before June 14, 1991.

Transitional Article 3

Pending the installation on December 1, 1991, of the new Congress, the present Congress and its committees shall take a recess and may not exercise any of their powers either through their own initiative or through convocation by the President of the Republic.

Transitional Article 4

The Congress elected on October 27, 1991, shall hold ordinary sessions as follows:

From December 1 to 20, 1991, and from January 14 to June 26, 1992. Beginning on July 20, 1992, its schedule of sessions shall be the one prescribed in this Constitution.

Transitional Article 5

The President of the Republic is endowed with specific extraordinary powers in order to do the following:

1. Issue the regulations that organize the office of the Attorney General and the regulations of criminal procedures;
2. Uphold the right of citizens to protection;
3. Take the necessary administrative measures for the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Council of the Judicature;
4. Issue the general national budget to be in effect in 1992;
5. Issue temporary regulations to relieve the judicial agencies.

Transitional Article 6

A Special Commission of 36 members elected using the electoral quotient of the National Constituent Assembly, half of whom may be delegates, that shall meet between July 15 and October 4, 1991, and between November 18, 1991, and the day of the installation of the new Congress. The election is to be held at a session convoked to this effect on July 4, 1991.

This Special Commission shall have the following powers:

1. Veto by the majority of its members, totally or in part, the proposed bills which the national government, in exercising its extraordinary powers conferred on the President of the Republic by the above Article and other provisions of the present Constitutional Act, with the exception of those relating to appointments, may request.The vetoed articles may not be decreed by the Government.
2. Prepare proposed bills which it considers appropriate to be implemented in the Constitution. The Special Commission may present said bills so that they may be debated and approved by the Congress of the Republic.
3. Regulate its functioning.

Paragraph

Should the Special Committee not approve, prior to December 15, 1991, the proposed budget for fiscal year 1992, that of the previous year shall apply, but the Government may reduce expenditures and consequently eliminate or merge positions when the computations of revenues of the new fiscal year make this desirable.

Transitional Article 7

The President of the Republic shall designate a representative of the Government before the Special Commission. This representative shall express opinions and take initiatives.

Transitional Article 8

The decrees issued in exercise of the powers of martial law up to the time of the promulgation of the present Constitutional Act shall continue to be in effect for a maximum period of 90 days during which the national government may convert them into permanent legislation by means of a decree if the Special Commission does not veto them.

Transitional Article 9

Those extraordinary powers for whose exercise no special period is specified shall expire fifteen days after the Special Commission finally ceases to function.

Transitional Article 10

The decrees which the government may issue in the exercise of the powers granted by the articles above shall have the force of law and their check for constitutionality shall be the responsibility of the Constitutional Court.

Transitional Article 11

The extraordinary powers referred to in Transitional Article 5 shall terminate on the day when the Congress, elected on October 27, 1991, is installed.

On the same date, the Special Commission created by Transitional Article 6 shall also terminate its functions.

Transitional Article 12

With the purpose of facilitating the reintegration into civilian life of the guerrilla groups that are definitely involved in the peace process under the government’s aegis, the latter may establish, for one time only, special peace districts for elections to public bodies that shall take place on October 27, 1991, or appoint directly for one time only a number of congressmen in each House to represent the said groups in a process of peace and demobilization.

The number shall be established by the national government on the basis of the evaluation that it makes of the circumstances and progress of the process. The names of the senators and representatives to whom this Article refers shall be agreed upon by the government and the guerrilla groups, and their appointment shall be the responsibility of the President of the Republic.

For the effects contemplated in this Article, the government may disregard specific disabilities and requirements necessary for one to qualify as a congressman.

Transitional Article 13

Within the three years following the entering into effect of this Constitution, the government may issue the provisions that may be necessary to facilitate the reintegration of demobilized guerrilla groups who may be involved in a peace process under government aegis; to improve the economic and social conditions of the regions where the guerrilla groups were present; and to provide to the territorial entity the organization and municipal capability, public services, and the functioning and integration of the collective municipal bodies in said regions.

The national government shall present periodic reports to the Congress of the Republic concerning the implementation and development of this article.

Transitional Article 14

Within the legislature that opens on December 1, 1991, the National Congress, the Senate of the Republic and the House of Representatives, shall issue their respective rules of procedure. Should they not do so, the Council of State shall issue them within the subsequent three months.

