Spanish
The Constitutional Court of Colombia is asked to declare the unconstitutionality of article 61 of the Law 99/1993 that creates the Ministry of Environment and reorganizes the public sector regarding to the administration and conservation of the environment and renewable natural resources, among other regulations.
The plaintiff claims that article 61 infringes numbers 7 and 9 of the article 313 of the Constitution. The article changes and limits the faculty of the Municipal Councils to regulate land uses and to establish all the necessary norms to control, preserve and defend the ecological integrity and the cultural heritage within the Council territory. This power is unlimited and it cannot be restricted using policies designed by governmental institutions such as the Ministry of Environment.
The Court does not accept to the request and declares that article 61 is adjusted to the Constitution. The judgment establishes that Councils have the power to regulate land uses within their territories at a local level, however other institutions have the power to set the integral regulation of land uses at a national level. Therefore, local regulations established by the Councils must respect the regulations that are elaborated by other institutions at a national level.