. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/COL/171 
13 July 2009 
 (09-3403) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Notifying Member:  COLOMBIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved: 
2. Agency responsible:  Ministerio de la Protección Social  (Ministry of Social Welfare) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Honey 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[X] All trading partners, or 
[ ] Specific regions or countries:  
5. Title of the notified document:  Proyecto de Resolución del Ministerio de la Protección 
Social "Por la cual se establece el reglamento técnico sobre los requisitos sanitarios que 
debe cumplir la miel de abejas para consumo humano" (Draft Ministry of Social Welfare 
Resolution "Establishing the Technical Regulati on on the sanitary requirements to be met 
by natural honey for human consumption") Language:  Spanish Number of pages:  9  
6. Description of content:  The notified draft Technical Reso lution covers the following:  
Purpose;  Scope;  Definitions;  General require ments for natural honey;  Grading of honey;  
Physico-chemical and microbiological requireme nts;  Prohibitions;  Sanitary requirements 
for natural honey extraction;  Packaging and labelling;  Inspection, monitoring, control, safety measures and penalties. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, 
[ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease, [ ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests.  
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)  
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)  
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM N°)  
[X] None G/SPS/N/COL/171 
Page 2  
 
   Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard? 
 [ ] Yes [ ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard: 
9. Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Law ( Ley) 
No. 09 of 1979, Law No. 715 of 2001, Law No. 1122 of 2007, Decree ( Decreto ) No. 3075 
of 1997 and Resolution ( Resolución ) No. 5109 of 29 December 2005, notified in document 
G/SPS/N/COL/102/Add.1 (available in Spanish). 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  Date on which the Resolution is signed 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  Date of publication in the Official Journal 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [X] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  Publication in the Official Journal 
[X] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Final date for comments:  [ ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the notification 
and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):  8 October 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X] National Notification 
Authority, [ X] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   
13. Texts available from:  [ X] National Notification Authority, [ ] National Enquiry Point.  
Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  
Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo 
Dirección de Regulación 
Calle 28 N° 13A-15, tercer piso 
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia  Enquiry Point:  
Contact person:  Daniel Héctor Rico R. 
E-mail: drico@mincomercio.gov.co Tel.: +(571) 606-7676, Ext. 1690 Fax: +(571) 241-0480 Website: http://www.mincomercio.gov.co