Brussels, 31/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The disputes settlement body will make a decision on the complaint lodged by the US, Japan and the EU against the protectionist measures taken by Argentina.
On Monday 28 January, the WTO set up an arbitration panel to rule on the complaint made by the three parties against import restrictions introduced by Argentina more than 18 months ago, which the plaintiffs believe are harming their exports. The EU believes that these Argentinean measures have cost its exporters €8.3 billion. The panel will make its decision in six months' time.
In May 2012, the EU disputed certain Argentinean measures imposed on imports of goods, particularly the declarations Argentina imposed as a condition for approving imports of goods and the different kinds of licences they demanded as a condition for the import of some goods. In August, the US and Japan also filed separate requests to the WTO for consultations with Argentina over the same restrictions, which they deem incompatible with a number of provisions included in WTO agreements, such as the GATT of 1994, the agreement on import licence procedures and the measures involving trade-related investment. At the end of August, Mexico also filed a similar complaint (DS 446) to those brought by the EU (DS 438), US (DS 444) and Japan (DS 445), which all formally complained to the WTO at the beginning of December 2012 (see EUROPE 10746).
On Monday, Argentina informed the WTO disputes body that, on 25 January, it had taken measures to revoke automatic and non-automatic import licences. The complainants, however, declared that they were not satisfied with these measures. (EH/transl.fl)