DIAN opens an expedited route to donate seized goods to the earthquake

The National Directorate of Taxes and Customs (DIAN) established an abbreviated and transitory procedure to donate seized or abandoned goods in favor of the Nation to the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), territorial entities, and the Public Force, in order to address the emergency resulting from the earthquake of August 10, 2026. The decision is contained in Resolution number 000037 of 2026, signed on November 10 by the general director Andrés Felipe Velásquez Reyes and published in the Official Gazette 53,687 on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. The regulation is effective from the date of its publication and may be applied until December 31, 2026, or earlier if a return to normalcy is declared.

The emergency framework

The resolution is based on Decree number 1171 of 2026, which declared the national disaster situation provided for in Law 1523 of 2012, and Decree number 1261 of August 19, 2026, which declared a State of Economic, Social, and Ecological Emergency due to a grave public calamity. Article 3 of Legislative Decree 1384 of 2026 empowered entities with jurisdiction in the affected territories to implement extraordinary mechanisms for the simplification of procedures until December 31, 2026.

On that basis, the DIAN invoked Article 743 of Decree number 1165 of 2019 and the paragraph of Article 659 of Resolution number 46 of 2019, which allows for direct offering when special circumstances affecting health or social order exist. The project was published for comments on the entity’s website on October 31 and November 1 and 2, 2026.

What is donated and who can receive it

The entity manages goods such as clothing, footwear, textiles, food, toiletries, tools, construction materials, and household items, which can be immediately allocated for humanitarian aid. The recipients are:

• Public entities at the national, departmental, and municipal levels.
• The Public Force.
• Territorial Associative Schemes (EAT) of Law 2294 of 2023.
• Councils and indigenous, black, Afro-Colombian, Raizal, Palenquera, and Rrom communities.

The procedure prioritizes requests from the UNGRD and territorial entities included in the scope of Decree number 1261 of 2026; others are handled according to the proven urgency and the order of arrival at the inbox aceptaciones_donacion@dian.gov.co. Additionally, the limits on the number of donations per beneficiary under Article 663 of Resolution number 46 of 2019 will not apply.

Procedures in days, without an expert, and with immediate delivery

With the publication of the resolution, the goods are understood to be offered directly, without the need for individual offers or a second offer. The milestones of the procedure are:

• Verification of the existence and legal status of the goods on the business day following the request, without prior physical inspection.
• Issuance of the administrative act of donation within two business days following the receipt of the request.
• Immediate delivery once the act has been notified, at the precinct, warehouse, primary zone, free trade zone, or place under customs control where the goods are located.
• Sending a copy of the delivery report to the Logistics Sub-directorate within three business days.
• Submission of evidence of destination by the beneficiary within the month following delivery.

Seized goods are donated with the appraisal already registered in the system, without a new appraisal or the intervention of an expert; in cases of abandonment without an inventory report, the calculation may be made by homogeneous groups or by tariff subheadings. The donation is prohibited from commercialization, and the DIAN will report to the control bodies within the first five days of each month.

Exclusions and judicial control

Goods of prohibited import, those indicated in Article 733 of Decree number 1165 of 2019, those under chain of custody, those with a pending return request, those taxed with consumption tax—which must be destroyed according to Law 1762 of 2015—nor those subject to a judicial precautionary measure may be donated. In Bolívar, Cundinamarca, Santander, and Valle del Cauca, the entity may choose between this procedure and the ordinary one, due to its logistical position and its inventories. As it is a general measure issued under an emergency legislative decree, the resolution was referred to the Council of State within the following 48 hours for immediate legality control.

The impact is direct for the affected municipalities: mayoralties and relief agencies will be able to receive goods in days, not months, and without assuming appraisal costs, which turns immobilized customs inventories into humanitarian aid before the end of the year.

Source: Official Gazette, number 53,687 of November 11, 2026, Section I, p. 30 (official reference: Resolution number 000037 of 2026).