Columbia Adopts Compound Import Tariff Measures, Which Violate WTO Trade Regulations.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The previous ruling has been upheld by Columbia on imports from Panama.

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And footwear adopt compound import tariff measures, in violation of WTO trade regulations.

Columbia once claimed that the measure was an illegal act against money laundering, but the WTO appellate body said in early June (2016) that the measures adopted by the Republic of Costa Rica violated the provisions of WTO, and it could not prove that the Levy of compound tariffs was a measure that must be taken to combat money laundering.

The case originated 3 years ago when Panama accused WTO of imposing compound import tariffs on Columbia, which was unreasonable, and Columbia failed to comply with WTO's national obligations.

Panama indicated that Columbia's import tariffs on imports of textiles, clothing and footwear include 10% of the fixed ad valorem tax and a floating volume tax, which exceeds Columbia's WTO ceiling of 35%~40%.

Guo responded that it was necessary to implement compound tariff measures to combat illegal trade practices such as money laundering related to imported products.

However, in December (2015), the WTO dispute settlement panel pointed out in the ruling that the compound tariff of Columbia applies to all imported products, without distinguishing whether these imports are "lawful" or "illegal", or are used for money laundering.

WTO also found that Columbia failed to prove that the compound tariffs were specially designed or necessary measures to combat money laundering. Meanwhile, the defense of the Colombian states could not serve as a justification for raising tariffs to more than the Columbia bound tax rate.