The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Thursday launched a U.S.-requested panel to investigate whether the European Union (EU) has upheld a prior verdict against its banana import rules.
The banana dispute dates back to the launch of the EU`s single market in 1993, when Brussels adopted a complex system of quotas and tariffs that the United States said created barriers to bananas from Latin America and marketed by U.S. companies such as Chiquita.
The United States won its WTO complaint on the banana regime in 1996, gaining the right to impose retaliatory duties on European Union products. It stopped those duties after Brussels agreed to shift to a tariff-only import regime by January 2006.
Washington alleges that Brussels` revised rules, which allow African, Caribbean and Pacific states -- mainly ex-colonies of Britain, France and Portugal -- to export a certain amount of bananas to the European Union without paying tariffs, violate the WTO`s 1996 ruling.
Bananas from Latin America and other countries do not have access to the European market under this duty-free tariff-rate quota and are subject to a 176 euro per ton duty, the United States told the WTO`s Dispute Settlement Body on Thursday.
The European Union waived its right to block Washington`s initial request for the WTO to set up a compliance panel in the case. It was not clear whether the U.S.-requested board would be merged with another compliance panel into Brussels` banana regime that was initiated by Ecuador in March.
Compliance panels normally take about three months to issue a ruling, compared to six or nine months for rulings in regular WTO-brokered disputes. The Ecuadorian-requested panel had a late start because of delays in selecting panelists, meaning it is likely to release its preliminary verdict in October.
sections: Economics, World News |