Actualidad Colombia

New Country Code and Implementation Report

External Circular 028-2014

The Code of Best Corporate Practices – Country Code, published through External Circular 028/2014, will contain 33 measures with 148 recommendations on: (i) Rights and Equitable Treatment of Shareholders, (ii) General Meeting of Shareholders, (iii) Board of Directors, (iv) Control Architecture, and (v) Transparency and Financial and Non-financial Reporting. The Code's structure will be based on the “comply or explain” principle and its recommendations are voluntary for securities issuers.

For each recommendation, issuers must describe how they have implemented it or why they have not done so. On the first occasion of reporting a recommendation, the institutions must specify the date on which it was adopted.

The Country Code establishes that the institutions’ bylaws must describe their compliance, and the compliance of their directors and employees in general, with the recommendations adopted and how it is monitored. It also sets out the institutions’ duty to submit the results of the implementation report to the Annual General Meeting.