Amber Road Supports U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement within 24 Hours of Enactment

Customers see immediate updates to global knowledge(R) trade content

Amber Road, formerly Management Dynamics, a leading provider of Global Trade Management (GTM) solutions, today announced that its Global Knowledge(R) database of trade content was updated within 24 hours of President Obama's signature on a presidential proclamation putting the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA) into force.

"Because the agreement specifies changes in rules of origin and HS codes, it is critical for our customers to receive the updated content immediately," said Anthony Hardenburgh, vice president of Global Trade Content at Amber Road. "

In fact, the U.S.-Colombia FTA is affecting 20,681 HS codes and 858 rules of origin. 

This is a significant amount of content that required collection, analysis and interpretation so it could be implemented in our software at the time of the president's signature."

Especially for organizations already doing business with Colombia, the FTA could mean substantial reductions in landed costs due to preferential treatment on thousands of items. 

In fact, over 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia will become duty free immediately.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), tariff reductions in the agreement will expand exports of U.S. goods alone by more than $1.1 billion, and the International Trade Commission projected the agreement will increase U.S. GDP by $2.5 billion.

"While trade compliance professionals understand the importance of having up-to-date trade content and its critical role in applying for preferential duty status, embedding this content into their business process is another challenge," said Scott Byrnes, vice president of marketing at Amber Road. "

Amber Road's Global Knowledge(R) is not only the most comprehensive collection of trade content in the industry, but also the fuel that powers hundreds of GTM implementations worldwide."

As countries around the world continue to expand the scope of these preferential programs, companies engaged in global trade need a GTM vendor possessing both trade expertise and the ability to quickly operationalize dynamic trade regulations.