WTO PANEL REJECTS EC PROCEDURAL CLAIM IN GMO CASE

In a preliminary ruling circulated on 8 April, a WTO dispute settlement panel dismissed a procedural claim made by the EC against a request filed by the US, Argentina, and Canada challenging the continued EC de facto moratorium on the approvals of new genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 25 August 2003). In its request for a preliminary ruling, the EC argued that by failing to identify the "specific measures at issue" in the dispute and providing a "brief summary of the legal basis of the complaint sufficient to present the problem clearly," the complainants had failed to meet the requirements of Article 6.2 of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). With this hurdle cleared, it is expected that the dispute now will run its normal course. In accordance with the DSU procedural rules, the first panel hearing, scheduled for early June, will be preceded by the presentation of the parties' first written submissions to the panel.

In a related development, Senator Grassley, chair of the US Senate Finance Committee has commented on the implementation of two of the EC's biotech labelling regulations which were adopted on September 2003 and implemented on 18 April 2004 (see related story, this issue). In a memorandum released to the press, the Senator asserted that the EC biotech regulations are yet another example of the "official stigmatisation" of GMOs, which would further restrict US commodity and food shipments. He warned that he would follow the implementation process closely "as well as look into their possible inconsistencies with the WTO obligations of the European Union".

ICTSD reporting; "WTO Panel Rejects EU Procedural Claim Against Request for Ruling on GMO Barriers" WTO REPORTER 9 April 2004.

ACP COUNTRIES DEFEND THEIR EC SUGAR EXPORTS

African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) sugar producing states recently warned that if the WTO challenge brought by Thailand, Brazil and Australia against the European Communities (EC) sugar regime is successful, their preferential access for sugar exports to the EC would be seriously destabilised. The fourteen ACP countries, third parties in the EC-Sugar case (see BRIDGES Weekly, 18 March 2004), presented their submissions to a WTO panel on 18 March. In a statement issued by the ACP secretariat in Geneva, the ACP countries cite the example of Guyana, where 150,000 of the total population of 750,000 depend on the sugar industry, and of Swaziland where sugar production accounts for 60 percent of agricultural production and 11 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, and call for their preferential access to be retained. "It is in good faith, and with the conviction that their preferential trade agreements would be implemented in a stable and predictable manner that the ACP countries joined the WTO in 1995," the statement adds.

Under the Sugar Protocol of the Cotonou Agreement between the EC and the ACP countries, the EC guarantees to import agreed quantities of sugar from the ACP countries. The protocol fixes specific import levels for cane sugar imported from Barbados, Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, and Tanzania, all of whom are third parties in this case in the case.

To access the ACP statement see http://www.acpsec.org/InternalSheet.aspx?ArticleFileName=2004/cmnqsucre_en.html&sessLang=1

ICTSD reporting; "ACP Eyes Thailand Complaint," WTO REPORTER, 5 April 2003; "Fiji defends its sugar exports to the EU before WTO dispute panel," FIJI GOVERNMENT ONLINE, 2 April 2004; "Caribbean States Outline their Position Before WTO Panel Examining Sugar Dispute," COUNTRY WATCH, 2 April 2004.

WTO REPORTS DECLINE IN ANTI-DUMPING INVESTIGATIONS

On 20 April, the WTO Secretariat released a reporting stating that it has observed a significant decline in anti-dumping investigations. Fourteen members initiated 115 anti-dumping investigations from 1 July to 31 December 2003, marking a decrease from the corresponding period of 2002, during which 18 WTO Members initiated 161 anti-dumping investigations. India initiated the most investigations, with the US a close second. China remains the country subject to the most anti-dumping investigations, with 30 investigations initiated on its exports during the second semester of 2003. Sectors most affected by final measures were chemicals, base metals and plastics; India accounted for the majority of measures imposed on chemical products.

For more detailed information and statistics see http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres04_e/pr374_e.htm

"WTO Secretariat Reports Significant Decline In New Anti-Dumping Investigations," WTO PRESS RELEASE, 20 April 2004.