| Topics |
| Appointment of Vice Minister of Energy |
| Creation of the National Mining Safety System |
| New list of minerals of strategic interest |
| New criteria to prove the economic capacity of applicants for concession agreements and assignees of rights or areas |
| Deduction of royalties from income tax |
| Royalties base price |
| Bills |
- DECREES – MINISTRY OF ENERGY
| Topic | Appointment of Vice Minister of Energy |
| Number | 1804 |
| Date | October 30, 2023 |
| Description | The President of the Republic appointed Javier Eduardo Campillo Jiménez as Vice Minister of Energy. Mr. Campillo is an electronic engineer with a master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical, environmental, and energy engineering. Additionally, he was dean of the engineering faculty of the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar. |
- DRAFT DECREES – MINISTRY OF MINES AND ENERGY (“MME”)
| Topic | Creation of the National Mining Safety System |
| Description | The MME put out a draft decree for public consultation that seeks to create the National Mining Safety System – NMSS. Per the draft decree, the NMSS aims to strengthen mining safety in the national territory by managing the prevention and control of occupational risks and work accidents in the mining activity. Also, the NMSS aims to define intervention strategies and management of occupational hazards that lead to adopting good practices. The NMSS will comprise the National Mining Safety Commission, the Executive Committee, the technical committees, and the regional mining safety commissions. Those will be bodies for orientation, direction, and coordination. |
- RESOLUTIONS – NATIONAL MINING AGENCY (“NMA”)
| Topic | New list of minerals of strategic interest |
| Number | 1006 |
| Date | November 30, 2023 |
| Description | On July 10, 2023, through Agreement 01 of 2023, the Board of Directors of the NMA adopted the guidelines for determining minerals of strategic interest for the country. After the enactment of the Agreement, a methodology was established and developed to apply the defined policies. Based on such guidelines and methods, it was considered necessary to supersede Resolution 180102 of January 30, 2012, and to determine a new list of minerals of strategic interest for the country. Therefore, through the resolution, the NMA determined a new list of minerals of strategic interest for the country. Some of those strategic minerals are copper, nickel, zinc, platinum group metals, iron, gold, emeralds, construction materials, and metallurgical coal. Also, the NMA superseded Resolution 180102 of January 30, 2012. |
| Topic | New criteria to prove the economic capacity of applicants for concession agreements and assignees of rights or areas |
| Number | 1007 |
| Date | November 30, 2023 |
| Description | Through the resolution, articles 4, 5, and 6 of Resolution 352 of 2018 are modified. Such modifications are related to the documentation to prove the economic capacity and the criteria to evaluate it. Among other modifications, the resolution eliminated the applicant’s possibility of proving its financial capacity by providing the financial statements of the parent or controlling company when the applicant is in a situation of subordination or control or by providing the financial statements of its shareholders. Furthermore, the resolution establishes new documents that must be submitted to prove the economic capacity of legal entities, such as bank statements for the year immediately before the year of the application and the applicant’s attestation to the shareholder composition. It also provides the submission of financial statements and income tax returns for the two years before the year of application. Finally, the resolution introduces new criteria and methodology to evaluate the economic capacity. According to the resolution, the formulas to calculate the financial indicators will vary depending on the stage of the mining title at the date on which such capacity is to be proved. |
- JUDGMENTS – CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
| Topic | Deduction of royalties from income tax |
| Number | C-489 |
| Date | November 16, 2023 |
| Description | The Constitutional Court declared the first paragraph of Article 19 of Law 2277 of 2022, by which the Tax Statute was amended, unconstitutional. The first paragraph of Article 19 prohibited taking as deductible from the income tax of companies whose business is the exploration and exploitation of non-renewable natural resources the disbursements for royalties paid to the State. Among several arguments, the Constitutional Court stated that the royalties paid for exploiting non-renewable natural resources are not a discretionary disbursement of the taxpayer but a mandatory payment. Under the Colombian Constitution, paying royalties is a duty without which it is impossible to develop the economic activity of exploration and exploitation of non-renewable natural resources and, to that extent, does not increase the taxpayer’s patrimony. |
- RESOLUTIONS – MINING-ENERGY PLANNING UNIT
| No. | Objective | Period |
| 683 of 2023 | Whereby the base price for liquidating nickel royalties is determined. | The third quarter of the year 2023. |
| 682 of 2023 | Whereby the base price for liquidating coal royalties is determined. | The fourth quarter of the year 2023. |
| 684 of 2023 | Whereby the base price for liquidating royalties of precious stones and metals, iron ores, metallic minerals, and polymetallic concentrates is determined. | The fourth quarter of the year 2023. |
| 324 of 2023 | Whereby the base price for liquidating royalties of non-metallic minerals is determined. | Year 2023-2024 |
- BILLS
| No. | Objective | Status |
| 114/2022 – Senate 413/2023 House of Representatives | Whereby the exploration and production of certain unconventional reservoirs and the use of the technique of Multi-Stage Hydraulic Fracturing in Horizontal Sections, known as Fracking, is prohibited in the national territory, and other provisions are enacted. | Pending presentation for the third debate. |
| 195/2022 – Senate 425/2023 House of Representatives | Whereby measures are adopted to promote the rational and efficient use of energy, guidelines are established for the energy efficiency plans of public entities, incentives are provided for sustainable construction, and other provisions are issued. | Pending presentation for the third debate. |
| 206/2022 – House of Representatives | Whereby natural gas is declared as green energy and other provisions are issued. | Pending presentation for the second debate. |
| 275/2022 – House of Representatives | The development of the zero- and low-emission hydrogen ecosystem in Colombia is promoted and encouraged to guarantee a correct energy transition, and other provisions are issued – hydrogen economy. | Pending second debate. |
| 258/2022 –House of Representatives | Whereby the Coffee Cultural Landscape and its buffer zone are established as areas excluded from mega-mining and other provisions are established. | Pending second debate. |
| 049/2023 – House of Representatives | Whereby the concept of peasants is adopted, their rights are set forth, their characterization is established, their work is promoted, the legal commission for the defense and protection of peasants is created, and other provisions are enacted. | Pending designation of rapporteurs for the first debate. |
| 076/2023 –House of Representatives | Whereby the Mining Code is reformed, and other provisions are enacted. | Pending presentation for the first debate. |
| 181/2023 –House of Representatives | Whereby the territorial registry system of local labor and entrepreneurs is created as a measure to promote local employment, and other provisions are enacted. | Pending the first debate. |
| 125/2023 –Senate | Whereby the rural property is formalized for peasants who can prove tenure or possession, and uncultivated land is awarded to peasant families without land or with insufficient land and to victims of the armed conflict subject to land restitution in areas where processes of exploitation of non-renewable natural resources are being carried out. | Pending presentation for the first debate. |
| 284/2023 – House of Representatives | Whereby the destination of heavy machinery and its parts confiscated in illegal mining activities is prioritized for developing PDET and ZOMAC works, and other provisions are issued. | Pending designation of rapporteurs for the first debate. |
Author: Ana María Sandoval I asandoval@lloredacamacho.com I Natural Resources – Mining