Over a year ago, the Colombian ministry of commerce and industry published a new regulation requiring all imported brake pads to have the Icontec seal which stands for the Colombian Technical Standards Institute; the national agency responsible for technical standardisation.
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The intent was to ban low quality imported parts but internationally accepted SAE and TÜV standards were overlooked and the regulation also put the country at risk of WTO sanctions because it could be seen as a non-tariff barrier to free trade.
The regulation was so loose that every brake pad of every imported car had to be inspected by an officer looking for the Icontec seal.
But, last week, the regulation was suspended while the ministry, with outside help, devises a more practicable version.
Meanwhile, the Colombian Central Bank queried one-sided free trade agreements, noting that Colombian assemblers (GM, Renault and Mazda) have not sold any cars to Mexico, even though a FTA is in place.
Meanwhile, Colombians bought 22,192 new vehicles in August, the best month here since November 2007.
Year to date sales are up 28% to 150,309 vehicles – passenger cars (54%), SUVs (18%), pickup trucks (10%), taxis (9%), trucks (5%), vans (3%) and buses (2%).
Assemblers accounted for 40.3% of sales.
