Show more results...

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Join our team
EN / ES
Through Law 2045 of August 5, 2020, the Colombian Congress established the rules and criteria for prioritizing the provision of public services within the programs for the benefit of communities contemplated in Decree 714 of 2012, in the contracts for exploration and production of hydrocarbons in their production stage (E&P Contracts), and the agreements for large scale mining in exploitation stage.

The Law establishes, among others, the following provisions:
  • The provision of domiciliary public services shall be interpreted as the construction of new networks, optimization, repowering and improvement of existing networks.
  • It will apply to large mining concession agreements and E&P Contracts in the production phase, executed from 2021 onwards. However, it may be applied by contractors with ongoing agreements prior to 2021.
The Law contains general provisions that apply for both hydrocarbons and mining industries and corresponds to the following:
  • Investments for the provision of the domestic public services of electrical power, cooking energy and energy for water distribution, purification and treatment will include the implementation of alternative renewable energies.
  • The communities located in the project’s area of influence that does not have all their domiciliary public services will discretionally prioritize the respective public service and in case they are interested in other types of projects, they may request that these are executed. 
  • The investments made for the provision of domestic public services must include the connection costs and fees for the entry into operation of the service.
The following measures are established in the hydrocarbons sector:
  • For E&P Agreements, the National Hydrocarbons Agency (“ANH” per its acronym in Spanish) must include the investments for the provision of domiciliary public services as a priority criterion for the Community Benefit Programs (“PBC” per its acronym in Spanish).
  • If the communities located in the project’s area of influence are interested in other types of projects, they may request that these are executed, as long as the communities already have the minimum domestic public services.
  • The investment in the PBC in the exploration and production stage may not be less than 1% of the total value of the investment contained in each phase of the Minimum, Additional or Subsequent Exploration Program.
The following measures are established in the field of Large-Scale Mining Concession Agreements:
  • The National Mining Agency (“ANM” per acronym in Spanish) shall include as a prioritization criterion in the Large-Scale Mining Concession Agreements, the investment in the provision of domiciliary public services to the communities within the project’s area of influence.
  • The value of the investment should in no case be less than 1% of the net profit obtained in the year immediately preceding, associated with the mining title.
Additionally, it is established that within six (6) months following the entry into force of the Law, the government will regulate technically the criteria for the viability of the projects for the provision of public services referred to in the Law, and the failure to comply with the provisions of the Law will result in the imposition of sanctions or fines in the respective agreements.
 
To download the newsletter, clic here: