This section contains records of the Agreements signed within the framework of the 1980 Montevideo Treaty currently in force, as well as their Additional Protocols and Protocols of Accession.

These Agreements may be of Regional or Partial Scope, depending on whether all or only some of the member countries take part in it, and are classified according to their subject matter. Besides, member countries may sign agreements with non-member countries and areas of economic integration of Latin America (Article 25 of the 1980 Montevideo Treaty).

There are seven Agreements signed by all member countries of the ALADI, four of them are related to the mechanisms of trade liberalization in accordance with Articles 5 and 18 of the 1980 Montevideo Treaty. These are Market-Opening Lists on behalf of Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay (Agreements Nr. 1, 2 and 3, respectively) and the Regional Tariff Preference Agreement (Nr. 4).

The other three agreements of regional scope are related to scientific and technological cooperation (Agreement Nr. 6), to exchange of goods and cooperation in cultural, educational and scientific matters (Agreement Nr. 7), and to overcoming technical barriers to trade (Agreement Nr. 8).

In order to establish favourable conditions to the Relatively Less Economic Developed Countries to take part in the process of economic integration and aiming at granting them an effective preferential treatment, member countries opened their markets to a wide range of products, granting them, without reciprocity, the total lift of customs duties and other restrictions, since April 30th 1983.

In compliance with the provisions of Article 5 of the 1980 Montevideo Treaty, member countries grant on a reciprocal basis a reduction on the rate of duties levied on imports from third countries to the importation of products originated in their own countries.

The Regional Tariff Preference (PAR) is established according to the relative economic development of each country, in conformity with Resolution 6 of the Council of Ministers, and applies to the entire tariff universe, except for a list of products determined by each country. The current basic level of PAR is 20%.

These agreements aim at promoting the maximal use of production factors, stimulating economic complementation, ensuring equal conditions of competition, facilitating products access to international market, and generating balanced and harmonic development of member countries.

Besides the sub-regional schemes of integration (Andean Community and MERCOSUR-ACE 18), there are nowadays nine agreements of economic complementation, which determine the creation of free trade areas among signatories. These are Chile-Venezuela (ACE 23), Chile-Colombia (ACE 24), Bolivia-Mexico (ACE 31), Chile-Ecuador (ACE 32), Colombia-Mexico-Venezuela (ACE 33), MERCOSUR-Chile (ACE 35), MERCOSUR-Bolivia (ACE 36), Chile-Peru (ACE-38), Chile-Mexico (ACE 41), (MERCOSUR-Peru) ACE 58, (MERCOSUR-Colombia-Ecuador-Venezuela) ACE 59 y (Mexico-Uruguay) ACE 60.

These agreements compile the results of the renegotiation of the preferences granted in past negotiations, i.e., the so-called “historic patrimony” of the ALALC that where still in force by the end of the 80`s. Of the original 40 agreements only seven are currently in force, the remaining agreements have been absorbed by new economic complementation agreements signed later on.

These are strictly commercial agreements and their scope is restricted to some productive sectors.No agreement of this kind is currently in force.

These three categories of agreements regulate specific matters concerning tariff preferences, in some cases it involves cooperation actions with the intent of creating favourable conditions for the exchange of goods and services, such as transport and tourism, for the protection of the environment, the optimal use of road infrastructure, the overcoming of technical barriers to trade, and so on.

Based on the provisions of this article, some member countries signed Partial Scope Agreements with other Latin American countries and areas of integration. The preferences granted in these agreements are automatically extended to the countries of Relatively Less Economic Development of the Association.

Of a total of 38 agreements signed within the framework of this Article, there are 19 currently in force due to a variety of facts: the expiration of the time limit agreed upon (Agreements Nr. 2 Argentina-Costa Rica, and 3 Argentina-El Salvador), the substitution of the agreements for new economic complementation agreements (Agreements Nr. 4 Cuba-Argentina, 12 Cuba-Mexico, 17 Cuba-Uruguay, 18 Cuba-Peru, 19 Colombia-Cuba, 21 Brazil-Cuba, 28 Cuba-Venezuela, 30 Cuba-Peru, 32 Cuba-Ecuador, 33 Colombia-Cuba, 34 Bolivia-Cuba and 35 Cuba-Venezuela), and the establishment of Free Trade Treaties between Mexico and Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (Agreements Nr. 1, 13, 10, 11 and 15, respectively).