. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/C/N/572 
4 October 2010 
 
 (10-5046) 
Council for Trade in Services Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE III:3 OF THE 
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES 
 
  The following notification from the delegation of Colombia, dated 17 September 2010, is 
being circulated to the Members of the Council for Trade in Services. 
 
_______________ 
 
 1. Member notifying: 
 Colombia 
2. Notification under Article: 
 Article III, paragraph 3, of the General Agreement on Trade in Services 
3. Date of entry into force: 
 Law No. 1314 has been in effect since 13 July 2009 
 Duration: 
 Indefinite 
4. Agency responsible for the implementati on and enforcement of the measure: 
 Ministry of Finance and Public Credit 
 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism 
5. Description of the measure: 
 Law No. 1314 of 2009, regulating the princi ples and standards accepted in Colombia for 
accounting, financial information and aud iting, specifies the competent authorities, 
procedures for application and bodies res ponsible for monitoring compliance with its 
provisions. 
 The purpose of this law is to lay down accounting, financial in formation and auditing 
standards that make up a single and homoge neous, high-quality, understandable and 
mandatory system under which accounting reports, and financial statements in particular, 
provide understandable, transparent and comparab le information that is relevant, reliable and 
useful for the purposes of financial decision-maki ng by the State, owners, officials, company 
employees, current or potential investors and other interested parties in order to boost 
productivity and competitiveness and promote the harmonious devel opment of business 
activities by Colombian or fore ign natural or legal persons. S/C/N/572 
Page 2  
 
   The Law aims to regulate the convergence of Colombian accounting standards with 
international accounting standards, to avoid in consistency in the regulatory sphere between 
supervisory authorities and other State bodies, to  designate the Technical Public Accountancy 
Board as the sole drafter of the convergence cr iteria, to distinguish accounting standards from 
tax rules, to establish time frames (bet ween 2010 and 2014) for implementing the 
convergence process, and to make it compulsory  to keep accounts in accordance with the 
simplified regime. 
 Accordingly, the Accounting Law: 
• Makes it easier to bring Colombian standards into line with the international system 
and resolves problems stemming from the dive rsity and fragmentation of regulations 
as well as conflicts with tax accounting; 
• lays down accounting and financial inform ation standards that make up a single, 
homogeneous and high-quality system, t hus facilitating control over foreign 
investment related accounting information.  Transparency in financial reports lowers 
transaction costs for businesses, promotes cap ital market development and allows a 
uniform and comparable interpretation of data with those of companies from other parts of the world; 
• applies to all natural or legal persons require d, under the legislation in force, to keep 
accounts, including chartered accountants, offi cials and other persons responsible for 
preparing, approving and auditing financia l statements and financial information. 
6. Members specifically affected, if any: 
 None 
7. Text available from: 
 http://www.secretariasenado.gov.co/sen ado/basedoc/ley/2 009/ley_1314_2009.html
. 
  
__________