EU Requests WTO Consultations Concerning Hormone-Treated Beef

Monday, December 22, 2008 4:28 PM CST

WASHINGTON (BUSINESS WIRE) - The European Union has requested consultations with the U.S. and Canada in the World Trade Organization concerning the WTO-compliance of its restrictions on hormone-treated beef. The EU has removed the WTO-inconsistencies identified by the Appellate Body in 1998, making the restrictions on hormone-treated beef compliant with the WTO Agreement. In a recent WTO dispute brought by the EU against the continued trade sanctions of the U.S. and Canada, the Appellate Body found that the EU, U.S. and Canada must engage in so-called compliance proceedings to verify the WTO-compatibility of the current EU legislation and the legality of the sanctions imposed by U.S. and Canada on EU exports.

"We are convinced that our legislation on hormones is fully in line with WTO law: the restrictions on hormone-treated beef are based on solid scientific evidence showing risks for human health," said EU Spokesperson Peter Power. "We are thus very confident and hope that the U.S. and Canada will engage constructively in these consultations and that we can find a solution to this long-lasting dispute."

Background

The EU has banned the use of growth-promoting hormones and the import of meat treated with hormones since the early 1980s. This non-discriminatory ban was tested at the WTO by Canada and the U.S. in 1996, claiming it was inconsistent with WTO rules. The WTO Appellate Body found in 1998 that the EU rules were not consistent with one provision of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in as much as the scientific risk assessments supporting the EU restrictions were not sufficiently specific. Subsequently, the U.S. and Canada requested, and were granted by the WTO, authorization to impose sanctions on the EU a 100 percent import duty on EU exports to the value of US$116.8 million and CAN$11.3 million. These duties have been applied to a range of agricultural products and some manufactured goods since the summer of 1999.

On October 14, 2003, a new EU Directive was adopted, based on thorough scientific grounding for the EU restrictions on the use of hormones in raising cattle and imports of meat treated with hormones. The scientific risk assessment drew on the 1999, 2000 and 2002 reports of the EU Scientific Committee on Veterinary Matters relating to Public Health, which concluded that for one of the six hormones in question (oestradiol 170x225) there was a body of evidence showing that it causes and promotes cancer and that it harms genes. The EU has a permanent ban on the use of this hormone for growth promotion purposes.

In five other cases (the hormones testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol acetate (MGA)), the current state of knowledge of the hormone substances does not allow the risk to be accurately determined, but evidence suggests potential detrimental effects on human health. Based on this evidence, the EU invokes the precautionary principle, choosing to provisionally restrict the use of those five hormones in the EU, as well as the sale of hormone-treated meat. The EU has sought to obtain additional information and has kept this measure under review by scientific experts, ensuring they reflect the latest scientific research. On 12 June 2007, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Scientific Panel adopted an opinion which concluded that there are no grounds to call for revision of the previous risk assessments which found risks to human health from residues in meat of hormone-treated cattle.

The EU notified the WTO of its new measures in November 2003. The U.S. and Canada rejected the EU evidence and maintained their sanctions. In 2004 the EU challenged the continuous application of the sanctions in separate proceedings (DS320 and DS321), arguing that the EU measures were in line with WTO law and that U.S. and Canada had made a unilateral determination to the contrary. The Appellate Body reports on these cases were adopted on November 14, 2008. The Appellate Body rejected the claim that the EU restrictions on hormone-treated beef breaks WTO rules and reversed the contrary conclusions previously reached by the WTO panel on the basis of very serious legal errors. The ruling clarified important issues of interpretation of the SPS Agreement, but was unable to complete the analysis of the WTO-compatibility of the EU legislation due to mistakes made by the Panel in gathering factual information, and as a consequence could not give a definitive judgment on the legality of the U.S. and Canadian sanctions. The Appellate Body therefore recommended that the EC, U.S. and Canada start compliance proceedings in the original dispute, by asking the new panel to assess whether the current EU legislation has remedied the breaches of WTO law identified in 1998, and as a consequence the U.S. and Canada must stop their sanctions.

For more information, please visit:http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/respectrules/dispute/pr221208-en.htm

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