The Congress of Colombia published, a few days ago, Law 2045 of 2020 (the "Law"), by means of which the criteria to prioritize investment in the provision of domiciliary public services as part of the social investment plans of contracts for the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources are established.
The Law was enacted with the aim of improving the quality of life of the communities in the areas of influence of mining and oil contracts, and of promoting equity and the dignified use of the resources found in that area.
Specifically, the Law will be applied to Large-scale Mining concession contracts in the exploitation stage and to contracts for the Exploration and Production of hydrocarbons ("E&P Contracts") that are in the production stage entered into and perfected as of 2021.
On the contrary, this Law will not apply to hydrocarbons contracts that have been awarded in permanent bidding processes, Technical Evaluation Contracts (TEA) that are converted into E&P Contracts, and association contracts.
Thus, for the E&P Contracts in the exploitation stage, the National Hydrocarbons Agency must include, as a priority criteria in its Community Benefit Plans (PBC), the investment that the contractor must carry out to provide the applicable domiciliary public services.
Likewise, the National Mining Agency must include as a priority criteria in its Social Management Plans (PGS), the investment that the Large-scale Mining titleholder must carry out for the provision of domiciliary public services in the communities that are within its area of influence.
Therefore, the National Government has the duty to regulate from a technical standpoint the criteria for the viability of the projects stipulated in this law; likewise, the National Hydrocarbons Agency and the National Mining Agency will have to incorporate within their guidelines or terms of reference of PBC and PGS (respectively), the prioritization parameters that this law and those that regulate it, establish.
Please enter the following link to learn about the Law: https://dapre.presidencia.gov.co/normativa/normativa/LEY%202045%20DEL%205%20DE%20AGOSTO%20DE%202020.pdf