Business days in Colombia

A petition to a public body must be answered within the 15 business days after it is received (Ley 1755 de 2015, article 14). Filed on Tuesday 27 October 2026, the count starts on Wednesday 28, and the holidays of Monday 2 November, All Saints’ Day, and Monday 16, Independence of Cartagena, do not count: the deadline is Thursday 19 November.

A request for documents or information has 10 business days, ending on Wednesday 11 November; a consultation has 30, ending on Friday 11 December. A body that cannot answer in time must say so before the deadline, give its reasons and set a new date, no later than twice the original term.

Since 2026 Colombia has 19 public holidays. Ley 2578 of 1 June 2026 made 9 July, the day of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, a national holiday, rested like the other Emiliani holidays on the following Monday: 13 July in 2026 and 12 July in 2027.

A calendar printed earlier, or an assistant that learned the dates before June 2026, does not know it: it counts that Monday as a business day and gives a deadline one day too early. Ten business days from 1 July 2027 end on Monday 19 July, with the holiday Mondays of the 5th and the 12th left out.

The law has been challenged before the Constitutional Court. Until the Court strikes it down or suspends it, the holiday stands, and this calculator counts it.

Court deadlines do not run during the collective court recess, 20 December to 10 January (Ley 270 de 1996, article 146, and Decreto 1660 de 1978, article 107), nor from Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week, when courts are closed. With that option on, ten days counted from Friday 18 December 2026 start running on Tuesday 12 January —Monday 11 is a holiday— and end on Monday 25 January 2027.

Tutela actions and habeas corpus are not suspended: courts take them in shifts, and their deadlines are counted without the recess. Some courts, such as those overseeing criminal guarantees, stay open too. For the exact deadline in a case, what the court or the regional council’s agreement says prevails over any calculator.

A public body open Monday to Friday does not count Saturday as a business day, which is why the option starts off. In a company it depends on the working week: if the work regulations set it Monday to Saturday, Saturday is a business day; if Monday to Friday, it is not.

The same goes for vacation, which is 15 business days: Saturday is only taken off the balance if it is worked. For the exact day you are back and the dates where it goes furthest, there is the vacation planner.