The commercial dispute between Colombia and the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium for the case of ‘anti-dumping’ policies on frozen fries coming from those countries presented, this Wednesday, December 21, a new episode. The World Trade Organization (WTO) He issued a mixed ruling in which, although he rectified some aspects about the country, he leaned towards the European position.
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The panel of arbitrators of the international organization assured that Colombia violated international standards by imposing these restrictive measures and asked the country to modify technical aspects, aligning itself with the policies of the WTO, to avoid reprisals of the same style from the European bloc.
However, the group of experts pointed out that the country was right to initiate an investigation in the sense that the WTO Antidumping Agreement allows the legal interpretations of the authorities conducting the investigations to be taken into account, before issuing the preferred interpretation. of the courts.
It is worth highlighting that ‘dumping’ refers to unfair competition: sell below normal price or at prices below cost. For this reason, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism has been managing the imposition (since 2018) of a tariff on these purchases that was previously 6%, but which was increased in October to 9.7%, a measure that will remain in force. while adapting these records.
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Among them, according to the entity, is the use of the database of the Department of National Taxes and Customs (Dian) to calculate the dumping margins, the confidential treatment of certain information presented during the investigation and technical aspects of the calculation of ‘dumping’ margins.
The minister of the portfolio, German Umana Mendoza, pointed out that Colombiais respectful of the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO, therefore the pertinent steps will be taken to implement the considerations of the arbitrators in a reasonable period, taking into account the processes of internal legislation”.
Colombian imports have grown compared to 2021 and 2019.
By your side, the European Commission celebrated the decision of the WTO and assured that it is “a victory” for European producers, whose exports to Colombia, worth more than 20 million euros, were affected by Colombian duties.
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“It sends a clear signal to any country thinking of restricting EU exports that anti-dumping investigations must fully comply with WTO rules”, collected the agency EFE.
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