Data
- Date:
- 16-05-2019
- Country:
- Colombia
- Number:
- C-207/19
- Court:
- Constitutional Court
- Parties:
- --
Keywords
DISPUTE BETWEEN COLOMBIAN PARTIES - CONSTITUNTIONAL COURT APPLYING NOT ONLY NATIONAL LAW BUT ALSO INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS SUCH THE ONES EXPRESSED IN THE UNIDROIT PRINCIPLES
COURT AFFIRMING THAT A CONTRACT VIOLATING MANDATORY RULES CANNOT PRODUCE VALID EFFECTS – REFERENCE TO ARTS. 3.3.1 AND 3.3.2 UNIDROIT PRINCIPLES WHICH, ACCORDING TO THE COURT, ARE A LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE OF WHAT IS ESTABLISHED IN ARTICLE 1.4 UNIDROIT PRINCIPLES - CONTRACTS WITH AN UNLAWFUL OBJECT OR CAUSE SHOULD NOT GENERATE ECONOMIC RIGHTS
Abstract
In Judgment C-207 of 2019, the Colombian Constitutional Court analyzed a lawsuit against Law 1882 of 2018, which reformed regulations on public procurement and infrastructure. The plaintiff, the Comptroller General of the Republic, argued that certain provisions of the Law were unconstitutional because they granted economic rights to contractors who partially executed contracts with an unlawful purpose or cause. According to the Comptroller General, these contracts should be void from the outset and not generate any economic rights in favor of the contractor.
In reviewing the case, the Court relied on various domestic law arguments, but for the purposes of this analysis, we highlight how it used the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts, particularly Articles 3.3.1 and 3.3.2, which address unlawfulness in contracts.
The Court recalled that, under these Principles, contractual freedom is not absolute: contracts must respect applicable national or international mandatory rules (according to Article 1.4 of the Principles). Thus, if a contract violates mandatory rules, it cannot produce valid effects. Furthermore, the reference to Articles 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 shows how the UNIDROIT Principles limit the validity of unlawful contracts, as a logical consequence of what is established in Article 1.4.
In conclusion, the Court applied not only national law but also international standards, reaffirming that contracts with an unlawful object or cause should not generate economic rights, in line with the UNIDROIT Principles.
English translation of the Spanish abstract written by Carlotta Spataro for CISG Spain
Fulltext
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Source
Abstract and fulltext in Spanish:
- available at the University of Carlos III website, http://www.cisgspanish.com}}