Prueba técnica urbanística y debido proceso en la ley 1801

Abstract

This article examines the legal value of specialized technical reports used in abbreviated verbal proceedings for urban infractions under Colombian Law 1801 of 2016. The issue lies in the tension between the administrative need for technical support to verify unlicensed construction, affected areas or urban-planning breaches, and Article 223(c), which requires technical reports to be issued by public servants at the territorial level. Based on a doctrinal methodology, a thematic review and an empirical contrast with public urban-control cases from Guarne, Sabaneta and Bogotá D.C., the paper argues that technical evidence is not merely accessory but often structures the entire police decision. The analysis shows that when an authority grounds a corrective measure on a report prepared by contractors without sufficient proof of functional authorization, risks may arise regarding evidentiary legality, material contradiction, reasoning and due process. The proposal does not ignore territorial institutional constraints, but it argues that administrative effectiveness cannot replace constitutional requirements of competence, impartiality and evidentiary control.