When notice is complete and when the term starts: two different dates

Two moments, not one

Paragraph 3 of article 8 contains two rules. First: personal notice is deemed made once two business days have passed after the message was sent. Second: terms start running when the sender receives an acknowledgement of receipt or access by the recipient can otherwise be established.

The Supreme Court separates the two moments (STC10689-2022) and, in STC8435-2023, which its court reporter tags as unifying the criterion, set the working rule: as a general rule, the term to answer runs from when notice is complete, unless it emerges that the message was not delivered or receipt is disputed in a nullity motion.

How business days are counted

Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are excluded (Ley 51 of 1983, which moves several holidays to the following Monday), as are days of judicial recess and days on which the court is closed (CGP art. 118). In practice that includes Holy Week and the year-end collective recess, from 20 December to 10 January.

A message sent on 17 December, for example, is not deemed complete before the courts reopen in January.

Why it is an estimate

Some courts still count from the acknowledgement of receipt, and any court may have extraordinary closures. The term of each order is whatever the order states. That is why Notificado shows dates as estimates, with the calendar they were computed under, and never as a guarantee.

To do the count

The term calculator applies this same rule on the national calendar: from the send date and the length of the term, it estimates when notice is complete and when the term starts and ends.