Brussels, 28/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Buenos Aires is calling for a special group to be set up to rule on its complaint against the EU's anti-dumping duties on Argentine exports of biodiesel.
On Thursday 27 March, Argentina officially called on the WTO to put together a dispute settlement body (DSB) to assess its complaint against EU anti-dumping duties on Argentine biodiesel - duties ranging from 22% to 25.7% imposed since the end of November 2013. Buenos Aires believes that the EU measures are “in contradiction” with the WTO anti-dumping agreement and with GATT.
Set up provisionally by the EU in May 2013, then definitively at the end of November (for a period of five years), these duties (which also hit Indonesian biodiesel - but at lower levels) aim to re-establish a situation of fair competition in the face of dumping, which according to a European Commission investigation comes from a differential tax system on exports that was established by Argentina (and Indonesia) in order to benefit their biodiesel. This system is based on the application of a higher tax for raw materials (Argentine soya beans and Indonesian palm oil) than for processed products based on these raw materials.
This is an instrument which, according to the European industry, enabled biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia to provide 90% of EU biodiesel imports and to obtain a 30% share of the European market between 2010 and 2012. At the end of 2013, the Argentine industry accused the EU's anti-dumping duties of causing Argentine exports fall by 75% compared with 2012. For the Argentine authorities, the EU's imposition of the definitive anti-dumping duties closed the European market to Argentine exports.
The WTO panel theoretically has six to nine months to formulate its recommendations. Buenos Aires said on Thursday that the EU had refused an initial panel demand but that it will be obliged to accept the second, which will be presented during the next DSB meeting on 25 April. (EH)