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Trade

WT/DS361 - European Communities - Regime For the Importation of Bananas

WTO dispute settlement case - Complaint against the EU

Country or region
Colombia
Trade topics
Dispute settlement
Dispute settlement
WTO - Complaint against the EU

Summary of the case

  • Complaint by: Colombia
  • Complaint against: EU
  • Third parties: No third party

EC Council Regulation 1964/2005 introduced by 1 January 2006 replaced, with effect on 1 January 2006, the existing TRQ banana import regime by a single applied tariff of 176€/t for bananas of MFN origin and a duty-free TRQ of 775.000t for bananas of ACP origin.

Colombia argues that this import regime is inconsistent with EC's commitments under the GATT on the following basis:

(a) the applied MFN tariff of 176€/t is inconsistent with Article II:1 of the GATT as it exceeds the existing EC bound tariff for bananas (pending a rebinding);

(b) the EC duty-free preference granted to bananas of ACP origin is inconsistent with Article I:1 of the GATT, since the Doha waiver on the Cotonou Agreement ceased to apply to bananas from 1 January 2006.

(c) the duty-free TRQ granted to bananas of ACP origin is inconsistent with Article XIII:1 , XIII:2 and XIII:5 of the GATT.

Relevant WTO provision: II:1, I:1, XIII GATT

Status

Request for WTO consultations by Colombia

  • Consultations requested: 21 March 2007

Documents

Full case details and WTO documents on the WTO website

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