WTO opposes US ban of China poultry

US import ban on China's poultry violates Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or the SPS Agreement, according to an interim report by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

The SPS Agreement spells out how governments can apply food safety and animal and plant health measures. The interim ruling also says that the ban violates the most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment and general elimination of quantitative restrictions under the WTO legal framework.

 

"We think the US will not try to impose a similar ban in the next fiscal year, since it would be regarded as open defiance of the latest WTO ruling," a Ministry of Commerce official reports, adding that Beijing had received the WTO report.

 

 

The US move is not in line with the principles of the MFN treatment since the ban only targeted China, according to Zhang Liying, a professor of international law at China University of Political Science and Law.

 

The majority of the WTO panel of experts handling the dispute ruled in favour of China, according to the China News Service. The US can appeal against the decision, according to WTO rules, but the report will be considered the panel's final verdict if the US loses the appeal.

 

In April 2009, China filed an appeal with the WTO to protest a key clause in a US law, which prohibits Chinese exports of poultry. China argued that section 727 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009, which was signed into US law in March 2009, violates the rules of the world trade body.

 

According to the US law, no government funds should be made available for establishment or implementation of a rule allowing imports of poultry products from China - deemed a de facto ban on Chinese poultry products.

 

''The US government has revised the law annually for several years. Actually, the 2009 law we complained about has already ceased to be in effect, and it's not clear if the ruling will have a binding effect on its successor, section 743 in Act 2010," said Zhang.

 

The latest WTO report will force the US to comply with free trade rules and restrict its discriminatory actions against China, which is highly significant given the growing number of trade disputes between the world's two major traders.