Trade Facilitation

News on the Pacific Alliance: Mexico and Colombia

On this April 22^nd, the partnership of Mexico and Colombia, inside the scope of the Pacific Alliance, took another step towards trade facilitation: the emission and expedition of origin certificates for both countries will occur digitally from now on. The measure applies only for trade between Mexico and Colombia – for exports to Chile and Peru, the physical certificate expedition continues to be mandatory.

The measure follows the indications of both the chapter of Trade Facilitation of the Pacific Alliance’s framework agreement and article 7 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement among members of the World Trade Organization, making trade faster and more efficient.

Moreover

In the Americas, initiatives to facilitate trade are gaining force in the past years. Canada’s E-manifest, for example, expedites the customs clearance process through an electronic system, which receives all documents and information on the arrival of cargo on the Canadian border, at least two hours before shipment departure from the origin country.

Brazil’s implementation of the World Customs Organization (WCO) program, the “Authorized Economic Operator” (AEO), is a success case and it is a model to be followed. The program developed by the WCO certificates parties involved in international trade as a “safe operator”, which gives them more transparency and speed in the customs process.

There are plenty of programs and capacity building initiatives being held by the World Customs Organization in countries all over the world, including the AEO program. Sidera has been supporting the Brazilian Federal Revenue in some capacity-building initiatives and can help your company learn more about such actions and discover which benefits can boost your international business.