THE COMMISSION OF THE CARTAGENA AGREEMENT,

HAVING SEEN:

Chapter XI of the Cartagena Agreement, Commission Decision 289, and Board Proposal 292/Amend. 1;

WHEREAS:

International passenger transportation by road is one of the effective instruments for consolidating the subregional economic space and accomplishing the objectives of the Cartagena Agreement;

As of the entry into effect of Decision 289, international passenger transportation by road has become developed and specialized, undergoing changes in standards of organization and operation that make it worthwhile to modernize its regulatory framework;

The increase in demand for this service calls for rules and regulations that will ensure its efficiency by determining clearly and precisely the contract conditions and the responsibilities of both carrier and user;

DECIDES:

CHAPTER I
DEFINITIONS

Article 1 .- The following definitions shall be used for the application of this Decision and other Community provisions regulating international passenger transportation by road between the countries of the Cartagena Agreement:

Border Crossing Customhouse is that located at the border crossings authorized by the Member Countries, which is involved in controlling international passenger transportation by road.

Sphere of Operation is the territories of the Member Countries through which the carrier has been authorized to provide international passenger transportation by road.

International Travel Ticket, hereinafter "travel ticket", is the document issued by the authorized carrier in the name of an individual, through which the carrier commits itself to transport that person, on being paid a fare, from one city or locality to another on its itinerary, located in different Member Countries.

National Border Service Center (CENAF) or Binational Border Service Center (CEBAF) are the facilities located next to the authorized border crossings, with their necessary installations and equipment, where the national authorities congregate that control transportation, traffic, customs, immigration, health and other operations relating to the access of persons, vehicles and merchandise when they enter or leave the territory of a Member Country and where complementary facilitation services for those operations and user services are also offered.

Certificate of approval is the document that certifies that a bus is approved to provide international passenger transportation by road.

Closed Circuit is the transportation of an organized group of persons by an authorized carrier in approved vehicles, with an established itinerary that crosses two or more Member Countries and predetermined cities of departure and arrival located in the same country where the transportation starts.

Border Crossing is the crossing over their common border authorized by the Member Countries for the movement of persons, merchandise and vehicles.

Luggage is the clothing and items for the passengers' personal use, together with the articles needed for their art, profession or trade, whether carried in suitcases, packed in any other way or out in the open.

Equipment is the spare parts, tools, replacements, implements and accessories needed for the normal operation of the approved vehicles in international passenger transportation by road.

Frequency is each one-way trip assigned to the authorized carrier on a specified route.

Fleet is the group of approved and registered vehicles available to the authorized carrier for providing the service of international passenger transportation by road.

Approval is the administrative act through which the competent national authority rates a bus as being fit to provide international passenger transportation service by road.

Schedule is the established day and time for the departure of an approved vehicle starting an international passenger transportation service by road.

Itinerary is the sequential description of the cities or localities on the route between the origin and destination of the service, where the authorized carrier can collect and drop off passengers and parcels on an international trip.

Land Crew Card is the document issued by the national immigration authority of the Member Country of which the crew member is a national or which granted him/her a resident's visa. It is issued in the name of the individual and at the request of an authorized carrier and allows its bearer to enter, pass through in transit, stay in and leave the territories of the Member Countries as part of the crew of an approved vehicle in an international passenger transportation by road operation.

Passenger List is the document issued by the authorized carrier to be handed over to the immigration authorities, which contains information about the transportation company, approved vehicle, passengers and crew, as well as the origin and destination of the trip.

International passenger transportation by road operation, hereinafter "transportation operation", is the series of services rendered by the authorized carrier to the passenger and the activities it performs along the route, from the moment when the passengers board the bus to start the journey to the moment when they get off at their destination.