Transitional Article 15

The first election of the Vice President of the Republic shall be held in the year 1994. In the meantime, to fill the absolute or temporary absence of the President of the Republic, the previous system of Designate shall be retained. For that purpose, once the term of the incumbent elected in 1990 expires, Congress in plenary session shall elect a new Designate for the period from 1992 to 1994.

Transitional Article 16

Except in the cases stipulated in the Constitution, the first popular election of governors shall be held on October 27, 1991.

The governors elected on that date shall take possession of their office on January 2, 1992.

Transitional Article 17

The first popular election of governors in the departments of Amazonas, Guaviare, Guainia, Vaupés, and Vichada shall be held, at the latest, in 1997.

An Act may set an earlier date. In the meantime, the governors and the aforementioned departments shall be appointed and may be removed by the President of the Republic.

Transitional Article 18

While an Act establishes the regime of disabilities for governors, in the elections of October 27, 1991, the following may not be elected as such:

1. Those who, at any time, were condemned by judicial sentence to imprisonment, except for political or similar crimes.
2. Those who, within the six months prior to the election, 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 involved through marriage or kinship to the third level of consanguinity, second of affinity, or first civil with anyone registered as candidate or the Congress of the Republic in the same election.
4. Those who, within the six months prior to the election, were involved in the management of affairs or in the signing of contracts with public entities in their own interest or the interest of third parties.

The prohibition established in numeral 2 of this article does not apply to members of the National Constituent Assembly.

Transitional Article 19

The mayors, councilors, and deputies elected in 1992 shall exercise their functions until December 31, 1994.

Chapter II

Transitional Article 20

For a period of 18 months counting from the entry into effect of this Constitution and taking into account the evaluation and recommendations of a commission made up of three experts in public administration or administrative law appointed by the Council of State, three members appointed by the national government, and one member representing the Colombian Federation of Municipalities, the national government shall eliminate, merge, or restructure the entities of the executive branch, the public institutions, the industrial and commercial enterprises, and the mixed [public-private] companies of national scope with the purpose of harmonizing them with the mandates of the present constitutional reform, especially the redistribution of the jurisdictions and resources that it establishes.

Transitional Article 21

The legal regulations flowing from the principles stated in Article 125 of the Constitution shall be issued by Congress in the year subsequent to its entering into effect. If in this period Congress does not stipulate them, the President of the Republic has the option to issue them within three months.

Beginning with the issuing of the legal regulations that bear on professional matters, the appointers of civil servants shall apply them within six months.

Noncompliance with the terms stipulated in the clause above shall be the cause of a misdemeanor.

While the regulations referred to in this article are issued, those which presently apply to the subject matter shall continue to be in effect as long as they do not violate the Constitution.

Chapter III

Transitional Article 22

As long as an Act does not set another number, the first Constitutional Court shall be made up of seven judges who shall be elected 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; and one by the General Prosecutor of the Nation.

The judges so elected shall designate the remaining two from lists presented by the President of the Republic.

The election of the judges by the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of State, the President of the Republic, and the General Prosecutor of the Nation shall be done within five days following the entry of this Constitution into effect. Non-compliance with this duty shall be the cause of a misdemeanor. Should the election not be held by any of the organs mentioned within the stated deadline, same shall be done by the remaining duly elected judges.

Paragraph 1

The members of the Constituent Assembly are not eligible to be designated as judges of the Constitutional Court by virtue of this extraordinary procedure.

Paragraph 2

The disability established in Article 240 for the ministers and judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Council of State is not applicable for the immediate formation of the Constitutional Court prescribed by this article.

Transitional Article 23

The President of the Republic is vested with extraordinary powers so that within the two months following the promulgation of the Constitution by means of a decree, he/she should stipulate the procedures of the judges and the actions that they must take before the Constitutional Court.

At any time, Congress may repeal or modify the regulations established in this manner.

Pending the issuing of the decree mentioned in the first clause, the functioning of the Constitutional Court and the procedure and expediting of the matters under its responsibility shall be subject to the regulations in Decree 432 of 1969.

Transitional Article 24

Public actions for unconstitutionality before June 1, 1991 shall continue to be heard and must be adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Justice within the deadlines stipulated in Decree 432 of 1969.

Actions which initiated after said date shall be transferred to the Constitutional Court in its current state.

