Colombia - Time Bars

Nature of Claim Time Bar
Contract Claims

Carriage of goods by sea: 2 years from the date in which the carriage concluded or should have concluded (Commercial Code, art. 993).
 
Charter party contracts:
 
Time Charters:  1 year from the date of expiration of the contract, or from the last voyage if extended beyond the contract term (Commercial Code, art. 1677).
 
Voyage charters: 1 year from the date the voyage terminated (Commercial Code, art. 1677).
 
Bareboat charter: 1 year from the termination of the contract or the restitution of the vessel (Commercial Code, art. 1685) if extended.
 
Limitation terms cannot be modified by the parties in their contracts. Neither to extend the legal term, nor to diminish the legal term.
Tortious Claims 10 years from the date the tort was committed (Civil Code, art. 2536)
General Average 1 year from the date of the voyage termination (Commercial Code, art. 1528).
Assistance and Salvage 2 years from the date the assistant or salvage works terminated (Commercial Code, art. 1554).
Collision 2 years from the date of the accident (Commercial Code, art. 1539).
Latent damage claims (for negligence claims excluding personal injury)

Contract:  5 years from the date the claimant had knowledge of the breach of contract by the other party causing the loss, or date when he ought reasonably to have known of his loss as a result of the other party's breach (Civil Code, art. 2536).
 
Tort: If the damage complained of is only discovered after various years, the claim may be brought from the date of the claimant's knowledge of loss or date when he ought reasonably to have known of his loss. There is a long-stop date of 10 years from date of occurrence of the negligent act or omission.
Fraud The general rule is that time bar is equal to the maximum imprisonment penalty fixed by the law, but never inferior to 5 year nor in excess of 20 years, with some exceptions (genocide, crimes against humanity, for example). 
 
There are different types of fraud with different imprisonment penalties in the criminal code: But the penalty for ordinary fraud is 2 to 8 years.

Staff Author

UK P&I

Date18/01/2017

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