Panama: Dispute Over Colombian Tariffs Worsens

Colombia is replacing the controversial mixed tariff with a threshold of $10 / kg for clothing and between $6 and $10 per pair of shoes, and will temporarily apply the maximum tariffs of 40% and 35%, respectively, and above the threshold, a tariff of 15%.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

The Panamanian government has expressed its opposition to the new measures implemented by Colombia. The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Augusto Arosemena said the neighboring country   "... can not adopt in parallel through supposed customs controls, measures which violate other obligations on market access and customs valuation, still less substantiate them using arguments that were rejected in two legal cases, as the supposed justification of enforcing laws on money laundering.

Additionally these measures have also once again placed restrictions on ports of entry of these goods, which has already been declared illegal by the WTO in a previous panel.'" 

See full statement by the Panamanian government. (In Spanish)


From a statement issued the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism in Colombia:

Bogotá, November 2, 2016.- This November 2nd, the National Government issued two decrees in order to strengthen customs controls against smuggling and under-invoicing of clothing and footwear and to comply with the ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO), in the dispute initiated by Panama.

Therefore, the DIAN has implemented a series of strict requirements for goods with prices significantly lower than import customs controls, allowing the system to be strengthened against the risk of imports of products particularly sensitive to illegal trade, such as clothing and footwear.

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