Competent National Authority is the regulatory governmental agency responsible for road transportation in each of the Member Countries, as well as for the comprehensive implementation of this Decision and its complementary provisions. The authorities are the following:

Bolivia: Direcci�n General de Transporte Terrestre (General Bureau of Land Transportation)

Colombia: Direcci�n General de Transporte y Tr�nsito Terrestre Automotor (General Bureau of Automotive Land Transportation and Traffic)

Ecuador: Consejo Nacional de Tr�nsito y Transporte Terrestres (National Council of Land Traffic and Transportation)

Peru: Direcci�n General de Circulaci�n Terrestre (General Bureau of Land Traffic)

Venezuela: Servicio Aut�nomo de Transporte y Tr�nsito Terrestre (Autonomous Land Transportation and Traffic Service)

The national customs and immigration authorities are:

Bolivia: - Direcci�n General de Aduanas (General Customs Bureau)

- Direcci�n General de Migraci�n y Extranjer�a (General Immigration Bureau)

Colombia: - Direcci�n de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (Bureau of National Taxes and Customhouses)

- Subsecretar�a de Asuntos Consulares y Migraci�n (Under Secretariat for Consular and Immigration Affairs), for the issue of the Land Crew Card; and Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) (Administrative Security Department) for immigration control

Ecuador: - Direcci�n Nacional del Servicio de Aduanas (National Customs Service Bureau)

- Direcci�n Nacional de Migraci�n (National Immigration Bureau)

Peru: - Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas (National Customs Superintendency)

- Direcci�n de Migraciones y Naturalizaci�n (National Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization)

Venezuela: - Servicio Nacional Integrado de Administraci�n Tributaria (SENIAT) � Gerencia de Aduanas (Integrated National Tax Administration Service � Customs Office)

- Direcci�n Sectorial de Extranjer�a � (Sectorial Immigration Bureau)

Country of Origin is the Member Country where the carrier was incorporated and has its company headquarters.

Passenger is the individual who is the user of the international transportation service and bearer of a travel ticket issued in his/her name.

Original Service Permit is the document accrediting that the carrier has been authorized by the competent national authority of its country of origin to provide international passenger transportation by road once it has obtained the corresponding complementary service permit.

Complementary Service Permit is the document granted to a carrier that possesses an original service permit, accrediting the authorization given to it by the competent national authority of a Member Country other than its country of origin, to provide international passenger transportation by road to or from its territory or through it.

Registration is the inscription by the competent national transportation authorities or the annotation by national customs authorities, of each of the approved vehicles to be used in the international transportation, for the purpose of exercising the corresponding control.

Route is the course to be covered, from the origin to the destination, by the approved vehicle in an international transportation operation.

Andean Road System is the main, interregional and complementary roads defined and identified as such through a Decision of the Cartagena Agreement.

Established Trip is the route and itinerary between the origin and destination that is assigned to the carrier for providing the international transportation service.

Passage in transit is the movement of the approved vehicle and its crew through the territories of the Member Countries while providing international transportation or as a result of it.

International Passenger Transportation by Road, hereinafter "international transportation", is the transportation of persons which, in reliance on travel tickets and a passenger list, the authorized carrier provides in approved vehicles, from a city of origin to a city of destination, located in different Member Countries, in accordance with the established routes, frequencies and itinerary.

Authorized Carrier is the company whose purpose it is to transport passengers by road, incorporated in one of the Member Countries in accordance with the pertinent national provisions for business associations or cooperatives, and which holds an original service permit and one or more complementary service permits.

Crew are the persons employed by the authorized carrier who are needed to drive the approved vehicle and serve the passengers.

Approved vehicle is the bus to which the competent national authority has granted a certificate of approval.

CHAPTER II
BASIC PRINCIPLES

Article 2 .- This Decision establishes the conditions for providing the service of international passenger transportation by road among the Member Countries of the Cartagena Agreement, in order to liberalize the supply of that service.

Article 3 .- The supply and provision of the international transportation service is grounded in the following basic principles: freedom of operation; access to the market; national treatment; transparency; non-discrimination; equality of legal treatment; free competition and most-favored-nation.

Article 4 .- The Member Countries agree to homologize the authorizations and transportation documents and to eliminate all restrictive measures that affect or that may affect international transportation operations.

CHAPTER III
ON THE SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Article 5. - Such international passenger transportation by road as is carried out between Member Countries of the Cartagena Agreement or through their territories, shall be governed by this Decision and its complementary provisions.

