After years of indifference about environmental matters, Colombia’s environment protection ministry has announced that “in the next few days it will be possible to import green vehicles without import tariffs for five years.”
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The measure, approved by the customs and duties committee, includes electric, hybrid and dedicated CNG passenger cars, trucks and buses. New technology vehicles will no longer attract the 35% tariff on FOB price.
But, in the first year after the signing of the measure, only 100 vehicles will be allowed in, rising to 180 in each of the following four years, which is less than 0.1% of a car market that could hit 210,000 vehicles this year.
“This is a big mistake because no serious car brand in Colombia will import such a small number of vehicles, taking into account the service investment they have to make to support each vehicle”, said Oliverio García, president of Andemos, the Colombian carmakers association that includes most importers and some assemblers.
“Actually, this severe quota scheme looks like a protectionist barrier favouring assemblers because tariffs are the most used – and abused – weapon to protect their interests, so I believe this small quota is in place of the duties. For Andemos, this kind of measure must not delay Colombian automotive development and should be open, exempt of any kind of taxes, VAT, etc and subsidised with low credit rates” added García.
The ministry will soon announce the date on which the new decree will come into force.
