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When does the CGP call for postal certified mail? Arts. 291 and 292

It is a postal service, governed by Ley 1369 de 2009, and in civil proceedings it is the route of the notification of arts. 291 and 292 of the Código General del Proceso. Personal notification by data message is a different route, provided for in art. 8 of Ley 2213 de 2022.

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Contents · 7 sections

What is postal certified mail?

It is a postal service, governed by Ley 1369 de 2009: a postal operator carries the item and issues a record of its delivery.

In civil proceedings it is the route of arts. 291 and 292 of the Código General del Proceso: the citatorio and the aviso are sent through an authorised postal service company. The juzgado receives the copy of the notice, compared and stamped (cotejada y sellada), and the delivery record issued by the postal service company (CGP art. 291, no. 3).

These are two separate regimes, that of the Código General del Proceso and that of art. 8. The Corte Suprema de Justicia has held that they coexist, that each has its own requirements and that they are not to be mixed (STC7684-2021, STC11127-2022).

Certified email: what does the law require?

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Does the law require certified email to notify?

Not for the art. 8 route. Art. 8 of Ley 2213 de 2022 provides for the personal notification by sending the court order as a data message to the electronic address of the person to be notified, and also for systems confirming the receipt of emails (inc. 4).

The Corte Suprema de Justicia has held that the legislature imposed no fixed means of proving receipt (STC16733-2022) and that a judge may not demand a proof of delivery or an acuse de recibo on pain of desistimiento tácito (STC8435-2023). What each ruling held is on the page that answers that question.

Is certified mail mandatory?Key rulingsThe art. 8 guide

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What art. 8 does require

The text of the article places these burdens on the party who notifies:

  • Send the court order as a data message to the electronic address or site of the person to be notified, with the annexes that must be delivered for the traslado (inciso 1).
  • State under oath that the address is the one the person to be notified uses (inciso 2).
  • Say how the address was obtained (inciso 2).
  • File the corresponding evidence, in particular the communications sent to that person (inciso 2).

The Corte Suprema de Justicia has held that the oath, the way the address was obtained and the evidence are the only requirements (STC16733-2022, STL7023-2023).

The notification is deemed made once two business days have passed after the message is sent (inciso 3). A hard bounce means the message did not arrive: there is no notification, and the address must be corrected and the message sent again.

Nulidad checklist

What every Notificado send leaves

Notificado is a delivery-confirmation system of the kind art. 8 (inc. 4) of Ley 2213 de 2022 provides for: it sends the notification and keeps the proof of its delivery. Every send leaves:

  • A verified sending lawyer: their cédula and tarjeta profesional, looked up in the Registro Nacional de Abogados before their first send.
  • The message frozen in its original format (.eml), with its SHA-256 fingerprint, before it leaves.
  • Two RFC 3161 timestamps, from FreeTSA and DigiCert.
  • Delivery to the recipient's mail server, with the mail provider's response kept unprocessed. For the Corte Suprema de Justicia, the acceptance recorded by the server is a valid acuse (STC16733-2022).
  • Opens and downloads, shown as an indicio and never as proof of reading.
  • The constancia as a PDF with an electronic signature (PAdES), made with VENOMTECH S.A.S.'s own key, whose fingerprint is published.
  • An evidence bundle (.zip) with a verifier that works offline.
  • The bundle kept for at least ten years, in write-once storage.

Anyone can check a constancia on the verification page without creating an account.

Evidence methodVerify a constancia

When is the postal route the right one?

There are cases where that route is the right one, and the decision belongs to whoever runs the case:

  • There is no electronic address for the person to be notified, or how it was obtained cannot be supported. The route is the notification of arts. 291 and 292 of the Código General del Proceso, by postal service.
  • The juzgado hearing the case, or your client, asks for that means.
  • You prefer the service of a postal operator.

What matters is not to mix the regimes: a notification is made under art. 8 of Ley 2213 de 2022 or under arts. 291 and 292, with the requirements of the route chosen (STC7684-2021, STC11127-2022).

Review and sources

Service reviewed by a Colombian lawyer (October 2026).

Every legal statement on this page carries its norm or its ruling beside it. STC16733-2022, STC8435-2023 and C-420/2020 are linked to their text in the jurisprudence library, and each norm is cited by number and article so that you can read it at its official source.

This page informs and does not replace your lawyer's judgement. The validity of each notification is for the judge of the case to decide.

Key rulings

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to notify by email?

Yes. Notifying by email is legal: art. 8 of Ley 2213 de 2022, which allows the personal notification to be made by sending the court order as a data message to the electronic address of the person to be notified. The Corte Suprema de Justicia has held that the legislature imposed no fixed means of proving receipt (STC16733-2022) and that a judge may not demand a proof of delivery or an acuse de recibo on pain of desistimiento tácito (STC8435-2023). In a labour case whose claim was filed on or after 2 April 2026, article 209 of Ley 2452 de 2025 governs, and in administrative litigation, article 199 of the CPACA.

Will the judge accept the constancia?

The judge of each case decides, and nobody can promise that decision. The constancia proves which message was sent, to which address, when the recipient's mail server accepted it and that nothing changed afterwards. Freedom of proof governs (art. 165 of the Código General del Proceso; STC16733-2022), and a data message is not denied evidentiary force merely for being one (Ley 527 de 1999, arts. 10 and 11).

What if the defendant says the email never arrived?

The defendant may ask for nulidad, and in doing so must state under oath that they did not learn of the court order (art. 8, inciso 5, and arts. 132 to 138 of the Código General del Proceso). That oath is not enough on its own: the judge weighs the proceedings and the evidence (C-420/2020). The proof of delivery is for that debate: the original message, the acceptance by the destination server, the fingerprints of the files and the time of each event.

How much does it cost?

Prepaid packs from COP 800 + VAT per recipient. When your tarjeta profesional is verified, your firm receives up to 10 trial sends, valid for 90 days.

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