The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce ("SIC") issued two new rules modifying the Unified Circular of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce ("Unified Circular") in relation to the Automotive section. 

The said rules include (i) Circular 012 of December 22, 2020 ("Circular 012") and (ii) Resolution 1692 of January 20, 2021 ("Resolution"). 

Circular 012 specifically modified Section 1.2.2.3.3.3 of Chapter One of Title II of the Unified Circular, by including the following:

1. Duty to provide information.
2. When it is understood that a member of the production, distribution, and commercialization chain has knowledge that a vehicle is defective.
3. The minimum content to include in the communication of the Plan of Action to be submitted with the SIC. 
4. The rules that must be considered when informing the procedure and estimated term in which the safety campaign will be carried out.
5. Immediate preventive measures when having knowledge of a vehicle defect.
6. Control measures to perform throughout the safety campaign.
7. Exceptions to the duty of reporting a defect.
8. Sanctions.

Note that Section 1.2.2.3.3.3 (d), established an obligation to inform the SIC when a fault or defect is the same reason of complaint of at least (4%) of the vehicles of the same series and model in circulation. However, under Circular 012 this obligation was not mentioned.

Likewise, there is no express mention in Section 1.2.2.3.3.3 (f), which established that after three (3) months from the beginning of the safety campaign, if there was not a minimum coverage of at least 45% of the total number of affected units or 80% in the first year, the SIC could issue orders to achieve significant progress.

In the case of the Resolution, the amendments were made primarily to comply with the elimination of obsolete rules and procedures required by the Colombian Government in accordance with the strategy adopted in 2018 named "Estado Simple, Colombia Ágil". These were focused on the criteria of (i). Duplicity, (ii). Transitory nature and, (iii). Evolution of the provisions.

Most of the amendments are justified in the evolution criteria, since certain articles cited provisions that are not currently in force. Therefore, specific references of the regulations in force (Law 1480 of 2011 and Decree 1074 of 2015) were made to Sections 1.2.2, 1.2.2.2.1, 1.2.2.2.2.3, 1.2.2.2.2.3.2 of Chapter One of Title II of the Unified Circular. 

The other amendments dealt with the transitory nature criteria since there were provisions created to produce legal effects only for a limited period and nowadays, they lost their coercive force. Therefore, Sections 1.2.2.2.4.1, 1.2.2.4.5, and 1.2.2.5 of Chapter One of Title II of the Unified Circular eliminated the specifications of the transitory nature of such rules.

To conclude, substantial amendments were made to Section 1.2.2.3.3.3 of Chapter One of Title II of the Unified Circular, which was modified by Circular 012.  In fact, by rectifying that the Resolution also did not mention the obligation to inform the SIC when a failure or defect is the same reason of complaint of at least (4%) of the vehicles of the same series and model in circulation, it could be understood that this obligation was removed. However, the SIC's future rulings must be awaited to clarify this new concern regarding the safety campaign regime.