Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 10 • Number 5 • 19th March 2010

EU, Argentina End Seven-Year WTO Biotech Row

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The WTO dispute launched by Argentina against the EU over its biotechnology legislation in May 2003 ended Thursday with the two countries coming to an agreement on how to handle issues related to biotech trade in the future. The settlement establishes that the two countries will engage in regular dialogue on issues of mutual interest related to genetically modified (GM) agriculture. The agreement is similar to a deal struck between the EU and Canada in July 2009 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 7 August 2009, http://ictsd.org/i/news/biores/52891/).

A 21 November 2006 decision by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on the original complaint - filed jointly by the US, Canada, and Argentina in May 2003 - found that the EU had violated the Organization’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement on three grounds. First, it agreed that EU policy on the issue was tantamount to a de facto moratorium on approval of GM products from June 1999 to August 2003. Second, out of 27 product-specific applications proposed to the DSB, 23 were found to have been subjected to undue delays. Finally, national safeguard measures introduced by six EU member states (prior to the establishment of the DSB) were found to be based on an inappropriate risk assessment (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 1 December 2006, http://ictsd.org/i/news/biores/9074/).

The agreement will have European Commission authorities meet with their Argentinean counterparts to discuss agricultural biotechnology and trade issues of mutual interest, such as the authorisation processes of GM products of mutual interest, measures related to biotechnology which may affect trade, evaluating the economic and trade outlook of future GM product approvals, and the renewal of GM product authorisations.

The EU insists that the dialogue will not influence any decisions made on biotech policy in Brussels. Rather, they say the dialogue is expected to act as an exchange of information on contentious biotech issues in an attempt to avoid any unnecessary trade obstacles.

Canada, Argentina, and the US have been meeting regularly with the European Commission to discuss biotech-related issues since the adoption of the WTO panel report in 2006. But while discussions with Canada and Argentina have been fruitful, the US remains a hold out.

“This is the second settlement regarding the WTO case on GMOs that is reached,” said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht in a statement. “This is certainly a recognition by Canada and Argentina as much as the EU that the best approach to this complex issue is a regular dialogue. I hope the United States, the only remaining WTO complainant in this dispute, will soon come to the same conclusion.”

More information

An EU Fact Sheet on the agreement can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/d1tFyd

ICTSD Reporting.