Colombia’s New Law On Security Interest Over Movable Assets Comes Into Effect

Keywords: security interests, movable assets, code of commerce, PYMES

On February 21, 2014, a new law on security interests over movable assets (Law 1676 of 2013,¹ "Law 1676") came into effect in Colombia. Law 1676 replaced the regulations on creation, perfection and enforceability (oponibilidad) of security interests over movable assets set forth in the Code of Commerce of Colombia of 1971 (the "Code of Commerce"). The purpose of Law 1676 is to increase access to the financial products of medium and small-sized companies ("PYMES").² It accomplishes this by reducing the time, procedures and cost needed to perfect and enforce security interests and by expanding the types of assets that can be subject to a security interest.³ Despite this limited purpose, the application of Law 1676 promises to be far reaching and will impact not only security interests created by PYMES, but also the way all security interests over movable assets are perfected, monitored and enforced