Outdoor rules
Not legal advice: ask the Secretaría de Gobierno before installing. The source is named under each part.
Colombia’s outdoor advertising law calls it publicidad exterior visual: legends, inscriptions, drawings, photos, signs or similar elements visible from roads or other places of public use.
Street numbering, road signs, information on historic and tourist sites, and murals without a commercial message are not outdoor advertising.
Source: Ley 140 de 1994, art. 1 – read it
Not in public space (sidewalks, parks, roads), except where the authorities allow it; not within 200 m of national monuments; not on poles, bridges, electricity towers or other public infrastructure; and not on private property without the consent of its owner or possessor (the person who holds it as owner; a tenant is not one, so if you rent, ask the owner).
Fixing avisos, pendones, pancartas or banners in public space without a permit is an offence under the Police Code: the fine for visual pollution runs from 1.5 to 40 monthly minimum wages, and the piece is removed.
Source: Ley 140 de 1994, art. 3; Ley 1801 de 2016, arts. 140 and 181 – read it
Dosquebradas’ tax statute says outdoor advertising needs an authorization from the Secretaría de Gobierno before it is installed, and that it is registered there within 3 business days after installation. Where the advertising tax applies, it is paid first and the receipt is shown to get the authorization.
The procedure itself is in Decreto 421 de 2025 of the Secretaría de Gobierno, which this app could not consult. Ask the Secretaría de Gobierno what applies to your sign before you install it.
Source: Acuerdo 035 de 2025 of the Concejo de Dosquebradas, arts. 166, 167, 172 and 173 – read it
Outdoor advertising must show the name and telephone of its owner. In Dosquebradas it must also show the number of the administrative act that authorized it.
Source: Ley 140 de 1994, art. 9; Acuerdo 035 de 2025, art. 171 – read it
Avisos y tableros: placing signs that identify a business, its name or its products, visible from public space, makes the tax due. In Dosquebradas it is 15 % of the industry and commerce tax (ICA) and is declared and paid with it.
The outdoor advertising tax applies to advertising of 8 m² or more that is not the establishment’s own identification sign: 144 UVT a year or the months it stays up, at most 5 monthly minimum wages a year per valla. With the 2026 UVT of $ 52.374, 144 UVT is $ 7.541.856.
Source: Acuerdo 035 de 2025, arts. 153-157 and 160-165; DIAN Resolución 000238 de 2025 (UVT 2026) – read it
Dosquebradas’ land-use plan does not let a business use public space, on the ground or in the air, as an extension of the shop. Sidewalks, front gardens and green areas stay free for pedestrians, and products are shown in the shop’s own windows.
So an A-board, a roll-up or a banner stand belongs inside your own space, not on the sidewalk, unless a public-space permit allows it.
Source: Acuerdo 007 de 2024 (POT de Dosquebradas), art. 284 – read it
Exits must be clearly visible and their way kept free of obstacles at all times. Decorations, furniture or equipment must not block the view of an exit sign, and nothing may narrow a door, passage or corridor used to get out.
Before you cover a door or a window with vinyl, check that no exit sign or escape door is behind it. The app stops a request for a piece marked as covering one.
Source: NSR-10, Título K: K.3.2.3.3, K.3.8.1.1 and K.3.10.4 – read it
Where the glass of a shop front or door could be taken for an opening or a clear way through, the building code asks for it to be made visible: an opaque band across its full width, or a decoration that does the same job.
The band is more than 20 mm high, with its top edge at least 700 mm and its bottom edge at most 1000 mm above the floor. A frosted band or cut vinyl at that height can do it.
Source: NSR-10, Título K: K.4.3.9.1 – read it
On a heritage building in Dosquebradas, a sign must respect the building’s form and style, be removable and be fixed flat against it.
Source: Acuerdo 007 de 2024 (POT de Dosquebradas), art. 197 – read it
Outdoor advertising must be kept clean, safe and in good repair.
In Dosquebradas, advertising that is not registered is removed, with a Police Code fine, and a piece that does not meet the rules gets 3 business days to be removed or fixed before the municipality removes it at the owner’s cost.
Source: Ley 140 de 1994, art. 7; Acuerdo 035 de 2025, arts. 169 and 170 – read it
No limit on the size or number of façade signs, or on how much of a window vinyl may cover, was found in Dosquebradas’ published rules (the tax statute and the land-use plan). Ley 140 leaves the location of signs in towns to each municipality, so ask the Secretaría de Gobierno.
Other cities set their own limits. Bogotá, for example, allows one sign per façade of up to 30 % of it (Decreto 959 de 2000). That rule does not apply in Dosquebradas.
The app’s window advice, at most 50 % covered so people can still see in, is a design suggestion, not a rule.
Source: Ley 140 de 1994, art. 4; Decreto 959 de 2000 (Bogotá), art. 7 – read it
The app suggests capital letters of at least 4 cm for every 10 m people read the sign from.
It follows the United States Sign Council guideline: on a town street a sign reads from about 25 feet per inch of capital-letter height, and text in capitals needs 15 % more. Bold letters with strong contrast read further; this is a guideline, not a Colombian rule.
Source: United States Sign Council Foundation, Guideline Standards for On-Premise Signs (2018) – read it
Ready when you are
Measure the façade and the window, choose the pieces and see the area, the letter size, a price range and the dates. The planner writes the request; you send it on WhatsApp or by email and Creaciones Macadeho replies with the quote.
