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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Inside <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> Trade - 04/13/2012 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><b><font size=6 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:24.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Colombia</span></font></b></st1:country-region><b><font
size=6 color=black><span style='font-size:24.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>
Seeking FTA Implementation Date From Obama At <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Summit</st1:City></st1:place> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Posted: April 12, 2012 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos this week clearly signaled
that he is seeking a commitment from President Obama on a specific date when
the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement will enter into force, and that he hopes
to receive such a date from Obama when the two leaders meet bilaterally on
April 15 in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>, after
the <st1:City w:st="on">Summit</st1:City> of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Americas</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>In an April 11 Spanish-language statement on the presidential
website, Santos said Colombia is doing "everything possible" to
complete all the steps necessary to comply with its FTA obligations in order to
enable the two presidents to make an announcement on entry into force or at least
"give a definitive date" for when that will happen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>According to informed sources, May 15 is being put forth as one
possible date when the FTA could take effect. One source stressed that there is
still no agreement on a date, but was confident that the two sides would
implement the FTA within the next two months.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>If both governments ultimately decided to implement the FTA
sometime within the next two months, that would mean that they agree to move
forward before actually attaining formal approval from Colombia's Constitutional
Court of three international treaties that Colombia is required to "ratify
or accede to" under the FTA's intellectual property rights (IPR) chapter.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Those court reviews concern three treaties on intellectual
property rights. The Colombian Congress has already ratified them, but the <st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Constitutional Court</st1:address></st1:Street>
is not expected to sign off on them until the second half of this year. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
will not be able to formally become a party to the treaties until the court
finishes its review and declares them consistent with Colombian law, sources
have said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>While the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Santos</st1:City></st1:place>
administration has no control over the timing of the court review, it has been
moving feverishly to implement its remaining FTA obligations before Obama's
trip. As a result, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is expected to complete all the required steps for FTA implementation --
besides completing the court review -- by April 13, sources said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative generally seeks to
ensure that an FTA partner has taken all necessary steps to implement an FTA
before announcing that the FTA will take effect. However, USTR has deviated
from that general practice in the past, including on issues related to IPR.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>In the context of the Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA), for instance, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
allowed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place>
to implement the trade deal even though it had not passed all IPR-related laws
necessary to uphold its FTA obligations. However, USTR also put in place
safeguard measures to help ensure that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place> ultimately fulfilled its
obligations.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Specifically, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region> negotiated an
understanding under which the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
could impose trade sanctions on Costa Rican exports if <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place> did not implement the
IPR changes within a set period of time (<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Inside
U.S. Trade</span></i>, May 28, 2010). It is unclear if a similar deal could be
used in the case of the Colombia FTA.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>Regardless of whether Obama and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Santos</st1:City></st1:place> announce a specific date for FTA
implementation </span></font></b><font color=black><span style='color:black'>after
the summit, observers believe that Obama will at least make some sort of
announcement on the FTA during his trip.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>The AFL-CIO, which opposes the Colombia FTA, has been warning its
affiliates that Obama is poised to announce during his trip that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has complied with the U.S.-Colombia action plan on labor rights, thereby giving
the "green light" for the FTA to enter into effect sometime later
this year, sources said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>But one labor source stressed that the administration has not yet
definitively notified the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
labor movement that Obama will make such an announcement while in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
This is important because Obama has said he will not allow the Colombia FTA to
enter into force until <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has fulfilled "key provisions" of the action plan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Still, observers had doubts on whether Obama would even announce
that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has met the requirements outlined under the labor action plan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>One FTA supporter, for instance, argued that <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address
w:st="on">House Ways</st1:address></st1:Street> and Means Committee Ranking
Member Sander Levin (D-MI), who is also traveling to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region>
for the summit, will likely press Obama to avoid certifying that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has met the key provisions of the labor action plan, or announcing that the
deal is ready to enter into force.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>This source said Levin, who voted against the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region> trade deal last October, may be
especially sensitive to this issue because, in the view of Levin and other
House Democrats, the George W. Bush administration certified that the U.S.-Peru
FTA was ready to take effect before <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region></st1:place> had complied with its labor
obligations (<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Inside U.S. Trade</span></i>,
Jan. 23, 2009).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black;font-weight:bold'>A White House official this week declined to
answer directly when asked whether Obama would make</span></font></b><font
color=black><span style='color:black'> a determination on whether <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
has met the key provisions of the labor action plan or, more generally, on
whether it has met all of its FTA obligations.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>In an April 12 conference call, Dan Restrepo, special assistant to
the president and senior director for <st1:place w:st="on">Western Hemisphere</st1:place>
affairs at the National Security Council, said that "bringing the
agreement into force is something that we certainly want to do as soon as possible."
But he stressed that this has to be consistent with the commitments Obama made
when sending the FTA to Congress, which include implementation of the labor
action plan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Restrepo said the Obama administration will continue to work with
the Colombian government on implementing the action plan, and also to review at
the technical level all the steps <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place> has taken to comply with
the FTA.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>"We're very much focused at a technical level and have been
supporting those processes; folks again at USTR, [the Department of Labor] and
elsewhere in government [are] looking at the steps that the Colombians have
taken," Restrepo said. "And that process continues."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Both USTR Ron Kirk, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are accompanying
President Obama on his trip to the summit, which is taking place April 14-15 in
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Cartagena</st1:City>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>Restrepo said the admininstration's "continued commitment to
labor rights in Colombia" will be part of the agenda during Obama's
bilateral meeting with Santos, and he praised several steps the Colombian
government has already taken in accordance with the action plan to improve
labor rights in Colombia.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:black'>According to Restrepo, those include putting in place a series of
laws and executive decrees related to labor rights, as well as imposing a million-dollar
fine on a company in the palm sector that was violating new rules on
cooperatives. Cooperatives are forms of subcontracting that Colombian employers
have used to skirt labor laws by avoiding a direct employment relationship with
their workers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Colombia</span></font></b></st1:country-region><b><font
color=black><span style='color:black;font-weight:bold'>'s Congress on April 10
approved a bill of implementing measures for the FTA along with the two </span></font></b><font
color=black><span style='color:black'>remaining IPR treaties that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
must ratify before the trade deal enters into force (<i><span style='font-style:
italic'>Inside U.S. Trade</span></i>, April 6). In addition, the Santos
administration expects to issue by the end of the week a series of executive
orders and decrees related to safeguards, tariff reductions and tariff-rate
quotas, among other FTA obligations, the commerce ministry said in an April 11
Spanish-language statement.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Inside <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> Trade - 04/13/2012 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Gimena
Sanchez-Garzoli</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Senior
Associate for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region> and
the <st1:place w:st="on">Andes</st1:place></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><st1:State
w:st="on"><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'>Washington</span></font></st1:State><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Office on <st1:place w:st="on">Latin
America</st1:place></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Tele: (202)
797-2171 ext. 205</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> Cell: (202)
489-1702<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Email: <a
href="mailto:gsanchez@wola.org">gsanchez@wola.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES style='font-size:12.0pt'>Website: </span><a
href="http://www.wola.org"><span lang=ES>www.wola.org</span></a></font><span
lang=ES><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES style='font-size:12.0pt'>Skype:
WOLAColombia<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Twitter: wola_org <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>The
<st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> Office on Latin America (WOLA) is a
<st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> human rights organization
that promotes democracy and socioeconomic justice in Latin America and the <st1:place
w:st="on">Caribbean</st1:place> through analysis and foreign policy proposals
informed by strong partnerships with civil society counterparts in the region.
Visit WOLA’s website to </span></font></i><i><font size=2
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
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