Services are services that, in contrast to goods, cannot be seen, touched or stored.

Contact the Information Center (Centro de Información de Servicios de Comercio Exterior; +57 (1) 560 0100, ext. 3023; Calle 28 No. 13ª-15) where they will provide you with information on procedures, markets, products, etc.

Yes. It is necessary to register with the Dirección General de Comercio Exterior del Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (General Directorate of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Foreign Trade).

When a group of countries signs a trade agreement, they grant tariff preferences that favor their members over third countries. To benefit from these preferences and prevent non-member countries from enjoying them, the Rules of Origin were established, which ensure that imported products originate and come only from the countries that are signatories to the agreement. Therefore, to consult this information, please access the Export Route web tool..

In response to your request, we indicate that you can verify the list of Colombian exporters through the following means:

1. Consult via Internet at Colombia Trade.
2. Through the Colombian Catalog of Exporters of Publicar. Which you can inquire physically in our foreign trade consulting center Zeiky which is located in the city of Bogota on Calle 28 No 13a - 15 floor 1 local 8 in the hours of operation of: Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm and Friday: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

The information contained in each market study shows the dynamics of the sector, the demand and consumption, the competitive situation of the products, structure and characteristics of the commercialization and logistics of access to the market. It is a contribution and an invitation to deepen and learn about aspects that allow to advance in the realization of business in international scenarios.

The Centro Empresarial de Negocios - Zeiky-, has databases and On-Line tools with the assistance of professionals in Foreign Trade willing to help you in their use. BACEX is one of our databases, which allows you to find statistics on Colombian imports and exports and Colombian companies that perform such operations. To make these consultations, we invite you to visit our Information Center, located at Calle 28 No. 13A-15 First Floor Local 8 with a schedule of attention from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Continuous Day, and Fridays from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Remember that if you are not in the city of Bogota, PROCOLOMBIA offers you a complete network of Regional Zeikys, where you can receive more information about it, as well as a broad portfolio of services to venture into international markets. For further information, please contact the Contact Center: nationwide (01900) 331-0021 - Bogotá (571) 419-9450.

Macrorruedas are large-scale events that bring together buyers and sellers of a specific sector of the economy in the same place to generate business opportunities. If you wish to consult the program, please go to Macrorruedas. Please note that to participate in this type of activity, you must have the necessary elements and knowledge that will allow you to achieve a successful development in this type of event.

To find out the status of your determination of origin you should contact the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism at PBX 6067676 option 3 EXT 2156.

The tariff heading is a 10-digit code that describes the merchandise in order to facilitate its identification in international trade and determine the requirements and taxes to be paid. This codification can be consulted in Decree 4589 of December 27, 2006, through the web page of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, mincit,in normatividad-decretos year 2006.

In order to make an import, it is necessary to take into account the following steps, among others:

1. A market and economic feasibility study of the import.
2. The price of the product in the international market.
3. International transportation costs.
4. Nationalization costs and other expenses, if any

It is important to understand the process in detail. For this reason, we invite you to consult the guide on how to import, which is available at mincit in information services.

To locate the tariff subheading of your product, you have two options:

1. Through the customs tariff directly, which can be consulted at ZEIKY.
2. Revising Decree 4589 of December 27, 2006.

It is important to clarify that the DIAN is the only entity authorized to determine the tariff classification, according to Decree 2685/99 Art. 236 and Resolution 4240/00 Art. 154 to 157 of the DIAN - Tariff Division, tel. 6079999 Ext. 2128/2129. Cost: half a minimum wage per product.

The Colombian Exchange Statute requires that any transfer for import of goods must be channeled through the intermediaries of the exchange market, and failure to do so is sanctioned by the DIAN. In principle, all imports must have a foreign exchange transfer unless it corresponds to a non-refundable operation duly justified in accordance with Decree 3803 of 2006 article 15. At the moment of making the payment abroad (reimbursement of foreign exchange) it is important to take into account that the exchange declaration No. 1 must be filled out before the intermediary of the exchange market. The maximum legal term to make the transfer abroad is six (6) months counted from the date of the shipping document, otherwise it constitutes an operation of external indebtedness, which must be previously informed to the intermediary.