Once all the cases are decided by the Supreme Court of Justice in accordance with the first clause of this article, its Constitutional Division shall cease exercising its functions.

Transitional Article 25

The President of the Republic shall appoint for the first and only time the members of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature.

The Administrative Chamber shall be formed in accordance with the provision in numeral 1 of Article 254 of the Constitution.

Transitional Article 26

The cases that are presently under way in the Disciplinary Chamber shall continue to be heard without any interruption by the judges of the said body, and the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature shall take cognizance of them beginning with the installation of same.

Transitional Article 27

The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation shall begin functioning when the special decrees organizing it and those that establish the new criminal procedures, elaborating on the powers granted by the National Constituent Assembly to the President of the Republic, are issued.

The respective decrees may, however, provide that the jurisdiction of the various judicial organs should be assigned gradually as specific conditions allow, without going beyond June 30, 1992, except for the municipal criminal judges whose installation may be extended up to four years beginning with the issuing of this reform, according to the determination of the Supreme Council of the Judicature and the Attorney General of the Nation.

The current district attorneys’ offices of the higher courts, criminal circuit, higher customs courts, and of the public order shall be transferred to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. The other district attorneys’ offices shall be integrated into the organic structure and the personnel of the Office of the Public Prosecutor. The Public Prosecutor shall stipulate the designation, functions, and seats of these civil servants and may designate whoever came to fill said offices, retaining their system of compensation and benefits.

The Office of the Criminal Public Prosecutor Delegate shall continue within the structure of the Office of the Public Prosecutor.

Also to fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is the national directorate and sectional directorates of criminal investigation, the technical branch of the criminal police, and the criminal investigative magistrates of the ordinary courts of the public and criminal customs divisions.

The National Directorate of Forensic Medicine of the Ministry of Justice, with its sectional subdivisions, shall be integrated into the Office of the Attorney General as a public institution attached to same.

Those jurisdictions that are integrated into the Office of the Attorney General shall be transferred to it with all their human and material resources within the limits stipulated by the Act that organizes the latter.

Transitional Article 28

Pending the issuance of the Act which assigns to the judicial authorities instructions on the actions presently punishable by arrest by the police authorities, the latter shall continue to take cognizance of same.

Transitional Article 29

The application at any time of the regulations that prohibit the reelection of the judges of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and of the Council of State shall relate only to those elections that take place after the promulgation of the present reform.

Transitional Article 30

The national government is authorized to grant pardons, commutations, or amnesties for political and similar crimes committed prior to the promulgation of the present Constitutional Act to members of guerrilla groups who return to civilian life within the context of the policy of reconciliation. To this effect, the national government shall issue the appropriate regulations. This benefit may not be extended to heinous crimes or to homicides committed outside of combat or to those who prey on defenseless victims.

Chapter IV

Transitional Article 31

One month following the installation of the Congress elected on October 27, 1991, the Council of State shall elect the members of the National Election Commission in proportion to the representation obtained by the parties and political movements in the Congress of the Republic.

Said Council shall remain in office and exercise its functions until September 1, 1994.

Transitional Article 32

Pending the formation of the National Election Commission within the limits established by the Constitution, the actual composition of this organ shall be expanded by four members designated by the Council of State from lists presented by the parties and political movements which are not represented in it 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 in descending order of the voting results. Such appointments shall be made before July 15, 1991.

Transitional Article 33

The term of the present National Registrar of Civil Status shall terminate on September 30, 1994.

The term of the National Registrar of Civil Status to whom this Constitution refers shall run from October 1, 1994.

Transitional Article 34

The President of the Republic, within no more than eight days from the promulgation of this Constitution, shall designate, for a period of three years, a citizen whose function shall be to prevent routinely or upon the petition of another the use of resources originating from the public treasury or from outside in the electoral campaigns held within the deadline indicated, except when the financing of the electoral campaigns is done in accordance with the Constitution and statute. To this effect, the said citizen shall have the right to request and obtain the cooperation of the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Nation, of the Office of the General Controller of the Republic, of all the public entities which exercise control and oversight powers, and of those organs which exercise criminal police functions.

The President of the Republic shall regulate this arrangement and shall lend to the designated citizen all the administrative and financial support that are indispensable to him/her.

Transitional Article 35

The National Election Commission shall automatically recognize the legal identity of the parties and political movements represented in the National Constituent Assembly which so request.

