55. WP.29 considered the request (WP.29-198-03) by Colombia, who is not a Contracting Party to any WP.29 agreements at this time, to receive exceptional and temporary access to DETA. The representative of Germany, on behalf of the Chair of IWG DETA, pointed out that his group dealt with technical matters only, while Colombia’s request was of policy nature and thus fell under the purview of WP.29 which set up the rules for access to DETA for different categories of users.

56. The representative of the US did not support the request of Colombia and pointed out that the use of all WP.29 databases was reserved for use by Contracting Parties only. She also mentioned that Colombia did not allow access to its market of products manufactured according to the 1998 Agreement. The representative of the European Union inquired which provisions of the 1998 Agreement were contravened by Colombia and preventing access to their market.

57. Some delegations recalled the global nature of WP.29 and believed that providing access to DETA could encourage Colombia to join the vehicle Agreements, while others highlighted the practical difficulties it could create. WP.29 recalled that the current access rules did not allow for access of Colombia to DETA. WP.29 also noted that granting exceptional access to one non-Contracting Party might constitute a precedent following which similar requests from other non-Contracting Parties should be treated in the same non-discriminatory manner.

58. The Chair concluded that there was no legal basis to approve Colombia’s request and that there was no consensus for amending the DETA access rules. The representative of OICA suggested to invite experts from Colombia to the next DETA workshop, scheduled for June 2026, to receive a demonstration on how to use DETA. The Netherlands (Kingdom of the) supported that idea.