Brussels, 17/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU will call for, next August, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) arbitration over the "carrousel" of retaliation that America is on the verge of introducing so as to sanction the persistent non-respect by the EU of Geneva rulings on bananas and hormones. This information, still unofficial, was passed on this Wednesday from sources close to the European Commission, while on the other side of the Atlantic, it has been made known through the same means that the implementation of this new system, studied for nearly one month, is now imminent.
The American law passed last 18 May, imposes on the trade services of the Administration to modify, at the same time or completely, the list of products sanctioned by a prohibitive 100% duty and this, every six months, so as to increase pressure on the WTO member countries who do not respect the ruling from Geneva. Though the sanctions, which are presently hitting the Community exporters in the two cases cited had been approved by the WTO, the EU considers that a retaliatory "carrousel" is contrary to international trade rules. The system will not only extend the impact of existing sanctions, by affecting, one after the other, different industrial sectors, but it will also weigh more heavily, beyond what the WTO allowed, when it established the level of prejudice felt by the United states due to the European embargo on hormones and the import regime for bananas (a little more than USD 308 million, asserts Brussels, where they estimate that between 70% and 100% of transatlantic trade in the targeted products is already penalised).