Colombia’s constitutional court has declared a trade agreement signed as part of the Pacific Alliance in 2013 as unconstitutional, said the court in a statement on Thursday.
The Pacific Alliance is a trade agreement between Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico with an aim to achieve free trade and economic integration among the member states, as well as a visa-free travel area, a common stock exchange, and common diplomatic representation.
Law 1628, signed on May 22 2013, dealt with a range of measures to integrate Colombia within the Pacific Alliance, whose four founding nations represent nearly 36% of Latin American GDP.
The law covered measures to do with small and medium enterprises (SME’s), education, climate change, tourism and the economy such as the elimination of 92% of tariffs on goods circulating among Pacific Alliance members.
According to the court, the lack of articles 14 and 16, which provide the standards of trade and the need to observe those standards, invalidates the law and make it unconstitutional.
MORE: Pacific Alliance summit ‘historic’: Santos
The reforms in the law have been attacked by Colombian senators such as Jorge Robledo who describe it as an “an attack on the agrarian sector” which “would risk 250 thousand jobs,” according to Colombia’s Santa Fe Radio.
MORE: Pacific Alliance will boost economy and employment: Santos
Several lawmakers also criticized the absence of a genuine democratic debate in Congress and the Senate prior to approval of the law.
Sources
- Law 1628 (Pacific Alliance)
- Corte Constitucional tumbó la ley que dio origen a la Alianza del Pacífico (El Espectador)
- Ley de la Alianza del Pacífico es declarada inconstitucional en Colombia (Entorno Inteligente)
- Corte Constitucional rechazó la integración de la Alianza del Pacífico (Santa Fe Radio)