Colombian Court Allows Legal Challenge to Passport Contract with Portugal to Move Forward

The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca has rejected a request by Portugal’s Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda to invalidate the proceedings in the lawsuit seeking to determine the legality of the agreement signed with the Colombian government to implement the country’s new passport system.

The ruling allows the case to move forward, enabling the court to begin examining the substance of the dispute.

The case stems from the controversy surrounding President Gustavo Petro‘s decision to replace Thomas Greg & Sons, which had produced Colombian passports for nearly two decades, with a cooperation agreement between Colombia’s National Printing Office (Imprenta Nacional de Colombia) and Portugal’s Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda.

Following that decision, Colombia’s Office of the Inspector General (Procuraduría General de la Nación, PGN), the country’s oversight agency, argued that the agreement violated public procurement laws and requested that it be declared null and void. The government, meanwhile, has defended both the legality of the contract and its objective of strengthening Colombia’s sovereignty over the production of its travel documents.

The court order, dated June 30 and made public on July 1, 2026, does not determine whether the agreement is legal. Instead, it addresses a procedural issue: the Portuguese company argued that it had never been properly notified of the lawsuit filed by the Inspector General’s Office and requested that all proceedings be declared null.

However, Judge José Élver Muñoz Barrera concluded that although international notification should have been carried out through letters rogatory because the company is domiciled in Lisbon, that procedural issue was cured when the company voluntarily appeared in court through legal counsel.

However, Judge José Élver Muñoz Barrera concluded that although international notification should have been carried out through letters rogatory because the company is domiciled in Lisbon, that procedural issue was cured when the company voluntarily appeared in court through legal counsel.

The ruling cites Article 301 of Colombia’s General Code of Procedure, which states that “any party that appoints legal counsel shall be deemed notified by conclusive conduct of all rulings issued in the respective proceeding,” a legal doctrine that has the same effect as personal service of process.

The judge also rejected claims that due process had been violated.

“At no point have the rights to due process, defense and adversarial proceedings of Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda S.A. been violated,” the ruling states.

The court further noted that it completed all the procedures required for international service of process, including issuing the letters rogatory, translating the documents and coordinating with Colombia’s Foreign Ministry and the Portuguese authorities.

With this decision, the legal proceedings will continue, and the court will now examine whether the passport agreement complies with Colombian law.

The Inspector General’s lawsuit and Portugal’s response

The case originated with a lawsuit filed by the Inspector General’s Office in October 2025 challenging the cooperation and participation agreement signed on July 28 of that year.

The agreement, valued at more than $1.3 trillion COP, was designed to implement a new model for producing, personalizing and issuing Colombian passports.

In its lawsuit, the Inspector General asked the court to declare the contract absolutely null and void and order the Portuguese entity to return all funds it received under the agreement.

According to the oversight agency, the agreement violated Law 1150 of 2007 governing public procurement involving international organizations because Casa da Moeda contributed only 21% of the project’s total value, while Colombian law requires a minimum contribution of 50% for such agreements to be awarded without a public bidding process.

Casa da Moeda, for its part, argued that the lawsuit had never been served in accordance with the applicable international procedures.

Felipe De Vivero Arciniegas, legal counsel for the Portuguese entity, argued that because the company is headquartered in Lisbon, it should have been notified exclusively through letters rogatory in accordance with Colombia’s General Code of Procedure and the Hague Convention. On that basis, he requested that the entire notification process be repeated.

In its latest ruling, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca rejected that request, concluding that the company’s voluntary appearance in the proceedings remedied any potential defect in service of process.

A dispute that began with Colombia’s passport reform

The legal dispute originated with President Gustavo Petro’s decision to replace the passport production model that had been managed for nearly two decades by the private company Thomas Greg & Sons.

Thomas Greg & Sons is also the company that operates the software used to tabulate votes in Colombian elections, a role that has sparked criticism and confrontation with Petro. The president previously wrote:

“This government is not beholden to Thomas and Greg, whose board includes former presidents and former presidential candidates. It is absolutely immoral that members of the oligarchy who has run for high office oversee the company that counts the votes. It is a tremendous mockery of democracy.”

Thomas Greg & Sons produced Colombian passports continuously from 2007 until its contract finally expired after being extended several times.

After Petro declined to continue with Thomas Greg & Sons, the governments of Colombia and Portugal signed a memorandum of understanding on October 2, 2024, to develop a joint system for producing and personalizing passports, travel documents and visa stickers.

At the time, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said the agreement was based on “the proven capacity, knowledge and experience of Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, S.A. of Portugal,” as well as its international reputation and technical certifications.

The parties subsequently signed the cooperation and participation agreement that is now the subject of litigation on July 28, 2025.

One month later, the Foreign Ministry announced that the new passport model would begin implementation on April 1, 2026, with Colombia’s National Printing Office assuming responsibility for passport personalization through a technology transfer process carried out jointly with Casa da Moeda.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the new model was intended to strengthen “the protection of the sovereignty of Colombian citizens’ personal data.”

Timeline of the legal proceedings

The legal dispute advanced quickly after the agreement was signed.

In October 2025, the Inspector General’s Office filed a lawsuit seeking to have the contract declared absolutely null before Colombia’s administrative courts.

On November 4, 2025, Colombia’s National Printing Office filed a motion asking the court to reconsider and clarify the order admitting the lawsuit. Two days later, the Foreign Ministry’s Revolving Fund also requested clarification and supplementation of that judicial order.

Casa da Moeda later requested that all proceedings be declared null, alleging a violation of due process because it had not been properly notified.

Finally, on June 30, 2026, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca rejected that request and confirmed that both the notification procedure and the guarantees of due process had been respected.

The litigation now moves into its substantive phase.

For now, the court has issued no ruling on the validity of the agreement or on the legality of the procurement model used to implement Colombia’s new passport system. Those issues will be addressed during the next stages of the proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese company, in partnership with Colombia’s National Printing Office, continues to produce Colombian passports without interruption, and passports issued under the new system remain legally valid until their expiration dates.

Above photo: Former Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo (left) and then-Portuguese Ambassador to Colombia Catarina de Mendoza during the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Colombia and Portugal, October 2, 2024. Photo courtesy of Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.