In brief
On 16 July 2025, the Colombian Presidency issued Presidential Directive No. 5 ("Directive"), establishing new rules for entities of the national executive branch regarding the inclusion of arbitration agreements and the appointment of arbitrators in both domestic and international commercial arbitrations. The Directive does not apply to international investment arbitrations.
The Directive applies exclusively to national-level entities of the central government, including Ministers, Directors of Administrative Departments, and entities affiliated with or linked to the Executive Branch at the national level. Decentralized entities are expressly excluded from its scope.
This Directive replaces Presidential Directive No. 4 of 18 May 2018, and introduces several new provisions, including:
- A mandatory requirement to include at least one female arbitrator in arbitral tribunals.
- An express authorization for the Legal Secretariat of the Presidency to reconstitute lists of candidates.
- A quarterly obligation for national entities to report the status of arbitral tribunals.
Key requirements to enter into arbitration agreements
Entities must comply with the following when entering into national or international arbitration agreements:
- Obtain prior legal opinion from the head of the legal office, including a documented legal and economic assessment of the appropriateness of arbitration.
- Secure prior approval from the National Agency for Legal Defense of the State (ANDJE).
- Include a clause ensuring the participation of at least one female arbitrator in the arbitral tribunal.
Entities must also refrain from submitting commercial disputes to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Arbitrator appointment procedure
To appoint arbitrators entities must:
- Define the appropriate profile of arbitrators based on the nature of the dispute and the arbitration agreement.
- Prepare a list of at least 10 candidates for domestic arbitration and at least 5 for international arbitration, all with relevant experience. At least 50% of the list must be female, and no candidate may act as attorney of the opposing party.
- Ensure candidates are not serving on more than five arbitral tribunals involving public entities, or in more than three infrastructure-related arbitrations (Law 1682 of 2013).
- Promote broader professional participation to strengthen the administration of justice.
- Prevent abuse, monopolies, undue influence, and concentration of appointments.
- Submit disciplinary, fiscal, and judicial background certificates for all candidates.
The Directive promotes mutual agreement in arbitrator selection and discourages entities from random selection. ANDJE will not evaluate pre-constituted lists that are not tailored to a specific case.
Appointment process
The appointment process must comply with the following rules:
- The entity must prepare the list of arbitrator candidates in a timely and efficient manner. This list must be submitted to the ANDJE at least twenty business days before the date agreed by the parties for the formal appointment of the arbitral tribunal.
- ANDJE's Director will have five business days to review the proposed candidates and to assess whether the proposed individuals are qualified, suitable, and experienced for the specific dispute. ANDJE will then send its recommendations to the Legal Secretary of the Presidency. If the list does not fully comply with the requirements of the Directive, ANDJE may return it to the entity for correction.
- Within five business days of receipt from ANDJE, the Legal Secretary of the Presidency will either approve, reject , or make changes to the list. In case of rejection, the Legal Secretary of the Presidency may revise and reconfigure it, following the rules established in the Directive.
- The entity must use the final list approved by the Legal Secretariat of the Presidency to formally appoint the members of the arbitral tribunal.
- Deadlines may be shortened in exceptional cases where the entity was unaware of the arbitration notice and the claimant refuses to extend the appointment period.
To ensure compliance with the Directive, entities within the national executive branch must submit quarterly reports to both ANDJE and the Legal Secretariat of the Presidency. These reports must detail the arbitral tribunals constituted during the reporting period and provide an update on their status as of the reporting date.
Additional Resources
For further information, you may consult Presidential Directive No. 5 of 2025, available in: Diario Oficial Edición 53.183.
Please also note that certain territorial entities have issued guidelines related to arbitration policy, such as District Directive 022 of 2018, issued by the Legal Secretariat of Bogota DC.
Click here to read Spanish version.