Chapter V

Transitional Article 36

The present Controller General of the Republic and General Prosecutor of the Nation shall continue to exercise their responsibilities until such time as Congress, elected for the constitutional period 1994–1998, arranges for the new election that must be held within the first 30 days following its installation.

Transitional Article 37

The first Ombudsman shall be selected by the General Prosecutor of the Nation from a short list originating from the President of the Republic within 30 days at the most.

Chapter VI

Transitional Article 38

The government shall organize and make up, within six months, a Commission of Territorial Planning entrusted with realizing the studies and formulating before the competent authorities the recommendations that it considers in order to adjust the country’s territorial divisions to the provisions of the Constitution. The Commission shall perform its functions during a period of three years, though an Act may assign it a permanent character. In such a case, the same law shall determine the periodicity according to which the Commission is to present its proposals.

Transitional Article 39

The President of the Republic shall be vested with specific extraordinary powers for a period of three months in order to issue decrees with the force of law through which the organization and functioning of the new departments created by this Constitution are assured.

In the exercise of these powers, the Government may abolish the national institutions entrusted with the administration of the former intendancies and police districts and assign to the territorial entities the national resources that belong to them, in the Government’s opinion.

Transitional Article 40

The establishment of municipalities by the departmental assemblies prior to December 31, 1990 remains valid.

Transitional Article 41

If, during the two years following the date of promulgation of this Constitution Congress does not adopt an Act to which Articles 322, 323, and 324 refer on a special regime for the Capital District of Santa Fe de Bogotá, the government, on one occasion exclusively, may issue the appropriate regulations.

Transitional Article 42

Pending the issuance by Congress of the Acts referred to in Article 310 of the Constitution, the government shall adopt by decree the regulations necessary to control the density of population of the archipelago Department of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, empowered for the purposes expressed in the same Article.

Chapter VII

Transitional Article 43

In order to finance the operation of the new institutions and to attend to the obligations derived from constitutional reform that have not been offset by a reduction in expenditures or transfers of responsibilities, Congress may, on one occasion only, prescribe tax adjustments whose yield is to be designated exclusively for the Nation.

If, within a period of 18 months from the installation of Congress, it has not passed such fiscal adjustments and it is evident that the efforts of the administration to make the collection more efficient and to reduce public expenditures at a national level have been insufficient to cover these new expenditures, the National Government may, on one occasion only, make these adjustments through a decree with the force of law.

Transitional Article 44

The fiscal situation for the year 1992 should not be worse, expressed in constant pesos, than that of 1991.

Transitional Article 45

The districts and municipalities shall collect as a minimum during the fiscal year of 1992 the shares of the IVA (Value Added Tax) established by Act No. 12 of 1986. Beginning in 1993, the provisions in Article 357 of the Constitution shall enter into effect concerning the share of the municipalities in the nation’s current revenues.

However, an Act shall establish a gradual and progressive transition schedule beginning in 1993 and for a period of three years at the end of which the new criteria of distribution stipulated in the said Article shall enter into effect. During the transition period, the value received by the districts and municipalities in terms of revenue sharing shall in no case be less than the amount collected in 1992, in constant pesos.

Transitional Article 46

The national government shall place into operation, for a period of five years, a solidarity and social emergency fund under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President of the Republic. This fund shall finance assistance projects for the more vulnerable sectors of the Colombian population.

The fund must seek, additionally, resources from states and international cooperation.

Transitional Article 47

An Act shall organize a social emergency security plan for a period of three years for the regions affected by extreme violence.

Transitional Article 48

Within the three months following the installation of the Congress of the Republic, the government shall present bills relative to the juridical regime of the public services; the determination of jurisdictions and general criteria that shall regulate the lending of public home services as well as their financing and rate schedule; also, the schedule of participation of representatives of municipalities involved and of users in the management and funding of the State enterprises that provide the services, as well as matters relating to the protection, duties, and rights of the said users and to the stipulation of the general policies of administration and efficiency control of the public home services.

If, at the conclusion of the two subsequent legislatures, the appropriate laws are not issued, the President of the Republic shall put the bills into effect through decrees with the force of law.

Transitional Article 49

In the first legislature following the entry into effect of this Constitution, the government shall present to Congress the bills referred to in Article 150, numeral 19, letter (d), Article 189, numeral 24, and Article 335 relating to the financial, stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, application, and investment of resources collected from the public.

