Brussels, 03/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 April, TheEuropean Commission welcomed the fact that Peru has removed countervailing duties against Spanish and Italian olive oil producers.
The Instituto Nacional de la Defensa de la Competencia y de la Protección de la Propiedad Intelectual (INDECOPI), the Peruvian competent authority in respect of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy matters, has made public its decision to remove countervailing duties on Spanish and Italian olive oil, following the appeal case brought by the EU, Spain and Italy, which found in their favour.
The Appeal Court at INDECOPI revoked the resolution imposing duties on Spanish and Italian olive oil, in place since December 2010, having regard to the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. The Court found that the investigation into allegedly subsidised imports of olive oil that was carried out at the time of imposing the countervailing duties was not based on a positive evidence of damage to the Peruvian market.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos welcomed the judgment of the Court, which comes just a few days after the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement (1 March 2013) between the EU and Peru (see EUROPE 10797). He also indicated that he expected Peru to abolish the duties as quickly as possible.
In 2009, a number of Peruvian olive oil producers requested INDECOPI to launch an investigation to assess the possibility of applying countervailing duties upon imports of Spanish and Italian olive oil. This investigation started in July 2009 and concluded in December 2010. The INDECOPI Commission announced the immediate application of countervailing duties of €0.95 per kilo and €1.05 per kilo for Spanish and Italian olive oil respectively. The EU introduced an appeal to this decision in March 2011.
In its ruling the Commission said that the INDECOPI Court had made a valuable effort to understand the European Common Agriculture Policy regarding the support the EU gives to operator organisations in the olive sector, but some misunderstandings can still be found in the legal reasoning for the final Resolution. The EU considers this support as fully consistent with WTO rules. (LC/transl.fl)