To register with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism the contract or invoice for the provision of a service abroad, you can do the procedure directly or authorize an SIA or special proxy:

1. If you are going to carry out the procedure directly, you must acquire the Digital Signature at CERTICÁMARA in Bogotá address: Av. Calle 26 Nº. 68D-35, 5th floor. Telephone: (1)3830671, or in Bucaramanga and Cali; To request your username and password you must send to electrónico:vuce@mincomercio.gov.co, the Name of the company, RUT, Name of the legal representative, e-mail address, telephone number, fax, address and city of domicile, which you will receive through your e-mail. Subsequently, you must proceed to complete the registration of technology import contracts Form O3 prior to the payment of the corresponding royalties through VUCE through the F.U.C.E. module (single foreign trade form). Finally, transmit the technology import contract or the invoice(s) for the provision of services as scanned attachments. If the attachments cannot be scanned, they must be physically filed at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism or sent by certified mail, addressed to the Technology and Trade in Services Group.
2. If you wish to carry out the procedure through an SIA or special proxy, you must authorize them through a notarized power of attorney. You can complement this information by consulting the external circular 027 of 2009, as well as in VUCE, by clicking on help, then by the option FUCE and Registration of Technology Import Contracts - Form 03.

Under the Prior License regime are articles controlled by narcotics, non-refundable imports, legalizations, those requesting exemption from customs duties, those that cover used, imperfect, repaired, reconstructed, restored, remanufactured merchandise and inventory balances; those using the annual license system; those submitted by official entities with the exception of gasoline, urea, as contemplated in Decree 3803 of 2006, article 15, chicken parts, plastic waste, arms and ammunition, among others.

You must submit the import registration before the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism when the freely importable goods require a requirement, permit or authorization from any government entity. This request must be made electronically, through the website - Foreign Trade Single Window-VUCE. VUCE.

Requirement, permit or authorization means the prior formalities required by the competent authorities for the approval of applications for registration of importation of:

• Fishery resources
• Surveillance and private security equipment
• Radioactive isotopes and radioactive material
• Clothing deprived of public force
• Hydrocarbons and gasoline

And of those subjected to:

• Sanitary control aimed at preserving human, plant and animal health.
• Compliance with technical regulations
• Emission certificate by dynamic test
• Vehicle homologation
• Monitoring to ensure environmental protection under international treaties, conventions or protocols

The importation of goods as samples without commercial value is subject to the payment of customs duties and can be carried out under two modalities:

Without Import License: Applies to:

• Imports for promotional and advertising purposes, for experimentation, technical and scientific tests as prototypes of products not intended for commercialization.
• When the unit value of the merchandise does not exceed fifty U.S. dollars USD$50 and a maximum of up to 10 units per shipment.

In the case of larger quantities, the goods must be marked on the original container or packaging as Sample of No Commercial Value.

The total amount of the shipment cannot exceed USD$1000.

With Import License: When the goods do not comply with the above requirements.

Taking into account that CERTICAMARA established two forms to request the purchase of the Certificate: Company Representation and Company Membership, the following should be taken into account:

1. If the legal representative is the person in charge of signing the documents that the company is going to process electronically, the certificate must be processed only for him/her, through the CERTIFICATE OF COMPANY REPRESENTATION form.
2. If within the company the legal representative and another person is authorized to sign in his absence, a digital certificate must be processed for each one, since this is personal and non-transferable. The request for the signature of this person will be made through the form for CERTIFICATE OF COMPANY MEMBERSHIP.
3. If the signature is authorized only for the authorized person(s) and who is not the legal representative, the certificate must be processed through the form for CERTIFICATE OF COMPANY MEMBERSHIP.

It is a digital identity document issued in the name of natural or legal persons. The issuance is under the responsibility of a certification entity duly authorized by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (Law 527 of 1999 art. 29-34). The certifying entity guarantees the data contained in the aforementioned document relating to a person, whether natural or legal. This digital document is the equivalent of an identity card, license, passport or company card. By means of a set of keys associated with an identity, a certificate serves to identify oneself to third parties and prevents identity theft on the Internet; this fact makes it a key tool for the identification of the contracting parties in electronic commerce.

A Digital Certificate can be requested by any company or merchant (or its representative) registered with a National Chamber of Commerce.

