GENEVA, (Reuters) – A World Trade Organization dispute panel ruled against Colombia’s tariff on textiles, clothes and shoes yesterday, dismissing its argument that the measures were needed to fight -money laundering.
The WTO panel backed a complaint from Colombia’s neighbour Panama that the tariffs, which consisted of a fixed 10 percent and a variable component, breached the maximum allowable 35-40 percent tariff on those products.
Colombia had argued that the imported goods constituted “illicit trade” because they were imported as artificially low prices in order to launder money, vindicating its use of a higher tariff than was permitted under its WTO agreement.
