DS392: US — certain measures affecting imports of poultry from China

At the Dispute Settlement Body meeting on 20 July 2009, China introduced its request for a panel (WT/DS392/2) to examine US measures affecting poultry imports from China. China said that on 11 March 2009, the US President had signed the US Omnibus Appropriation Act of 2009 into law. China pointed out that Section 727 of the Act states that “none of the funds made available in this Act may be used to establish or implement a rule allowing poultry products to be imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China”. This resulted in a complete ban on the import of poultry products from China into the US, China said, thus violating various WTO rules.

China stated that, since at least 2007, the US had entirely closed the door to China's poultry products through a number of annual omnibus appropriation acts and a series of related measures. China also said that the US Congress was currently in the process of formulating a new appropriation act and that certain Congress members were still insisting on inserting new discriminatory provisions to restrict imports of poultry products from China.

Consultations with the US were held on 15 May 2009 but failed to settle the dispute, hence China's request for the establishment of a panel.

The US expressed disappointment that China had chosen to proceed with a panel request. The US said that, in line with the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), the US permits imports of poultry products from all countries for which a determination of equivalence has been made. In this dispute, the US said, China challenged the way in which the US was responding to China's request for a determination of equivalence. The US said that its authorities were working together to ensure that the response to China's request for determination of equivalence was based on an objective, science-based consideration of all the relevant evidence in a way that was consistent with the agreements. According to the US, there was no basis for the claims made by China in its panel request.

The US also said that the measure identified by China would, by its terms, expire at the end of the current US fiscal year on 30 September 2009, and that a public debate was underway in the US Congress as to what conditions, if any, should be attached to the use of appropriated funds in the next fiscal year with respect to the import of poultry products from China. The US concluded by saying that it was not in a position to agree to the establishment of a panel at the present meeting.

(After the conclusion of this DSB meeting, China requested a special meeting of the DSB to consider its panel request for a second time. A meeting has, therefore, been convened to take place on 31 July 2009.)
  

DS391: Korea — Measures affecting the importation of bovine meat and meat products from Canada

In introducing its request for a panel, Canada said that Korea maintained a ban on the importation of bovine meat and meat products from Canada allegedly to protect against risks arising from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and that it had also adopted measures that placed unjustified restrictions on the resumption of imports of bovine meat and meat products from Canada.

For more than six years Canada had been trying to restore access for its beef to Korea based on science, said Canada. Despite Canada's efforts to restore access through the submission of technical documents as well as discussions with its Korean counterparts, the import ban remained without justification, said Canada. Canada noted that in May 2007, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognized Canada as a controlled risk country for BSE, and that the OIE reconfirmed this status in 2008 and 2009.

On 7 May 2009, consultations were held but did not resolve the dispute, hence Canada's request for a panel.

Korea expressed disappointment that Canada had chosen to proceed with a request for panel establishment and said that whilst it had never detected BSE in its territory, 16 outbreaks had been reported in Canada including two recently, in November 2008 and in May 2009. Korea urged Canada to reconsider its decision to proceed to panel establishment and to instead engage in thorough bilateral consultations. Korea was not in a position to accept panel establishment at the present time.

 

Surveillance of implementation of recommendations of the DSB

Under this regular item, among other status reports, the EC presented status reports on EC — measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products (WT/DS291/37/Add.18 — WT/DS292/31/Add.18 — WT/DS293/31/Add.18) and on EC — regime for the importation, sale and distribution of bananas (WT/DS27/96/Add.6), and Brazil presented a status report on Brazil - measures affecting imports of retreaded tyres (WT/DS332/19/Add.4).

a) EC — Biotech products

The EC reported that its regulatory procedures on biotech products continued to work as foreseen in the legislation and that 21 GMO products have been authorised since the date of establishment of the WTO panel. With regard to Canada, constructive discussions between the EC and Canada had resulted in a mutually agreed solution. As part of that solution, the EC and Canada had decided to continue discussions in a more formal setting. The EC was also satisfied with the extension of the reasonable period of time with Argentina until 31 December 2009.

Both Argentina and Canada expressed concern over continuing actions by EC member states as well as the EU approval process. The US recalled that there were important differences between the dispute brought by Canada and that brought by the US. The US added that the broader set of issues raised in the dispute brought by the US had not been addressed satisfactorily.

b) EC — Bananas

The EC reported that it was ready to implement the recommendation made in the Panel Report by means of modifying its bound duty. The EC hoped that the rebinding could be made in the context of a comprehensive agreement with Latin American suppliers and that it was fully committed to finding a final solution soon. The EC said it was engaged in negotiations to discuss the possibility of concluding a draft agreement that would take into account some elements of the July 2008 text.

Ecuador said that once again, the EC did not indicate the date by which they expected to comply with the DSB recommendations and rulings. Ecuador said that the EC had proposed an agreement to MFN suppliers which was subject to numerous conditionalities that went beyond the banana dispute and which made it more difficult to reach an understanding. This had nothing to do with compliance nor with the compensation for the enlargement of the EC. That is why Ecuador had suspended the negotiations of the agreement with the EC as a protest at the delay in resolving this dispute. Ecuador would only accept an agreement if it preserved the balance reached in July 2008.

Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the US expressed disappointment over lack of compliance and urged the EC to comply promptly. The Dominican Republic (speaking on behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries — ACP), Cameroon and St Lucia said that any solution should be based on the right reasoning and balanced out in the right context and should adequately address the concerns of ACP banana suppliers.

c) Brazil — Retreaded tyres

Brazil referred to the status report which outlined the actions pursued by the Brazilian Government regarding the implementation of the DSB's recommendations. Brazil further reported that its Supreme Court had concluded that the importation of used tyres into Brazil violated core constitutional precepts relating to the rights to health and to a balanced environment, affirmed the legality of Brazil's import ban on used tyres and revoked the lower court decisions that allowed some companies to import used tyres into Brazil. The decision constituted a fundamental step towards full compliance in this dispute, said Brazil.

The EC noted once again that Brazil admitted not having achieved compliance to date and called on Brazil to end its arbitrary and discriminatory practices.

  

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Next meeting 

The DSB will meet on 31 July 2009 to consider China's request for a panel to examine the US measures affecting the imports of poultry from China (see above).

The next regular meeting of the DSB is scheduled to take place on 31 August 2009.