The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism issued Decree number 881 of June 25 of 2020 adopting transitional foreign trade measures and other provisions seeking to mitigate the effects caused by the current health emergency. This decree aims to facilitate the activities of International Marketing Companies, adopt measures to expedite the entry of goods to meet the health emergency and mitigate the economic impact suffered by users of foreign trade due to the damming of goods in their place of storage. In this regard, the following provisions were issued: 

(i)    The obligation for the International Marketing Companies to export the goods within six (6) months following the date of issue of the certificate to the supplier, was suspended for a six (6) months period. Consequently, the application of the sanction foreseen by law for the non-fulfilment of this obligation was suspended. 

(ii)    Article 4 of Decree 436 of March 19 of 2020, which suspends the requirement for the provision of the import security for urgent shipments regarding the goods provided for in Decree 410 of 2020, was amended by adding the goods provided for in Decree 463 of 2020.  Similarly, the date of termination of this provision is changed from May 31, 2020 to August 31, 2020. 

(iii)    The transportation of goods stored in warehouses to other authorized public or private warehouses, or to a free trade zone user, is permitted, if the following requirements are met:

• The goods are in a port or stored in public or private warehouse
• It is bulk cargo, oversized cargo and/or vehicles
• The good(s) have entered the country from March 18, 2020 to June 30, 2020
• The storage term has not expired

According to the decree, both the warehouse that delivers, and the warehouse or free zone that receives, must register in their systems the following information: 

• The date of delivery and receipt 
• The data on quantity of packages and weight of the cargo delivered and received
• The information of the person authorized by the consignee to perform the shipment, to whom the cargo was delivered. 

(iv)    Imports of goods included in Annex 1 of the Resolution 457 of 2020, that enter under the modality of postal traffic and urgent shipments, are exempted from the conditions and limits provided in numerals 1 and 3 of Article 254 of Decree 1165 of 2019, which are

• That their value does not exceed two thousand dollars (US$2,000) 
• That they do not include goods on which there are legal or administrative restrictions for their import, except in the case of shipments that do not constitute a commercial consignment. 

The above will be in force from the publication of the decree in the official newspaper until October 31, 2020 or for the duration of the declaration of health emergency, whichever occurs first.

The Decree will be in force from its publication in the Official Newspaper.

Decree 881 of 2020