If at the end of the two subsequent ordinary legislatures, the latter does not issue them, the President of the Republic shall put the bills into effect through decrees with the force of law.

Transitional Article 50

Pending the prescription of the general provisions which the government must follow to regulate the financial, stock exchange, insurance, and any other activities connected with the management, application, and investment of resources collected form the public, the President of the Republic shall exercise, under his/her own constitutional authority, initiative in these activities.

Transitional Article 51

While the corresponding laws are being dictated, the new executive board of the Bank of the Republic to be provisionally appointed by the President within the month following the entry into force of this Constitution, shall assume the functions which presently correspond to the Monetary Board, which he/she shall execute in accordance with that which is provided in the Constitution.

An Act shall determine the entities to which development funds administered by the Bank are transferred. In the meantime, the Bank shall continue exercising this function.

The government shall present to Congress, in the month following its installation, the bill relating to the exercise of the functions of the Bank and the regulations on whose basis the government shall issue its ordinances in accordance with Article 372 of the Constitution.

If after one year following the presentation of the bill the corresponding Act has not been adopted, the President of the Republic shall bring it into effect by way of a decree having the force of law.

Transitional Article 52

Beginning with the entry into force of this Constitution, the National Evaluation Committee shall have the character of a superintendent. The national government shall prescribe what is necessary for the outfitting of the said institution appropriate to its new character, without prejudice to what the government may prescribe in implementing that which is established in Transitional Article 20.

Transitional Article 53

The government shall make the administrative decisions and shall effect the budgetary transfers that may be necessary to insure the normal functioning of the Constitutional Court.

Chapter VIII

Transitional Article 54

For the purpose of all constitutional and legal applications, the results of the National Population and Housing Census of October 15, 1985, shall be used.

Transitional Article 55

Within the two years following the entry into effect of the present Constitution, Congress shall issue, following a study by a special commission that the government shall create for that purpose, a law which shall take cognizance of the Black communities which have come to occupy uncultivated lands in the rural zones adjoining the rivers of the Pacific Basin, in accordance with their traditional cultivation practices and the right to collective property over the areas which the same law shall demarcate.

In the special commission referred to in the previous clause, representatives elected by the communities involved shall participate in each case.

The property thus recognized shall only be transferable within the limits stipulated by an Act.

The same law shall establish mechanisms for the protection of the cultural identity and the rights of these communities and for the progress of their economic and social development.

Paragraph 1

Provisions in the present article may be applied to other zones of the country that have similar conditions through the same procedure, following a study and the favorable opinion of the special commission prescribed here.

Paragraph 2

If at the conclusion of the deadline stipulated in this Article Congress shall not have issued the Act to which it refers, the government shall proceed to do so through a decree having the force of law.

Transitional Article 56

Pending the issuance of the Act referred to in Article 329, the Government may prescribe the necessary fiscal regulations and other matters relating to the functioning of the indigenous [Indian] territories and their coordination with the other territorial entities.

Transitional Article 57

The government shall form a commission made up of representatives of the Government, labor unions, economic associations, political and social movements, and regular farmers and workers so that, within a period of 180 days from the entry into force of this Constitution, the commission may draft a proposal that would elaborate regulations on social security.

This proposal shall serve as a basis to the Government for the preparation of bills that it shall present on the issue for the consideration of Congress.

Transitional Article 58

The national government is authorized to ratify the negotiated treaties or agreements that may have been approved by at least one of the Houses of the Congress of the Republic.

Transitional Article 59

The present Constitution and the other acts promulgated by this Constituent Assembly are not subject to any kind of legal review whatsoever.

Transitional Article 60

For the purposes of the application of constitutional Articles 346 and 355 and the rules pertaining thereto, the National Development Plan for the years 1993 and 1994, and until it enters into force the one approved by the Congress of the Republic, in the terms and conditions established in the present Political Constitution, shall be that which corresponds to the annual laws on the National Budget of Revenues and Appropriations. The respective bill presented by the Government shall develop the programs, projects, and plans approved by the National Council of Economic and Social Policy (CONPES).

In discussing Departmental, District, and Municipal Plans of Development, those approved by the respective Territorial Public Body shall be considered.

