Colombia Adopts a New Customs Sanctions and Seizure Regime for Foreign Trade

Colombia’s DIAN tax authority gains a revamped enforcement code for import operations.

Colombia’s Congress has passed Law 2586 of 2026, adopting a new sanctions and merchandise-seizure regime for customs matters along with the procedure that the National Tax and Customs Directorate (Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales, or DIAN) must follow when penalizing importers and exporters that fail to meet their obligations in foreign-trade operations.

The statute consolidates into a single framework the rules for imposing sanctions and seizing goods, and the administrative procedure DIAN applies when customs duties and disposals are breached. It takes effect upon promulgation and repeals Decree Law 920 of 2023 as well as Article 51 of Law 1762 of 2015.

“The present law has as its object to establish the provisions that constitute the sanctions regime and the seizure of merchandise in customs matters, as well as the applicable procedure to be followed by DIAN for the imposition of sanctions and the seizure of merchandise.” — Law 2586 of 2026, Article 1

The regime applies across the entire national customs territory, without prejudice to special provisions in Colombian law and in the international agreements and treaties the country has signed. Its reach extends, where international law allows, to customs procedures and controls carried out in the territory of another country under binational, multilateral, or regional agreements ratified by Colombia.

The law sets out ten binding principles that the customs authority must observe: favorability, legality, typicity, the prohibition of double sanction for the same infraction or seizure for the same act, the prohibition of analogy, proportionality, good faith, the prevalence of substance over form, harm (lesividad), and due diligence. Under the due-diligence principle, the burden of proof shifts to the investigated party, who can rebut fault by demonstrating that it acted diligently.

DIAN is named as the competent authority to verify the legality of foreign-trade operations and compliance by customs users. The law grants the agency broad audit powers, including the authority to order searches of business premises through a reasoned resolution, inspect accounting records, take samples of merchandise, and impose precautionary measures to preserve evidence. Searches of a person’s home require prior judicial authorization.

Among the law’s central instruments is the Post-Clearance Audit (Auditoría Posterior al Despacho), modeled on standards issued by the World Customs Organization (Organización Mundial de Aduanas) and the World Trade Organization. The audit is designed to support and accompany traders after goods clear customs, with the stated aim of preventing new infractions and promoting voluntary compliance. It can take three forms: a desk audit conducted from available information, an on-site audit at the trader’s premises, and a mixed audit combining both.

The law builds in incentives for traders to correct errors. Through a persuasive-invitation mechanism, an importer or customs user that accepts a proposal can file a correction or proof of payment and close the administrative proceeding, while acceptance and reduction provisions lower the sanction for those who acknowledge the contested facts. The law also distinguishes non-sanctionable formal errors from infractions that warrant penalties.

DIAN’s power to impose sanctions lapses three years after the act or omission that constitutes the customs infraction, the period within which the administrative decision must become final.

For repeat offenders, the law graduates the temporary closure of a business establishment by the value of the seizure, measured in Tax Value Units (Unidades de Valor Tributario, or UVT), ranging from five days for the lowest tier up to 30 days above 5,000 UVT. A separate schedule phases in appraisal thresholds for seizures: from August 1, 2026 for cases below 2,000 UVT, from August 1, 2027 for cases below 4,000 UVT, and from August 1, 2028 for cases below 10,000 UVT.

The overhaul follows years of debate over how DIAN administers customs enforcement, a recurring theme in Colombia’s foreign-trade policy. Finance Colombia has previously reported on DIAN’s tightening of import controls and on criticism of how the agency applies customs rules.