COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA WHEREAS less than two years ago, Law 498/98 imposed a Value Added Tax on press operations and newspapers that in 1998 had advertising sales above 3 billion pesos, and these taxes have caused serious harm to the newspapers WHEREAS in addition to the new taxes, Colombian newspapers have faced in the last year and a half the worst recession in the country’s history which has caused incomes to drop almost 50 per cent WHEREAS the price of paper, as a consequence of increases in world prices and the steep devaluation in Colombia, has increased this year in Colombia by almost 40 per cent WHEREAS as a result of this, many Colombian newspapers, especially small ones and regional ones, face serious financial risk WHEREAS ignoring the plight of newspapers, bill 072/00, submitted by the government to Congress on September 15, would impose a VAT on newsprint, the sale of newspapers and advertising in small newspapers (those that sold less than 3 billion pesos in advertising in 1998) WHEREAS it is necessary for democracy and the improvement of economic, social and cultural conditions of the Colombian people that conditions be appropriate for the consolidation of existing newspapers and the creation of new ones WHEREAS Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that, “tariff and exchange policies, licenses for the importation of paper or news gathering equipment, the assigning of radio and television frequencies and the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists” THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to call on the Colombian government to reconsider the proposal it presented to Congress that establishes new taxes on newspapers to invite Congress to undertake the discussion of the bill calmly and with democratic spirit and not approve the regulations imposing new taxes on the Colombian press.