In accordance with the provisions of commercial legislation (article 260 of the Code of Commerce), a company will be subordinate or controlled when its decision-making power is subject to the will of another or other persons who will be its parent or controlling company, either directly, in which case it will be called a subsidiary, or with the assistance or through the subordinates of the parent company, in which case it will be called a subsidiary. 

In this regard, Article 30 of Law 222 of 1995 establishes the obligation for the controlling companies to request the registration of the control situation or business group, within 30 business days following its formation or its modifications. This obligation is extended to natural persons and legal entities that have the status of parent or controlling company. 

Among others, these are some key issues to take into consideration: 

1. The disclosure of the situation of control or corporate group is of public interest, since there is a risk for the different persons that interact with the companies, when the identity of the controllers and of all the related entities is unknown.
2. The Standardization Plan, which is valid until December 31, 2021, seeks that companies register the situation of control or corporate group before the competent Chamber of Commerce. 
3. The Superintendence of Companies is empowered to carry out administrative investigations aimed at declaring the situation of control or the formation of a business group and to order its registration in the commercial registry. Likewise, it can perform investigations to order the modification of the registrations in the entities over which it exercises inspection, surveillance and control. 
4. Based on Article 86, paragraph 3 of Law 222 of 1995, the Superintendence of Companies has the power to impose sanctions or fines on those who fail to comply with the obligation to proceed with the registration of the control situation. The fine will be calculated for each registration not made by the parent or controlling company, which will include each of the controlled or related entities of the corporate group. The basis of the fine will be determined considering the number of assets of the company and other factors.

However, the value of the fine may be reduced if the company chooses to attend courses dictated by the Superintendence of Companies on corporate matters, whose hourly intensity increases in proportion to the value of the sanction imposed.