Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

Social Security is a mandatory public service which shall be delivered under the administration, coordination, and control of the State, subject to the principles of efficiency, universality, and solidarity within the limits established by statute.

All inhabitants are guaranteed the irrevocable right to Social Security.

With the participation of individuals, the state shall gradually extend the coverage of Social Security which shall include the provision of services in the form determined by statute.

Social Security may be provided by public or private entities, in accordance with the relevant statute.

It shall not be possible to assign or use the resources of the Social Security organs for different purposes.

An Act shall define the means whereby the resources earmarked for retirement benefits may retain their constant purchasing power.

The State shall guarantee the rights resulting from the Pensions Systems, its financial sustainability, it shall respect vested rights in accordance with the law and assume the payment of the pension debt for which it is responsible according to the law. The statutes which are enacted on pension matters subsequent to the entry into force of this Legislative Act have to ensure the financial sustainability of the arrangements made by them.

The discounts, reductions and seizures of pensions decreed by the applicable statute notwithstanding, for no reason may the payment of the monthly pensions recognized by statute be suspended or their value be frozen or reduced.

The provisions on infirmity and widower’s pensions notwithstanding, it is necessary to comply with the requirements concerning age, time of service, length of contribution payments or required capital and other conditions defined by an Act in order to obtain the right to a pension. The requirements for and the benefits resulting from obtaining the right to an infirmity or widower’s pension shall be established by the Acts of the General Pensions System.

In pension matters all vested rights are respected.

Pension requirements and benefits for all persons, including those related to old age pensions for high risk activities, shall be established by the Acts on the General Pensions System. No provision may be issued and no contract invoked that would run contrary to the rules thereby enacted.

For the payment of the pensions only those factors are taken into account to which the contributions made by every person are related. No pension may be lower than the existing monthly legal minimum wage. However, an Act may determine the cases in which periodical economic benefits which are lower than the minimum wage are paid to people with limited resources who do not fulfill the conditions required for the right to a pension.

After the entry into force of the present Legislative Act, there shall be no special or excepted regimes, those applicable to the public force and the President of the Republic and those defined by the paragraphs of the present article notwithstanding.

The persons whose right to a pension comes into existence after the entry into force of the present Legislative Act may not receive more than thirteen (13) monthly pension payments per year. It is understood that the pension comes into existence at the time when all requirements for obtaining it are met, even if it has not yet been [formally] recognized.

An Act shall establish speedy proceedings for the revision of pensions which have been awarded by an abuse of law or without fulfilling the requirements established by statute or by valid agreements or arbitral awards.

After July 31, 2010 no pensions may come into existence at the expense of public resources that are higher than twenty-five (25) monthly legal minimum wages.

After the entry into force of the present Legislative Act, no pension requirements that differ from those established by the Acts of the General Pensions System may be created by agreements, collective bargaining, arbitral awards or any other legal act.

The pension regime of the national, nationalized and territorial teaching staff linked to the official public education service is that which has been established for the teaching profession by the legal provisions which were in force prior to the entry into force of the Act 812 of 2003, and by Article 81 of the latter. Teachers who have joined or join the service after the entry into force of the aforementioned law shall have the right to a medium bonus (prima media) established by the Acts of the General Pensions System, in the terms of Article 81 of the Act 812 of 2003.

Vested rights, the regime applicable to the members of the public force and the President of the Republic and the provisions of the present Article notwithstanding, the special and excepted pension regimes as well as any other [pension regime] that is different from the one established in a permanent manner by the Acts on the General Pensions System shall cease to have effect on July 31 of the year 2010.

The rules concerning pension matters contained in pacts, collective bargains, arbitral awards or validly concluded agreements that are in force on the date of entry into force of this Legislative Act shall remain valid for the period initially established. In the pacts, agreements or awards that are made between the entry into force of this Legislative Act and July 31, 2010 no pension rules that are more favorable than those currently in force may be stipulated. In any case they shall cease to have effect on July 31, 2010.

The transitional regime established by Act 100 of 1993 and the other rules which develop said regime may not extend beyond July 31, 2010, except for the workers who are subject to that regime and have paid contributions for at least 750 weeks or its equivalent in times of service on the entry into force of the present Legislative Act, to whom it shall continue to apply until the year 2014.

The pension requirements and benefits for the persons covered by this regime shall be those established by Article 36 of the Act 100 of 1993 and the other rules which develop said regime.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 140 of law 100 of 1993 and of Decree 2090 of 2003, the high risk regime contemplated by said decree shall apply to the members of the National Prison and Penitentiary Guards Association, starting with the entry into force of the latter. To those who join at a later date the regime that had been in force previously for these people in view of the risks connected to their work shall apply, i.e. the provisions contained to this effect in law 32 of 1986, under which the corresponding contributions must have been paid.

Persons who receive a pension equal to or lower than three (3) monthly legal minimum wages or, if the pension comes into existence before July 31, 2011, who obtain fourteen (14) monthly pension payments per year are excepted from the provisions of section 8 of the present Article.