This legislation is also applicable when the approved vehicle must be transported over a given segment and without transferring the passengers, through another means of transportation, be it by sea, river, lake or land, whose use is necessary in order to be able to continue the international transportation operation.

Article 6.- The provisions of this Decision, as well as the complementary regulations, are applicable also when the crew and the approved and registered vehicles are moved without passengers from one Member Country to another in order to start or continue an international transportation operation, or to return to their country of origin after having concluded it.

Article 7 .- The established trips for international passenger transportation by road are the following:

1. Between cities of two bordering Member Countries;
2. Between cities of two Member Countries with passage in transit through one or more Member Countries; and
3. Between cities of two or more Member Countries.

Article 8.- During the international transportation, authorized carriers may collect and drop off passengers whose origin and destination are cities or localities on the itinerary, located in different Member Countries.

The authorized carrier, in order to be able to collect or drop off international passengers in Member Countries other than that of its origin, must first obtain a complementary service permit in those countries.

The provisions of this article are applicable to the transportation of postal packages and parcels.

Article 9.- The international transportation provided by carriers from third countries through the territories of one or more Member Countries, shall be regulated by the national legislation of each of the Member Countries through which they pass in transit or by the provisions of international agreements in force.

Article 10.- The international transportation shall be provided over the routes and in keeping with the frequencies and itineraries coordinated by the competent international authorities and assigned by them.

The routes that make up the Andean Road System and the authorized border crossings, as well as such routes or border crossings as the Member Countries may authorize, shall be used in coordinating and assigning routes.

Article 11.- When two or more Member Countries agree to authorize new routes or border crossings for international transportation among them, those routes or border crossings shall be utilized by the authorized carriers of the other Member Countries.

Article 12.- The original and the complementary service permits and certificate of approval do not grant the authorized carrier the right to provide local passenger transportation by road in the Member Countries.

Article 13.- Authorized carriers, on a complementary basis, may engage in the international transportation of postal packages and parcels. This service shall be provided only in approved and registered vehicles.

Article 14.- In order for the authorized carrier to provide the service of international passenger transportation by road, it shall not be necessary for the Member Country of passage in transit or destination on the established trips it intends to offer, to have authorized a company from its country to offer the same established trip or another whose destination or through which it will pass in transit is the carrier's country of origin.

The fact that an authorized carrier from the other Member Country involved in that established trip has not yet started operating or has suspended its operations may not be used to determine the launching of the transportation service or to impede its provision.

Article 15.- The stipulations of this Decision are not applicable to border transportation, which shall be governed by such provisions as the bordering Member Countries may agree upon.

Article 16.- The Member Countries, in their respective territories, grant the authorized carriers to which they have issued complementary service permits, the right to open offices and branches, as well as to offer and provide international transportation service.

Article 17.- The Member Countries, in their respective territories, shall grant approved and registered vehicles freedom of passage in transit for purposes of international transportation.

Article 18.- An authorized carrier having obtained a complementary service permit shall enjoy, in the Member Country that issued that permit, treatment that is no less favorable than that which, in similar circumstances, is given to authorized carriers from that country.

Article 19.- The Member Countries shall give authorized carriers to which they have issued complementary service permits, treatment that is no less favorable than that which, in similar circumstances, they grant to carriers from third countries.

Without prejudice to the stipulation of the previous paragraph, bordering Member Countries may grant each other's carriers special terms, in order to facilitate passage in transit and transportation operations locally, so long as these are limited to the demarcated contiguous border zone.

Article 20.- Any Member Country that adopts a measure affecting international transportation in regard to the movement of approved vehicles and crews, shall immediately report it to the other Member Countries and to the Board of the Cartagena Agreement.

This same procedure shall be followed for the signing, adherence to or ratification, as well as the denunciation, of bilateral or multilateral agreements or conventions relating to international passenger transportation by road, signed with another Member Country or third countries

CHAPTER IV
  ON THE CONDITIONS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION

Article 21.- Only a carrier that possesses the authorizations established in this Decision may offer international passenger transportation by road.

By the same token, that carrier, in providing the service, may not receive treatment that is different because its form of business organization is not the same.

