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This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Civil Registration System
Colombia
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Colombia
Civil Registration System
Offices and Officers
Offices and Officers
Primary Civil Registration Offices
At what level of civil division are primary registration offices located?
Municipality and district.
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
To ensure that civil registration services are accessible to the public, it is advisable that a primary registration office be maintained in locations that correspond to minor civil divisions of the country (such as municipalities, towns or districts). The jurisdictional boundaries of primary offices can be adjusted on the basis of population size, resource availability, accessibility, literacy rate and simplicity of registration. If civil registration services are available online (and the entire population has access to internet), the location of physical offices becomes less important.
Primary civil registration services are delivered through local offices at the territorial level, mainly in municipalities and districts. Within Colombia, civil registration is carried out by notaries, and in municipalities without a notary by municipal civil status registrars or, if unavailable, the municipal mayor; exceptionally, delegates of municipal registrars, corregidores, and police inspectors may be authorized (Decree 1260 of 1970, Art. 118). The civil registration authority also includes departmental delegations, district and municipal registrars, auxiliary registrars, and the Capital District registrar (Bogotá) (Decree 1010 of 2000, Art. 10; Art. 11; Art. 19). Abroad, registration is performed by consular officers (Decree 1260 of 1970, Art. 118).
Does the law establish, or authorize the establishment of, secondary civil registration offices under the jurisdiction of the primary civil registration office?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Establishing secondary civil registration offices as sub-units of primary registration offices at locations with high occurrence of vital events, such as in hospitals or other health facilities, is a key contributor to facilitating higher rates of registration.
In some countries the law establishes the secondary registration offices at health facilities rather than providing authority to establish them.
The law establishing secondary registration offices or providing a power to establish them should include the process of appointing a responsible registrar and clearly define boundaries for the registration area. If a secondary registration site is established in a health facility, the law should state the functions empowered to the health facility registrar.
Yes. The law authorizes the creation of secondary civil registration service points under the primary system. Specifically, the National Civil Registration Directorate may authorize and coordinate civil registration services in hospitals (Decree 1010 of 2000, Art. 40(13)). The framework also allows the Superintendence of Notarization and Registry (Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro) to exceptionally authorize other local officials to carry out civil registration (such as delegates of municipal civil status registrars, corregidores, and police inspectors) when justified (Decree 1260 of 1970, Art. 118). In addition, notaries are authorized to provide civil registration services alongside civil status registrars (Resolution 1346 of 2007 (RNEC)).
Does the law authorize the local civil registrar to use mobile registration to reach remote or rural areas?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
For those areas of the country where the population density is too low to justify setting up a permanent registration unit or where the accessibility to an existing registration unit is limited by terrain or distance, consideration should be given to establishing a mobile (by land, sea or air) registration unit. Such a unit would travel to predetermined places according to a fixed and well publicized schedule and remain in each such place long enough to collect and record the required registration data for the vital events that will have occurred since its last visit.
Yes. Decree 1260 of 1970 authorizes civil registration officials (the officials in charge of the civil status register, including local registrars within their jurisdiction) to carry out outreach/mobile registration by receiving declarations of vital events outside their offices, as long as it is within their territorial competence, including by setting up registration posts in hospitals and clinics and by going to the person’s home upon request (Art. 34).
