Decision 466
Extension of the deadlines established in
Decision 370 for the final stage of
dismantling of the list of exceptions to the
Common External Tariff
THE ANDEAN COMMUNITY COMMISSION,
HAVING SEEN:
Article 98 of the Cartagena Agreement and
Decision 370;
WHEREAS:
Decision 370, in the fifth paragraph of
article 9, establishes that Colombia,
Ecuador and Venezuela agree to reduce the
list of exceptions corresponding to Annex 4
by 50 subitems a year, by transferring them
to Annex 1 and, in the case of Ecuador, also
to Annex 2, for a period of three years, and
to eliminate the residual group in the
fourth year.
Last January 31, 1999, the period for the
definitive dismantling of Annex 4 of
Decision 370 expired;
Nonetheless, as the delegations of
Ecuador and Colombia have stated, it is
necessary to extend the period established
in Decision 370 for the definitive
dismantling of the list of exceptions to the
Common External Tariff;
During the Seventy-fourth Regular Session
of the Commission, held in Caracas on March
4, 1999, the Alternate Representatives
instructed the Tariff Coordination Council
to study the question so that it might draw
up a proposal for the definitive dismantling
of Annex 4;
The Tariff Coordination Council met on
May 17 and 18, 1999 to study the situation
and propose the terms and conditions under
which the list of exceptions to the Common
External Tariff would be definitively
dismantled;
DECIDES:
Article 1.- By July 31, 1999 at
the latest, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
shall withdraw from their lists of
exceptions to the Common External Tariff, a
number of NANDINA subitems equivalent to 20%
of the subitems currently on those lists, by
transferring them to Annex 1 to Decision
370, or, in the case of Ecuador, to Annex 2
to Decision 370.
Article 2.- By January 31, 2000 at
the latest, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
shall withdraw from their lists of
exceptions to the Common External Tariff an
additional number of NANDINA subitems
equivalent to 40% of the sutbitems currently
on those lists, by transferring them to
Annex 1 to Decision 370, or, in the case of
Ecuador, to Annex 2 to Decision 370.
In the case of the group of residual
subitems that are not withdrawn by January
31, 2000 and that show a difference of more
than 10 percentage points between the
national tariff and the Common External
Tariff, that difference must be reduced to 5
points.
Article 3.- By July 31, 2000 at
the latest, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
shall withdraw the residual group of NANDINA
subitems from their lists of exceptions to
the Common External Tariff, by transferring
them to Annex 1 to Decision 370, or, in the
case of Ecuador, to Annex 2 to Decision 370.
Article 4.- Ecuador may maintain
its special system of import prices for the
fuels in NANDINA subitems 2710.00.11,
2710.00.19, 2710.00.41, 2710.00.49,
2710.00.60, 2710.00.99 and 2714.90.00, up to
December 31, 2000 or, in any case, up to the
moment when the liberalization of the fuel
trade has been completed in Ecuador, on
which date the subitems shall be assigned
their corresponding tariff level of Annex 1
to Decision 370.
Article 5.- Any tariff
modifications made pursuant to this Decision
should be communicated to the General
Secretariat.
Promulgated in the city of Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia, on the twenty-fifth of May
of nineteen ninety-nine.
