RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/PSI/WP/W/6
19June1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2531)
Original: Spanish Working Party onPreshipment Inspection
NATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE AGREEMENT ON
PRESHIPMENT INSPECTION
Communication from Colombia
Thefollowing communication hasbeenreceived from thePermanent Mission ofColombia.
_______________
NATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE AGREEMENT ON
PRESHIPMENT INSPECTION
COLOMBIA
Background
Asystem fortheinspection ofimports byinspection entities ("Sociedades deCertificación")
hasbeeninoperation inColombia since thesecond halfof1995. Themain objective ofthesystem
istoestablish moreeffective control overcustoms fraud andtheunderinvoicing ofprices andquantities.
Inviewoftheaspects which inspection isintended tocontrol, verification should include one
ormore ofthefollowing elements: thetariffclassification, thedescription ofthegoods, theircondition
(new orused), theirselling price, quantity, quality andorigin.1
Inorder foraninspection entity tobeauthorized tooperate andbeentitled toberegistered
assuch, itmust, among otherthings, showthatitpossesses, either directly orthrough itsparent company
orsubsidiaries, dependent orrelated, 50ofitsownoffices inatleastanequal number ofports from
which Colombian imports areshipped, andnecessarily inthefollowing countries: China, Ecuador,
European Union member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, United States and
Venezuela.
Itisobligatory toproduce aninspection certificate onlywhen importing goods sensitive to
fraud andother unfair trade practices, inaccordance withthefollowing concepts:
1. Different tariff levels;
2. Import regime (prior licence versus freeimportation);
3. Existence ofofficial prices;
1Ifthegood originates inacountry withwhich aFreeTrade Agreement hasbeen signed, origin isverified
inaccordance withtherules setoutinthatagreement.
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Page2
4. Different levels ofVAT;
5. Presence ofanti-dumping duties andsafeguard measures.
Thesystem isnotapplied toproducts classified insubheadings withhightariffs orsevere import
requirements which provide themotive fordiversion toother subheadings withsimilar characteristics
butlower tariffs ormore flexible import requirements, which, fortheirpart,aresubject toverification.
Forexample, ifasubheading carries adutyof20percentandhasphysical characteristics
similar toanother withonly5percentduty, thesubheading withthelower tariff issubjected to
verification, since itistheonethatwould beusedforfraudulent purposes.
Thetrade figures for1996 show that26percentofColombian imports, i.e.invalue terms,
about US$3.2 billion, aresubject toverification.
Forother imports, theuseofthesystem isvoluntary andtheimporter canremove thegoods
fromcustoms automatically assoonashepresents animport declaration accompanied byaninspection
certificate issued byaninspection entity.
Price verification
Asregards priceverification, despite thefactthatColombia applies thereservation inArticle 20
oftheAgreement onImplementation ofArticle VIIoftheGATT 1994, since January 1994ithasused
thevaluation system oftheAgreement. Consequently, inColombia, inprinciple, thetransaction value
oftheimported goods isusedfordetermining thecustoms value. Thismethod takes precedence over
theothers specified intheAgreement.
Since theabove-mentioned valuation method differs fromtheprice verification criteria ofthe
Agreement onPreshipment Inspection, there havebeendifficulties inapplying it.
Delays
Inthefaceofcomplaints fromimporters about delays intheissuing, delivery andcorrection
ofcertificates onthepartoftheinspection entities andeager tominimize theharmful consequences
ofthisproblem, in1996 theGovernment ofColombia issued Decree 1666.
ThisDecree enables theimporter toremove thegoods provided thathecanshow thathe
requested acertificate 10daysbefore thegoods were shipped andthattheinspection entity didnot
issue acertificate within the15daysfollowing therequest.
Protection ofconfidential information
Inaccordance withtheprovisions oftheWTO Agreement onPreshipment Inspection, the
information received bytheinspection entities isconfidential totheextent thatsuchinformation is
notalready published, generally available tothirdparties, orotherwise inthepublic domain.
Theinspection entities maynotdivulge confidential business information toanythirdparty;
however, theymayshare thisinformation withthecustoms authorities, whenever required forthe
purposes ofArticle 2.11oftheAgreement.
Moreover, theinspection entities shallnotrequest exporters fortheinformation mentioned
inArticle 2.12, although theexporter mayrelease itvoluntarily toillustrate aspecific case.