According to Anabel González, the Minister of Foreign Trade (Comex), Costa Rica has not exported the product during the second half of 2013, because the annual quota for receiving the benefits is 31 million gallons.

"We have been watching with concern that the United States has failed to apply the ethanol quota as stated in the framework of CAFTA, we are examining whether to activate the dispute resolution mechanism," she said.

"Ethanol is part of CAFTA. We are exploring the option of raising queries, the good thing is that the treaty has provisions for when there is a dispute and we can sit down and talk. This is scheduled for January or February," said Edgar Herrera, executive director of Liga de la Caña (Laica).

Source: elfinancierocr.com

More on this topic

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February 2014

Companies are preparing for the process of tariff reduction for imported goods and services from the United States under the FTA.

Starting 2015 various products will be able to come into Nicaragua from the U.S. tax free. Employers are now preparing for the tariff reduction process of the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Central America and Dominican Republic (DR -CAFTA).

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A dispute over the failure to implement tariff benefits on the part of El Salvador on tires and juices exported by Costa Rica has not been resolved using other methods.

The Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel Gonzalez confirmed that on January 20th El Salvador will be taken to court for not applying the tariff benefits negotiated in the FTA between the U.S., Central America and the Dominican Republic on tires and juices.

Costa Rica Accuses El Salvador of Violating FTA

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The country has invoked the dispute settlement mechanism of the CAFTA-DR, over alleged violation by El Salvador of the tariff reduction program.

From a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (COMEX):

The Ministry of Foreign Trade has requested the consultations mechanism against El Salvador, under the dispute settlement process of the Free Trade Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States of America (CAFTA), after a refusal, on the part of Salvadoran authorities to implement the tariff reduction program outlined in the aforementioned treaty on the import of products originating in Costa Rica.

Costa Rican companies and CAFTA

January 2009

Costa Rica exporters still have a lot of work to do in order to benefit from the FTA, despite the fact that since January 1st their products can enter the US with zero tariff.

A study on the exploitation of the CAFTA-DR that was published in the El Financiero weekly from Costa Rica points out that "six years after waiting for CAFTA, the tuna, textiles and ethanol sectors, which will benefit immediately from the agreement, will see the results little by little.