Procedures
Código Orgánico General de Procesos introduced oral civil trials
The Código Orgánico General de Procesos (COGEP), in force since 2016, replaced the written Código de Procedimiento Civil with oral, concentrated hearings across civil, family, labour and administrative matters. Proceedings run through a preliminary hearing and a trial hearing, with evidence announced in the pleadings. Mediation is available and widely encouraged.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National procedural code across most non-criminal matters
- Deadline — Answer: 30 days in ordinary proceedings, 15 in summary
- Deadline — Appeal: 10 days from notification of the written judgment
- Deadline — Evidence must be announced with the claim or answer
Governing law
- Código Orgánico General de Procesos2015, in force 2016
- Ley de Arbitraje y Mediación
In practice
The COGEP's requirement that all evidence be announced in the pleadings is a hard rule: material not announced is generally inadmissible later, which shifts the decisive work to the drafting stage. Because one code now covers civil, family, labour and administrative procedure, Ecuador has an unusually unified procedural landscape compared with neighbours that maintain separate codes for each.