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EU's Proposed New Tariff for Bananas Faces
Opposition
Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Honduras, Guatemala and Panama have requested arbitration at the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) on the level of duty proposed by the European
Union (EU) in the new tariff-only system for the EU’s import regime for
bananas.
In response, the EU said that while it regrets the decision of these WTO
members to request arbitration, “it will defend its proposal before the
arbitrator and remains open for constructive engagement with interested
WTO members”.
“The Commission is fully committed to respect the terms of the agreement
on bananas approved by consensus in Doha in 2001. These terms, which
provide for the move to tariff-only by 1 January 2006 and allow recourse
to independent arbitration on the level of the tariff, were explicitly
requested by Latin American exporting countries,” said EU Commissioner
for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel.
“The EU banana import regime is changing but the level of protection is
not increasing. The proposed new tariff is based on a methodology to
calculate tariff equivalents enshrined in the WTO texts and on objective
data. I believe this figure and methodology has allowed us to square the
circle and safeguard the sometimes conflicting interests of our
consumers, producers and trading partners,” she added.
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