Brussels, 03/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The WTO boss Supachai Panitchpakdi appointed three judges on Tuesday to rule on the dispute between the EU and countries of Latin America in the banana dossier. The Latin American producing countries called on the WTO at the end of March to state that the tariff of 230 EUR a tonne proposed by the EU for banana imports would not allow them to maintain their share of the European market (EUROPE 8918). The EU has undertaken to replace its import tariff quotas for bananas with a purely tariff regime, by no later than 1 January 2006.
In his appointment of the three judges, Mr Supachai has sided with the plaintiffs (Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama), who called for more than one judge, whereas the EU wanted just one. The judges are the Canadian John Weeks, former ambassador for his country to the WTO, the Australian John Lockhart and Yasuhei Taniguchi of Japan. The two latter are both members of the WTO's appeals body. The three judges now have three months, or until the end of July, to decide whether the customs duty set up by the EU allows the countries of Latin America to maintain their share of the European market. If the judges decide that the EU's rate of duty is too high, the European Commission will have ten days to propose a lower customs rate. If the Latin American countries are still not satisfied with the new tariff, they will be able to bring a new appeal before the same group of judges, who will have a further 30 days to decide.