First reflections regarding the regulated content of the law 489 of 1998

Abstract

As we undertake the structural analysis of the law 489 of 1998, about administrative organization, we realize that the legislative text suffers from multiple important inconsistencies, both in form as well as in meaning that don't allow a clear recognition of its normative identity. The legislation doesn't fulfill its stated purpose, exceeding its scope in some cases, it seeks to issue a law concerning the organization and operation of national entities in order to develop provisions, principles and general rules for the correct exercise of the presidential duties established in numerals 15 and 16 of article 189 of the Constitution. Indeed, the present law is not only presented as a basic statute that frames the principles and general rules of the administrative organization, but also as a planning and administrative management law in Colombia, as well as a law of competence distribution. In the three cases, according to the Constitutional Court's understanding, the legislator exceeds its initial purpose. Aside from this confusion in its objective, the legislator also sought to transform the administrative organization law into a law of extraordinary powers, what confused its meaning even more.