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Evidencia 13: The daily news

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Lawsuits for alleged violations of Colombia TLC

Companies from Mexico, Canada and USA They claim that the State has
failed acquired rights.

The free trade agreement (FTA) signed by Colombia to expand its access to
businesses in the world, begin to be put forward by the partners in the country to
act against internal decisions.

And from Canada's mining Eco Oro, and from Mexico, America Movil, which owns
Claro, consider that their rights as investors and announced that interpose actions
in light of FTAs with these countries, warning that Colombia is violating
commitments it made to agreements.

Also, I get the mining firm has more than a year ago on the table of the FTA with
the United States a plea on his project Taraira (Vaups). They say parallel to the
issue of mining title means an 'Express' consultation stepped forward to declare a
natural park, the army prevented the entry of indigenous groups opposed. Now, the
company has already reported that claims 16,500 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the possibility of lifting the patent is a drug firm Novartis, Switzerland,
could, experts say, to finish activating claims in light of the FTA with that country.

According to Martin Gustavo Ibarra, president of Araujo Ibarra & Associates


(consulting in international business), one of the most important chapters in FTAs
is investment, where a developed country changes with one on developing and
Colombia access to goods for access to investment and services for them.

"Government bodies have to be very careful in analyzing, when there is a


modification of the initial investment conditions or when there are special
provisions in areas such as the validity of a trademark or patent, the internal rule or
judicial interpretations of a domestic court not violate the agreements provided
especially for investors in that country if the investment was made after the signing
of the FTA, "said Ibarra.

Adds that the country must have a pedagogy of public bodies on how the rules laid
down in the treaties, especially in investment, are supranational, which take
precedence over domestic legislation or internal faults, and that these investors by
virtue of legal certainty which give them the agreements, they have the power to
turn to international courts.

But, likewise, must be analyzed case by case to see if the claims are for general
investment conditions or the application of a particular and specific clause in
different disciplines.

" If the State sees objectively, that a claim of this kind is badly and there are not
many chances to win, I think it should be seriously considered harmful conciliation.
A bad deal is better than a good lawsuit, and avoid a millionaire process that has
the force of law, " Ibarra said.

And additionally must take into account that litigation entails costs, such as hiring
international lawyers in the jurisdiction of demand, but the most important is to
quantify the risks in case of loss. Furthermore, it stresses that Colombia should not
you at the global level, now you need to attract investment.

Pulse cell

America Movil, Carlos Slim, announced its intention to submit a claim to arbitration
under NAFTA between Mexico and Colombia.

The company, whose subsidiary in Colombia is clear, seeks compensation for the
alleged change in the rules of the game against the reversal of the cellular
infrastructure.

Commerce Ministry sources confirmed that the company notified and its intention
to report a violation of commitments.

The expert Martin Gustavo Ibarra recalled that the treaty with Mexico takes about
20 years and is very likely that most of the investments of Mexican origin are post-
NAFTA, initially known as the G-3, as included Venezuela.

"What invokes the agreement is out of national jurisdiction and to call an


international, including arbitration, which would be mandatory for Colombia, but
always must be met before the conciliation stage," Ibarra said.

The case broke after the Ministry of ICT convene an arbitration tribunal after failing
to reach a legal agreement with Claro and Movistar in the return process and
infrastructure networks that were installed since 1994.

Delays in the wilderness


The Canadian mining company announced that Eco Oro accuse the country
because its activities have been affected by the " excessive delay the Government
in clarifying the boundaries of moor Santeran .

This delay did not allow limits Renoirian whether the Angostura project, says the
company, and highlights the "persistent to provide clarity as to the right of Eco Oro
to continue the development of its mining project failure." It also mentions the
decision of the Constitutional Court, which extended the ban on mining on the
moors.

Asks multinational monetary compensation in light of an alleged breach of the FTA


between Canada and Colombia.

Environmental organizations point that has been clear since the beginning of
Angostura that the Constitution and other regulations protect the moors and,
therefore, the project could not be authorized.

Patent pending decision

A recommendation from a committee of the Ministry of Health to lift a drug patent


has alerted the pharmaceutical industry and could lead to another issue in the light
of one of the TLC, experts say.

The drug Imatinib for leukemia, the firm Novartis of Switzerland could lose the
patent. The Technical Committee of the Ministry of Health suggests that you can
import the active ingredient for national laboratories produce it. The concept
recommended to negotiate the price with the laboratory.

The so-called compulsory license is accepted by the World Trade Organization


(WTO) for countries in special conditions, to grant patents for reasons of urgency
and to be recognized mechanism.

But in the pharmaceutical industry consider that condition of urgency does not
apply in this case.

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