The World Trade Organisation (WTO) yesterday ruled that the EU’s banana importing practices violate international trade, according to diplomatic sources.
The WTO has upheld a complaint from Ecuador that the EU’s €176 (£126) a tonne customs duty import scheme on non-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific nation bananas, implemented on January 1, 2006, is inconsistent with global trade rules.
This is the second time in six years that the WTO has ruled against the EU’s banana regime.
Ecuador lodged a complaint in November 2006 challenging the new rules, and the US also lodged a complaint.
Bananas from Latin America account for four-fifths of European imports, while the remainder come from ACP states.
ACP bananas enter the EU duty free under a quota of 750,000 tonnes a year, with the system devised to favour ACP states, many of which are former European colonies.
Under previous regimes, Latin American and non-ACP bananas were subject to a tariff of €75 a tonne under a certain quota level, and €680 a tonnes above that level.
The system was withdrawn in 2001 after the WTO ruled in favour of a complaint made by Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the US.
In the latest row, Ecuador has argued that the current EU system prevents the country from maintaining its European market share. Quito said its share fell to 27.5 per cent in the first eight months of 2006, from 29,9 per cent in the year-earlier period.
But a spokesman for the EU has claimed that imports of Latin American fruit into the EU have actually increased. “Data shows that imports from Latin American countries have increased substantially - 10.7 per cent in 2006 compared to 2005, and eight per cent in the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the same period of 2006 - since the introduction of the tariff only regime in 2006,” he said. “It is through negotiations, not litigation, that we will find a solution that is satisfactory for all suppliers.”
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