Colombia bans imports of goods made with forced labour after a US tariff increase

The Colombian government signed decree 1444 on 28 September 2026, which came into force the following day. The text bans the import of goods produced in whole or in part through forced labour, defined as any work or service exacted under threat, without free consent, under the International Labour Organization conventions ratified by Colombia.

The DIAN, Colombia's customs and tax authority, becomes the body responsible for enforcing the ban. The Ministry of Trade, for its part, must build registers of sectors and supply chains considered at risk. Goods found non-compliant may be seized, with the importer's right of defence guaranteed through an administrative procedure.

The decree responds to a finding by the US Trade Representative, which had ruled that Colombia was not effectively banning these imports, leading Washington to raise its additional tariff on Colombian exports from 10% to 12.5%, as part of the same action targeting 60 trading partners, including China itself. Bogotá hopes this decree will support a review of that rate, though no removal has been confirmed to date.

For an importer, Colombia now has its own mechanism for detecting and blocking goods linked to forced labour, independent of any US decision: supply chain documentation, particularly for textiles, electronics or certain raw materials, is now a Colombian customs matter in its own right.