Brussels, 25/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has taken up the fray by filing a complaint with the WTO against import restrictions imposed by Argentina. Purely by chance, as Commissioner De Gucht put it, the EU's initiative happened to fall on Argentine's National Day.
Karel De Gucht promised early May that he would protest against the increasing number of restrictive trade measures imposed by Buenos Aires since 2008 and against Argentina's protectionism in general, which is illustrated by the Argentinean government's decision to expropriate the Spanish oil group, Repsol, of its Argentinean subsidiary, YPF. The trade commissioner filed complaints procedure at the WTO on Friday 25 May against Argentina's restrictions on imports of all kinds of goods, ranging from cars to computers to household appliances. Such restrictions have grown in number since the 2008 crisis and have been more stringent since February this year.
In addition to extending the list of products for which import licenses are required to over 600, Buenos Aires has, since early 2012, imposed the requirement of pre-registration and prior approval on all imported goods. These procedures systematically entail delays in import time and even refusals, without clear motivation, to allow the product to enter the country, the European Commission deplores, also pointing to the obligation upon Argentine importers to balance their imports with exports or to increase the local content of their products manufactured in Argentina, and the ban preventing them from transferring revenue to other countries. This, the Commission bemoans, is a practice that is not transparent and that, although not written down anywhere, is applied systematically.
The European Commission explains that, in 2011, restrictions in force in Argentina concerned exports amounting to a total of around €500 million, but extension of these measures to all products from early 2012 means that now all European exports to Argentina are concerned, amounting to €8.3 billion in 2011.
Consultation between the EU and Argentina has begun under the aegis of the WTO. If no solution is found within 60 days, the EU may call on the WTO to set a special dispute settlement panel in place to cover the issue. “Argentina's import restrictions violate international trade rules and must be removed. These measures are causing very real damage to EU companies - hurting jobs and our economy as a whole”, said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on Friday. He was highly critical of the protectionist import system which “is clearly getting worse”. The commissioner underlined that the EU was not isolated on this dossier, giving his assurance that 19 members of the WTO have expressed concern. In March and April, at the WTO and headed by the EU and the United States, some 20 developed member nations spoke out against the obstacles to imports set in place by Argentina since 2008 (see EUROPE 10590 and 10615). (EH/transl.jl)