Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 9 • 19th May 2006

Final WTO Biotech Panel Report Maintains Verdict Against EU

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A WTO dispute panel on 10 May issued its final ruling on the complaint brought by the US, Canada and Argentina against what they alleged was an EU moratorium on the approval of new biotech products. The substance of the report, which remains confidential and was only released to the parties to the dispute, remained unchanged from the 7 February interim ruling, according to one trade diplomat (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 17 February 2006). That ruling said that the EU had indeed applied a general ‘de facto’ moratorium on approvals of biotech products between June 1999 and August 2003 which “resulted in a failure to complete individual procedures without undue delay”, thereby violating the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). It also found that that ’safeguard measures’ in the form of national bans on the marketing and import of EU-approved biotech products in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Greece were WTO-incompliant, since the EU’s scientific committee had already judged the products to be safe and the countries had not performed supplementary risk assessments to justify the bans.

The European Commission was quick to note that the ruling would not affect the EU’s current biotech regulatory framework. “Nothing in this panel report will compel us to change that framework,” said Peter Power, European Commission spokesman on trade. While most observers agree that the ruling is unlikely to impact the de facto moratorium which effectively ended in 2004, analysts have suggested the ruling’s demand for national bans to be justified by a risk assessment could have impacts on the six EU member states that currently have such bans in place. The report, which could be appealed, is scheduled to be released to the public within six weeks, although sources suggest it may be delayed.

Additional information on the WTO Biotech case is available at http://www.trade-environment.org/page/theme/tewto/biotechcase.htm

“Right to Remain GE-Free Overrides WTO Ruling,” GREENPEACE, 10 May 2006; “WTO confirms ruling against EU GMO moratorium,” REUTERS, 11 May 2006; “WTO faults EU for blocking modified food,” ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11 April 2006.