European Union: EU council backs banana import rule, ready to defend against WTO challenge

摘要

Brussels--European Union agriculture ministers approved a new banana import regime December 1 9. which they claimed would bring the controversial plan in line with World Trade Organization rules and thus nullify the right for the United States to maintain approximately US 200 million dollar in sanctions on EU exports. Despite insistence by the EU that the scheme is WTO-compatible, it is opposed by not only the United States but also numerous Central American countries as well as some African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The new scheme includes a first-come, first-served import licensing scheme as well as three reduced tariff quotas, including a reduced quota that favors the ACP countries. After six years the EU scheme would change over to a single-tariff only system. Throughout the banana dispute the EU has insisted that it must give preference to the ACP countries, many of them former colonies of EU member countries, because their economies depend on exporting the fruit but their smallplantations cannot compete with the larger plantations in Latin American countries.