The cannabis medical industry is shaped as a potential booster for the Colombian economy in the future. Inside this process of consolidation, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection has just regulated the possibility that the transformation of cannabis into medicine or intermediate and/or finished products can be done inside the Free Trade Zones located inside the country.

The above constitutes a very important progress, given that Free Trade Zones play a vital role in the development of the national economy and the possibility of developing industrial activities and services related to cannabis inside these zones has not been contemplated before. This constitutes a shift to this important mechanism of international trade and to the growing industry of cannabis in the country. 

The principal innovations that were regulated through the Resolution 315 are: 

• The entry of cannabis in Free Trade Zones for the purpose of being transformed into medicine or intermediate or finished products as well as to receive the service of conditioning and/or repacking. It’s important to highlight that the entry of substances or products subject to control like cannabis must be request and processed by the respective industrial user, with prior authorization from the Nacional Narcotic Fund.  
• The resolution approved that the entry of substances or products subject to control like cannabis could be carried out through Free Trade Zones or under the traditional modality of importation or temporary admission for active improvement. 
• The Resolution 315 must be implemented with the Resolution 1478 of 2006 also from the Ministry of Health, that regulates, among other matters, the importation and exportation of substances subject of control like cannabis, medicine and any other products containing such substance. From here, industrial users looking to develop industrial activities and/or services in the light of the new legislation must observe the different registers, conditions and quotas that are regulated according to the activity carried out. 
• When an industrial user of goods and/or services is sheltered by the new Resolution, the entry of cannabis to the national territory can be done only by the Bogotá Customs Control. However, in the above, the possibility of doing partial processing outside the Free Trade Zone is contemplated, allowing to integrate the value chain of this industry with companies that operate throughout the Colombian territory.

Finally, The Resolution 315 comes into force starting from the day of its publication (March 2 of the current year)