Article 22. - A carrier interested in providing international transportation must obtain an original service permit and a complementary service permit.

It must also secure a certificate of approval and register each one of the buses belonging to its fleet.

The international transportation service shall be provided only upon fulfillment of the requirements set out in this chapter.

Article 23. - In order to be able to apply for an original and a complementary service permit, the carrier must be incorporated in any of the Member Countries of the Cartagena Agreement.

The company shall be governed by the legislation of the Member Country where it is incorporated and by the Community provisions for Andean multinational enterprises.

The establishment of offices or branches shall be regulated by the legislation of the Member Country where they are set up.

Article 24.- The authorized carrier shall maintain a fleet of at least three approved vehicles in operation. The competent national authority that issues the original service permit may require a larger number of buses in light of the routes, frequencies and distances to be covered.

Article 25. - International passenger transportation by road shall be carried out as a direct transportation operation.

Only for duly justified reasons of force majeure or an act of God may the authorized carrier transfer the passengers and their luggage, as well as the postal packages and parcels it is transporting, from one vehicle to another.

Transportation over national segments is not considered international passenger transportation by road.

Article 26.- All international passengers, during the transportation, shall bear travel tickets and their names shall be on the passenger list. That list will be handed over to the immigration officials at the authorized border crossings, on entering and leaving each one of the Member Countries of origin, passage in transit, and destination of the transportation.

Article 27. - The drivers' licenses issued by a Member Country and used by drivers in the international transportation, shall be recognized as valid in the other Member Countries through which they pass in transit.

The license category shall correspond to the classification of the approved vehicle being driven.

Article 28. - Licenses belonging to the drivers of approved vehicles, when these are providing international transportation service, may not be retained in the case of traffic violations that are punishable by fine alone.

Article 29. - The authorized carrier and its legal representative in each of the Member Countries within its sphere of operation, are jointly and severally liable for the payment of any fines imposed on the drivers of the company's approved vehicles for traffic violations committed during the international transportation service.

Article 30.- The passage in transit of approved vehicles shall be regulated by automotive vehicle traffic regulations in effect in the Member Country through which they pass.

Article 31. - The identification used by a Member Country for the vehicles registered in that country (license plates or other specific means of identification) that is employed on the approved vehicles, shall be recognized as valid in the other Member Countries through which those vehicles pass in transit.

The Member Countries shall not demand that the approved vehicle that passes through their territories in transit while providing international transportation service or as a result of it, use special or additional identification to that indicated in the previous paragraph.

Article 32. - The insurance policy referred to in articles 50d) and 51d) of this Decision shall be submitted to the respective competent national authority before the service may be started.

The authorized carrier may not provide international transportation service if its civil liability and passenger casualty insurance policy has expired.

Article 33. - The authorized carrier, in the cities of origin, shall have on hand at all times the itineraries and destinations of its assigned routes, with identification of the public or private facilities available for passenger service and the dispatch and reception of the approved vehicles.

Before starting operations, it shall also report the addresses of those facilities located in their respective countries, to the competent national authorities that issued it the original and the complementary service permits.

Article 34.- Before starting the service, the authorized carrier shall establish the schedule of each frequency and report it to the respective competent national authority that issued it the original or the complementary service permit. Compliance with the set starting date and time of the established trip is mandatory.

Any change shall be reported to the respective competent national authority before it is implemented.

Article 35 .- Authorized carriers may, within their assigned frequencies, dispatch as many vehicles as needed to cover the demand for the service.

Article 36 .- The international transportation may be suspended by:

1. Court order;
2. Order of the competent national authority as a result of an administrative proceeding; or
3. Decision of the authorized carrier

In the case of item c), the competent national authority shall be notified at least fifteen calendar days before its implementation.

The stipulation of the preceding paragraph is applicable also to the transportation of postal packages and parcels.

The suspension of the passenger transportation service at the carrier's decision may not last longer than ninety calendar days, except in duly justified cases of force majeure or acts of God.

Article 37 .- Failure to reinitiate the passenger transportation service at the expiration of the cited period or that granted by the authority in the case of force majeure or an act of God, shall be considered its abandonment.

Continue on to Chapter V