A Digital Certificate contains the following information:

• The identifier of the entity issuing the certificate.
• The unmistakable name of the holder.
• A specific attribute of the holder, such as address, capacity to act on behalf of a company, solvency, NIT number or other tax identification code, or the existence of payment guarantees or specific licenses and powers.
• The beginning and end of the period of validity of the certificate.
• The unique code of the certificate.
• The digital signature of the entity issuing the certificate.
• The limits on the use of the certificate, if applicable, and The limits on the liability of the certification service provider and the value of transactions for which the certificate is valid.
• The public key of the certificate subscriber (Law 527 of 1999, art. 35-38).

Obtaining a Digital Certificate allows to secure the entry (authentication) to restricted sites on the World Wide Web (replacing the dangerous access controls through user and passwords), sign messages ensuring their origin and authorship, encrypt the communication so that only the recipient can see it.

The Digital Certificates that are issued are considered as High Security, that is to say, a physical identification of the applicant and a detailed verification of the data provided are carried out.

This category of users includes natural or legal persons who apply for import registrations or licenses through the SIAs or duly accredited proxies.

To register with the VUCE, the natural person, the Legal Representative or whoever grants power of attorney, must go to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Operative Group, Territorial Directorates or Service Points), provide the RUT number of the importing company or natural person who will consult the procedures that will be filed in his name.

The official of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism:

• Verifies the registration of the natural or legal person in the RUT of the DIAN or in the RUE of the Chamber of Commerce, and compares the information with that provided by the user.
• Enter the user's information into the system.
• It gives the user the document of conditions of use to the user and password to access the system.
• The user signs the document of conditions of use as a user of the system and returns it to the Mincomercio official who will be in charge of filing the signed copy.
• With the user name and password provided by the Mincomercio official, the user must enter the VUCE VUCE. and change the password for security reasons and can consult all the applications filed by the SIA or a proxy on their behalf.
• The official of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Operational Group, -Territorial Directorates or Service Points), creates a list of the users registered in the system during the day. As he/she creates users in the system, he/she takes notes in Excel of the following data:
  • Cedula or Nit
  • User's name

This list is sent at the end of the day to the e-mail vuce@mincomercio.gov.co, so that the system administrator can assign the corresponding security profiles to each one.

IMPORTERS THAT IMPORT LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS

These users must go to the offices of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Operative Group, Territorial Directorates or Attention Points), in order to register in the system and be able to carry out the import registration or license operation, for which they must present the following document:

• Citizenship card or RUT

The official of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism:

• Take a photo of the person registering, which will be stored in the registration databases.
• Verify the registration of the natural or legal person in the RUT of the DIAN or in the RUE of the Chamber of Commerce and compare the information.
• Enter the user's information into the system.
• It provides the user with the document of conditions of use, user and password to access the system and the document establishing responsibilities and authorization to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism to ensure electronic transactions made as an importer.
• The user signs the document of conditions of use as a user of the system and the document establishing responsibilities and returns them to the Mincomercio official who will file the signed copy together with a printout of the photograph.
• With the user and password provided by the Mincomercio official, the user must enter the VUCE VUCE and change his/her password for security purposes and can consult all requests under $1,000 online.
• The official of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Operative Group, -Territorial Directorates or Service Points), creates a list of the users registered in the system during the day and as he/she creates users in the system, he/she takes notes in Excel of the following data:
  • Cedula or Nit of RUT
  • User's name
• This list, together with the electronic files of the photographs duly named with the importer's Nit, is sent to the e-mail vuce@mincomercio.gov.co, so that the system administrator can assign the corresponding security profiles to each one.

This type of Users should not register personally before the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (Operative Group, Territorial Directorates or Attention Points), their registration should be done by e-mail as indicated.

These users must perform the following steps:

1. Obtain the digital certificate from a certifying entity authorized by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (see Instructions for the acquisition of a digital certificate).
2. Inform to the e-mail: mail the following data:
   • RUT No.
   • Company Name
   • Name of the Legal Representative of the Company
   • E-mail address for system notification
   • Phone No., Fax No., Address, City of Domicile
   • Note: This information must match the information that appears on the digital signature certificate.
3. Acquire the VUCE application at the offices of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
4. The SIAs or special attorneys-in-fact must have the documents by means of which the importers or exporters they represent grant them the power of attorney to carry out the procedures before the Foreign Trade Single Window. The Ministry may request it when deemed necessary.

