On Wednesday 24 April, South Africa circulated to members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) a request to open consultations with the EU regarding its regime on imports of South African citrus fruit affected by the ‘citrus anthracnose’ fungus. This is the first stage in a WTO dispute between two members.
Pretoria believes that the European restrictions are incompatible with the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. In particular, the EU is criticised for banning imports of citrus fruits affected by the fungus ,“despite the fact that citrus fruits are not a viable pathway for the transmission of this organism”, according to South Africa.
The country has already taken the EU to court over a similar case in 2022: it challenged European phytosanitary rules relating to the pest ‘Thaumatotibia leucotreta’ on oranges and other citrus fruits (see EUROPE 13003/10).
See the consultation request: https://aeur.eu/f/bzl (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)