If the Draft Development Plan has been presented by the respective Head of Administration of the territorial entity, [and] it has not been enacted by the Public Body before the expiration of the ordinary sessions period following the entry into force of this Legislative Act, he/she shall impart to it its legal validity. This Plan shall apply for the time period established by an Act.

Transitional Article 61

The Special Commission created by Transitional Article 38 shall also meet between November 1 and November 30, 1991, date on which it shall cease to function.

Clarifying Note: The reference is to Transitional Article 38 of the Codification Commission 6 of the Constitution.

Transitional Article 62

All mayors and Governors who begin their term between the entry into force of the present Legislative Act and December 31, 2003, shall exercise their functions or a period equivalent to half of the time necessary to reach December 31, 2007. Their successors shall be elected for a period which shall end on the December 31 of the year 2007.

All Governors and mayors who have been elected later than October 29, 2000 and prior to the entry into force of the present Legislative Act shall exercise their functions for a period of three years. Their successors shall be elected for a period ending on December 31, 2007.

In any case, mayors and Governors for all municipalities, districts and departments shall be elected on the last Sunday of the month of October of the year 2007 for official terms of four years, which shall start on January 1, 2008.

The term of four years of the members of the departmental assemblies, the district and municipal councilors and the aldermen/alderwomen shall start on January 1, 2004.

Transitional Article 63

In the year following the entry into force of the present constitutional reform Congress, after the study of a special commission created by the Government for this end, shall issue an act which deals with a “Special Economic, Political, Social and Administrative System for the territories which comprise the ecoregions of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Ciénaga de Zapatosa, Serranía del Perijá, Llanos Orientales, Amazonía, Catatumbo Region, Orinoquia, Chocó Biogeográfico, Montes de María, Mojana, and the multi-plant villages (pueblos polífitos) of Magdalena and the Pacific, with the objective of reducing the disparities which exist with respect to their development in relation to the rest of the country.

Transitional Article 64

Within six months following the entry into force of the present Legislative Act Congress shall issue the rules which define the distribution of competences among the State entities which are charged with the formulation of plans, the regulation, direction, management and control of the television services. While the relevant statutes are enacted, the National Television Commission shall continue to exercise the functions which have been assigned to it by the legislation in force.

Transitional Article 65

[Declared unconstitutional]

Transitional Article 66

Transitional justice instruments shall be exceptional. Their principal objective will be the end of the internal armed conflict facilitation and the achievement of a stable and lasting peace, with the guarantees of non-repetition and security for all Colombians. Such instruments shall ensure at the highest possible level, victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation. A statute may authorize, within the framework of a peace agreement, a different treatment for illegal armed groups who have participated in the armed conflict and for related state agents.

A statute to guarantee the state duties of investigation and punishment will establish transitional justice instruments of a judicial or extrajudicial nature. In any case mechanisms of extrajudicial nature will be applied to clarify the truth and reparations to victims.

A Truth Commission shall be created by statute. Such statute shall establish its purpose, composition, powers and functions. The Commission powers shall include recommendations for the implementation of transitional justice instruments, including the application of selection criteria.

Prioritization and selection criteria shall be inherent to transitional justice instruments. The Attorney General of the Nation will determine the prioritization criteria for the initiation of criminal proceedings. Notwithstanding the general obligation of the State to investigate and punish serious human rights’ violations and international humanitarian law crimes, in the context of transitional justice, the Congress, at the initiative of the Government, may determine by state the selection criteria to investigate crimes against humanity, genocide, or war crimes committed in a systematic manner. Congress may also establish cases, requirements and conditions to suspend executions of a sentence; establish the cases in which the application of extrajudicial sanctions, alternative sanctions, or special modalities for the implementation and enforcement of the sentence may be used; and authorize the conditional waiver of criminal prosecution of unselected cases. The statutory law will take into account the severity and representativeness of cases to determine the selection criteria.

In any case, the above mentioned special criminal constitutional instruments application shall be subject to conditions such as the abandonment of weapons, recognition of responsibility, contribution to discovering the truth and reparation for victims, the release of hostages, and the decoupling of minors who are illegally recruited and held by illegal armed groups.

Paragraph 1

The application of transitional justice instruments to illegal armed groups who took part in hostilities will be limited to those who demobilize collectively under a peace agreement or individually in accordance with established procedures and with the authorization of the National Government.

