Mexico and Colombia renegotiate G3 free trade agreement - International Law Office

In August 2011 Mexico and Colombia announced that they had renegotiated their free trade agreement in light of the withdrawal of Venezuela. The FTA-G3 agreement, which has been in force for the past 15 years, is now called FTA-G2.

Amendments have been published whereby goods imported to and from Mexico and Colombia are deemed exempt from duties, with certain exceptions:

• A quota and mechanism for the assignment of imports to Mexico was set for certain goods classified under Chapter 72 (iron and steel) of the Harmonised Tariff System.
• Quotas were set for imports to Colombia of goods originating in Mexico, including arequipe (caramel spread); ground and grated wheat; butter oil; wheat flour; powdered milk; soy, sunflower, safflower, turnip and rapeseed oils; beverages containing milk; fine cuts of boneless beef; butter and lard; and cheese.

As provided by the FTA-G2, the authorities have published the Regulations for the Operation of the Regional Integration Committee on Inputs and the Certificate and Declaration of Origin Forms.

On August 16 2011 Decision 64 of the FTA-G2 Administrative Commission was published. It provides a temporary exemption for the use of non-originating materials used in certain textiles and garments, thereby affording such goods the preferential tariff treatment provided by the agreement. The decision was adopted with effect from July 19 2011.

For further information on this topic please contact Adrián Vazquez, Horacio A López-Portillo, Eduardo Zepeda or Veronica Vázquez Bravo at Vázquez Tercero y Asociados by telephone (+52 55 5534 36 36), fax (+52 55 5534 91 95) or email (adrian@vazqueztercero.com, horacio@vazqueztercero.com, eduardo@vazquezepeda.com or veronica@vazqueztercero.com).