Information Technology Agreement Products

Trade and Tariffs

This sector is defined by products included within the World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA). ITA products accounted for 15.2 percent of total U.S industrial exports to Colombia in 2006, totaling over $747 million. The top U.S. exports in this sector included computer parts, radio and TV broadcasting apparatus, and digital computing devices. Colombian tariffs range between 5 and 15 percent, with an average of 8.2 percent in 2006.

Colombian exports to the United States in this sector totaled almost $7.4 million in 2006, or less than 1 percent of total Colombian industrial exports to the United States. Top Colombian exports to the United States included transmission apparatus and pre-recorded laser disks. The United States is a signatory to the ITA, and thus imposes zero duties on these products.

Tariff Elimination

Overall, tariffs will be phased out according to five tariff elimination categories: immediate elimination, equal cuts over five years, unequal cuts over five years, equal cuts over seven years, and equal cuts over ten years. Tariff elimination under the unequal five-year staging category will proceed with a 10 percent tariff cut in years one and two, a 30 percent cut in year three, a 20 percent cut in year four, and the remaining 30 percent tariff cut in year five.

For ITA products, almost all U.S. industrial exports will receive duty-free treatment immediately upon implementation of the Agreement. Duties on certain electrical conductors will be eliminated over seven years. Additionally, Colombia has agreed to join the ITA multilaterally by January 1, 2008.

Non-Tariff Barriers

Colombia will eliminate its prohibition on the importation of remanufactured ITA goods, as defined in Chapter Four - Rules of Origin, on entry into force of the Agreement. Colombia will eliminate tariffs on most remanufactured ITA goods immediately and will phase out tariffs on a small number of remanufactured goods over 10 years.

International Trade Administration
Manufacturing and Services
Office of Trade Policy Analysis