Paragraph 2

Under no circumstances transitional justice instruments may benefit illegal armed groups that have not been part of the internal armed conflict, or any member of an armed group that once demobilized continues committing crimes.

Transitional Article 67

For the purpose of participating in politics, a statute shall establish which crimes will be considered related to political crimes. Crimes against humanity and genocide committed in a systematic manner may not be considered related to political crimes. Therefore, those who have been convicted and sanctioned for such crimes cannot participate in politics or be elected.

New Transitional Article. (from Legislative Act No. 2 of 2015)

The National Government should present before October 1, 2015, a draft statutory law to regulate the functioning of the organs of the government and the judicial administration.

The following provisions will be in effect until such statutory law enters into force:

1. The organs of government and judicial administration will be conformed as follows
   1. The members of the Judicial Government Council should be designated or elected within two months counted from the entry into force of this Legislative Act. The election of representatives of magistrates of tribunals and justices and the representative of judicial employees will be made via a direct vote among peers in the Judicial Branch. The elections will be organized by the Inter-institutional Commission of the Judicial Branch.
   2. The permanent members and those of exclusive dedication to the Judicial Government Council should be elected within a period of two months prior to the election or designation of the other members of the first Judicial Government Council.For the first composition of the Judicial Government Council, one of the three permanent members and of exclusive dedication will be elected for a period of two years, the other will be elected for a period of three years.
   3. For the first Judicial Government Council, the members of this body, excluding the Manager of the Judicial Branch, will have a period of two months beginning from its election, to elect the Manager of the Judicial Branch.
   4. The Executive Office of Judicial Administration will from now on be named the Management of the Judicial Branch and all of the dependencies of the former will now be part of the latter. All of the dependencies belonging to the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature will be part of the Management of the Judicial Branch, without prejudice of what the law establishes or the Judicial Government Council.
   5. The Inter-institutional Commission of the Judicial Branch and the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Council of the Judicature, will continue to exercise their functions until the Judicial Government Council is integrated and the Manager of the Judicial Branch is elected. These organs will make a report about the exercise of the functions established by law within two months following the entry into force of this Legislative Act.
   6. The Administrative Chamber of the Sectional Judicial Councils and the Sectional Executive Offices of Judicial Administration will continue to exercise their functions until a statutory law is issued. They will also exercise the functions established in Article 85, number 18, of the Law 270 of 1996.
   7. It will be guaranteed, without a solution to continuity, the career rights of the Magistrates and employees of the Administrative Chamber of the Sectional Judicial Councils, while the institution, transformation, or linkage with the offices of the judicial institutions or any other of equal or superior category, according to provisions of the statutory law. It will also be guaranteed the career rights of the employees of the Supreme Council of the Judicature.
   8. The career merit exams that are currently administered by the Unit of Judicial Career will continue its course in the Administration of the Judicial Branch without solution to continuity.
2. While the statutory law is issued, the Judicial Government Council should exercise the functions established in Article 79, items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7; Article 85, items 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 19, 22, 27, and 29; Article 88, items 2 and 4; and Article 97, items 1 and 2 of Law 270 of 1996. In addition, it will regulate provisionally the processes of public call that that are administered by the Management of the Judicial Branch.
3. While the statutory law is issued, the Management of the Judicial Branch will exercise the functions established in Article 79, item 3; Article 85, item 1, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 24, and 28; Article 88, item 1; Article 99, item 1 to 9; and will be the authority that nominates the established positions in Article 131, item 9 of the Law 270 of 196. The functions established in Article 85, item 8 and 11 will be carried out under the supervision of the Career Commission.
4. The Judicial School “Rodrigo Lara Bonilla” will carry out, in addition to the functions already established to it, those established in Article 85, item 23, of the Law 270 of 1996.
5. The High Courts of the Tribunals will continue to carry out the function of nominating authority established in Article 131, items 5 and 7 of Law 279 of 1996. In the exercise of this function they should always respect the election list.
6. The nominating authority for the Sectional Commissions of Judicial Discipline will be the National Commission of Judicial Discipline. The nominating authority for the Administrative Chambers of the Sectional Judicial Councils, while they last, will be the Judicial Government Council.
7. The nominating authorities established in Article 131, item 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 of Law 270 of 1996 will continue the exercise of this function.

Items 3, 4, 5, and 7 of Article 97 and item 6 of Article 131 of the Law 270 of 1996 is repealed.