A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has ruled in favour of the EU in a report circulated on Wednesday 30 November concerning a dispute with Indonesia.
The European Commission had filed a WTO case in November 2019, as it blamed Indonesia for its export restrictions on certain raw materials (nickel, iron, chromium and others) which it said were hurting European stainless steel production. It also challenged certain Indonesian subsidies encouraging the use of local content by Indonesian producers (see EUROPE 12375/2).
The panel agreed with the EU that both measures were not in conformity with the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Furthermore, “Indonesia has not demonstrated that the export ban and local production requirement were applied on a temporary basis to prevent or alleviate a critical shortage of an essential product”, as permitted under the GATT Agreement.
This report must now be adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) within 60 days, unless either party wishes to appeal or the DSB decides by consensus not to adopt the report.
The European Commission welcomed this “clear” decision confirming its accusations.
See the full report: https://aeur.eu/f/4dk (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)