On August 28, USDEC notified members of a potentially serious market entry problem into Colombia due to a change in their plant registration process. We are pleased to advise that the change with which we had concerns has been dropped after consultations between the U.S. and Colombian governments, supported by USDEC facilitation. Therefore, the status quo remains as before our member alert. 

Specifically, U.S. dairy plants should continue to register through the Colombian Institute for Agriculture and Livestock (ICA) until further notice. On September 7, Colombia's National Institute for the Surveillance of Food and Medicines (INVIMA) issued Circular Externa 100-00346-15 which repeals Circular DAB 400-2593-15 of August 13, 2015. INVIMA will now review its requirements for plant registration internally, and then publish its revised requirements for high risk products via a new circular. INVIMA has committed to notifying the new circular to the WTO and accepting trading partners' comments. 

Exporters are encouraged to verify the status of their registrations with ICA on their website since any plants that registered with ICA recently only had validity dates granted through September 12, 2015, the date on which plant registration was scheduled to transfer to INVIMA. Any plants with an expiration date of September 12, 2015 will need to re-register with ICA. 

See Volume 2 of the USDEC Export Guide for more information and a link to the ICA database. As well, please contact Sandra Benson at sbenson@usdec.org with any questions.