Constitutional Court to rule on US trade pact

The Court will review whether the agreement respects the rights of vulnerable communities, doesn’t conflict with already existing international trade agreements and in deed gives Colombian companies a fair chance to compete with their U.S. competitors, sources close to the court told Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.Concerning the vulnerable communities issue, the Court will evaluate if the bilateral agreements made on intellectual property won’t affect the Colombian minority laws that guarantee indigenous minority groups health insurance and specific health treatment, according to their culture and tradition.The judges will discuss whether the agreement complies with international agreements made within the  International Labour Organization, the United Nation’s labor agency (ILO).Last, but not least, the court will also discuss whether the trade agreement as a whole isn’t unfair for Colombia, whose developing economy will have to proof competitive to that of the United States, the world’s largest and most developed economy.The Court is expected to present its ruling before July 25.