The European Union on Thursday exercised its right to block Ecuador's initial request for a World Trade Organisation panel to investigate charges that EU banana import tariffs are too high and break trade rules.
The South Americans, the world's largest banana exporters, can make a second request as early as March 20 at which time it would be automatically accepted by the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB). "It was blocked," said one trade official after a DSB session on Thursday called to hear the dispute panel request.
The request follows inconclusive talks between Ecuador and the EU on whether changes made at the start of last year by Brussels were enough to bring its import policy into line with an earlier ruling against it by the world trade referee.
Ecuador, which first brought a case against the EU over bananas in the 1990s, says it remains willing to negotiate a solution. The panel of three trade judges will officially have 90 days to reach a verdict, but investigations often take longer.
Since January 1, 2006, the EU has levied an import tariff for bananas of 176 euros ($231.8) a tonne, which it introduced in response to a 2001 ruling that its previous system was unlawful. The European Commission, which negotiates on foreign trade on behalf of the EU's 27 countries, says the import rules comply with that 2001 finding.
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