Ecuador’s ambassador to the World Trade Organisation has told freshinfo that his country is “very satisfied” with the ruling on Monday by a WTO disputes panel that the EU banana import regime is non-compliant. But he also criticised EU attempts to “de-legitimise” the ruling.
His excellency, ambassador César Montaño said: “We are very satisfied that for the seventh time now Ecuador’s claims that the EU regime is not in accordance with its commitment to the WTO have been upheld. But the EU has tried to de-legitimise Monday’s ruling by issuing statements through its spokespeople that the ruling is purely academic, since the EU signed its Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with ACP countries. But this is not the case as the WTO has not been notified of these and, in any case, the EU is in contravention of article 2b of the WTO Gatt agreement of 1994.”
A European Commission spokeswoman told freshinfo that the EU was not putting out a formal statement on the WTO ruling but conceded that the commission “disagreed” with the ruling and that an appeal against the ruling might be forthcoming. “The panel has adopted a formalistic approach,” she said. “It is regrettable that the preferences examined by the panel no longer exist since EPAs were granted. We are considering an appeal.”
Montaño said Ecuador is still not ruling out negotiation. “We continue to state, as we always have, that we are ready to negotiate,” said the ambassador. “Ecuador is a poor country and we have had 15 years of costly legal battles and discrimination by the EU against the world’s largest exporter of bananas. Our biggest market is the EU and it is time to find a satisfactory solution. We are ready to sit down at the table and talk.”
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