Brussels / Geneva, 17/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - Ecuador has formally called on the World Trade Organisation to authorise it to impose sanctions on the European Union for an injury of $450 million caused by the EU's non-compliance with the World Trade Organisation's verdict in the dispute over bananas. This is the very first time that a developing country has asked for reparations under WTO rules, the Ecuadorian ambassador to Geneva Roberto Betancourt explained. The Union ought to have reformed its regime since 1 January 1999 but, for 12 months, it has not introduced any reforms in that direction, he explained when presenting his government's request to the arbitrators appointed by Dispute Settlement Body, continuing: "The current EC banana was declared illegal by the WTO because it includes practices that frustrate the reasonable trade expectations that Ecuador is entitled to have as a WTO member. Ecuador is currently in the midst of the most serious economic crisis in its history. As bananas are Ecuador's second largest exports, the EU's illegal regime causes severe harm to Ecuador's economy and banana trade. The EU's lack of compliance has had serious consequences on the levels of income and unemployment, the expansion of poverty and the displacement of considerable segments of Ecuador's population engaged in the banana industry".
Ecuador hopes to receive the "green light" required by the WTO to slap sanctions on the EU by withdrawing the benefit of trade concessions linked to intellectual property rights (including certain wines and spirits with protected names) certain services, without also being able to target goods imported from the Old Continent without severely penalising its own economy official sources tell us.