Procedures
1989 Código General del Proceso, a regional oral-procedure model
Uruguay's Código General del Proceso of 1989 was the first in Latin America to implement the Iberoamerican Model Code, establishing oral, concentrated proceedings with a preliminary hearing and immediate evidence-taking. It became the template that later reforms in Peru, Colombia and elsewhere drew upon. Amparo is regulated separately by Ley 16.011.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National procedural code applied by the ordinary courts
- Deadline — Answer to an ordinary claim: 30 days
- Deadline — Appeal: 15 days for a final judgment in ordinary proceedings
- Deadline — Amparo: 30 days from the act complained of
Governing law
- Ley 15.982 - Código General del Proceso1989
- Ley 19.0902013 amendments
- Ley 16.011 - Acción de Amparo
In practice
The CGP's historical significance is considerable: drafted by Uruguayan proceduralists including Véscovi and Gelsi Bidart on the basis of the Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Procesal model code, it demonstrated that oral civil procedure could work in a civil-law system and was studied by every subsequent reform in the region. The 2013 amendments in Ley 19.090 tightened deadlines and strengthened the preliminary hearing's filtering function.