Functions of the System Administrator:

• Verify the registration of the natural or legal person in the RUT of the DIAN and the RUE of the Chamber of Commerce and compare the information with that provided via e-mail by the importer.
• Create the user and assign a password.
• Send an e-mail informing the user and password to access the system, which must be changed for security reasons.
• Send via e-mail the document of conditions of use and commitments as a user of the system.

4. The Importer returns the digitally signed terms of use document via e-mail to the e-mail address.
5. The importer enters the import module and registers the digital key (token) online, in the VUCE page (see token registration instructions).
6. Once these steps have been completed, the importer will be able to carry out the procedures online through the VUCE imports.

Decree No. 4149 of December 10, 2004, created the Foreign Trade Single Window - VUCE, in order to allow exporters and importers to electronically process authorizations, permits, certifications or prior approvals required by different competent entities for the performance of specific import and export operations.

This system guarantees the technological and legal security of the different procedures by integrating the digital signature. Additionally, it makes use of the electronic payment online, thus seeking to speed up the payment of the procedure before the entities.

The VUCE system provides the user with the necessary elements to carry out the electronic processing of exports and imports, guaranteeing: agility, integrity, availability and reliability in the process and, most importantly, the security of the information with the use of electronic signatures.

For more information, please visit the VUCE website, thank you for using our services, and if you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

To make the payment of the registration or import license before the Ministry, the importer must have a user name and password to access the VUCE System. The payment is made electronically for which the importer must have a bank account in one of the financial institutions included in the ACH Electronic Service Provider.

The importer must make the payment on the same day the application is transmitted; if the payment is not made, the system deletes the transmitted applications and the user must perform the transmission procedures again.

The amount to be paid is automatically calculated by the system according to the number of characters filled in the application for registration or import license. The liquidation is calculated in accordance with the regulations in force.

To register as a user in the VUCE system, you must be registered in the RUT (Registro Único Tributario). Once you meet this requirement, you must inform the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism via e-mail. There are three types of users in the system:

1. Importers or Customs Brokerage Companies, who electronically sign their applications.
2. Importers who carry out their procedures through an SIA or special proxy.
3. Individuals or Legal Entities that import less than USD 1000 (One Thousand Dollars) and do not have a digital signature.

In accordance with the regulations issued for this purpose and depending on the type of user, you must request the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism to create a user name and password to access the system.

Users belonging to the classification of numeral 3. and who make a maximum of three (3) imports per year, do not require a digital signature; they only need to register once before the Ministry's offices at the national level.

Legal entities that aspire to be registered and recognized as International Trading Companies must submit an application signed by the legal representative to the Foreign Trade Sub-Directorate, Registration and Control Division of the National Tax and Customs Directorate, complying with the requirements established in Article 1 of Decree 093 of 2003. For more information about the procedure, please consult the Internet, by accessing DIAN, under the option procedures and then Foreign Trade.

The Input-Output Table is the document that shows the participation of imported raw materials and inputs used in export goods.

Plan Vallejo, is the modality that allows the reception of goods within the national territory under articles 172, 173 and 174 of Decree Law 444 of 1967, with total or partial suspension of customs duties on raw materials, capital goods and spare parts, destined to be totally or partially exported within a determined period of time, after having undergone transformation, elaboration or repair.

Within the modalities of the Vallejo plan, there is the option of temporary importation of raw materials and inputs to be used exclusively in their entirety, deducting residues and waste in the production of goods for export; in this case, the export commitment is one hundred percent (100%).

Within a Vallejo Plan program, you may import raw materials and inputs destined entirely to the production of goods, whose export may be partial if the final good is imported and is exempt from customs duties; in this case the export commitment will be 60% of the production obtained. From the Vallejo Plan

Within the Vallejo Plan program, it is taken into account that whoever exports with the legal requirements goods whose production used imported raw materials and inputs, through ordinary channels or by replacement, shall be entitled to import with the benefits stipulated in Art 179 an equal amount of those raw materials and inputs.

An Industrial Free Trade Zone of Goods and Services is understood to be a delimited geographical area of the national territory, with the purpose of promoting and developing the process of industrialization of goods and rendering of services, destined to exempt markets and in a subsidiary manner to the national market.

A Transitory Free Trade Zone is where fairs, exhibitions, congresses and seminars of international character are held, which are important for the country's economy and international trade (fair and convention centers).