Brussels, 02/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 8 March, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO will examine the complaint tabled on 16 November last year by Ecuador against the new banana import regime, set in place by the EU in 2006 (EUROPE 9308). Quito has asked for another panel to be set up to rule on the dispute at the WTO between it and the EU. According to certain sources close to the dossier, the request for a panel could be officially granted on 20 March. This panel takes some 90 days to set up and is unlikely to return its verdict before the end of July 2007.
At this point, only Colombia is in a position to be able to join Ecuador in its complaint to the WTO against the Community banana import regime. But as Colombia has no historic rights in this dossier, it can only become involved in the procedure as a third party (and not a full party). During the previous phase of consultations to seek an amicable solution to this dossier, Ecuador could count on a larger number of allies from Latin America (Columbia, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica).
By way of a reminder, Ecuador believes that two planks of the Community banana import regime are incompatible with certain obligations under WTO agreements: - the customs duty of €176 per tonne applied by the EU to banana imports from all third countries (with the exception of the ACP countries, which enjoy a zero rate of duty for a volume of up to 775,000 tonnes a year). Ecuador believes that this customs duty is far too high and that it prevents its banana producers from maintaining their share of the Community market, which, it claims, has fallen to 27.5% in the first eight months of 2006, compared to 29.9% in the same period of 2005. Ecuador also takes the view that this duty rate is far higher than the consolidated customs duty rate of €75 per tonne; - the tariff quota of 775,000 tonnes reserved exclusively for bananas from the ACP countries, and below which limit, ACP bananas enter the EU duty-free (with over-quota quantities being hit by a duty rate of €176 per tonne). Ecuador takes the view that the EU applies “different and more favourable rates (to ACP bananas) than those in force for Ecuadorian bananas and bananas from most of the other WTO members”. Quito believes that it is harmed further by the fact that its operators enjoy no part of this tariff quota.
The European Commission, for its part, does not share the view of the Ecuadorian authorities. It states that sales by Latin American producers in the EU have increased by 8% since the new border protection system came into force (according to Eurostat data). However, a source has suggested that this 8% increase relates to the volumes of bananas sent to the EU by Ecuador and not its market share, which has fallen. (lc)