November 10, 2003

US & Canada Reject EU Call to Beef Imports Sanctions
 

On November 7, the United States and Canada rejected a European Union call to drop more than $120 million of sanctions imposed on the 15-nation bloc for banning imports of beef treated with growth hormones.

The EU told the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) disputes settlement body (DSB) it had complied with a demand it provide more scientific information to back up its ban, and so the sanctions should be lifted.

But U.S. and Canadian envoys told the DSB they did not accept the ban had any scientific basis and that as a result the sanctions would remain.

"Canada sees no need to remove the existing measures," trade officials quoted Ottawa's envoy as telling the closed-door session.

In 1998, WTO ruled against the EU in the dispute. The United States imposed sanctions worth US$116 million a year and Canada C$11 million a year in retaliation for beef trade loss. Both countries use hormones in breeding cattle.

The EU has banned definitively the use of growth-promoting hormones and provisionally barred five others about which, it says, not enough is known to estimate the possible risk to consumers.

The United States and Canada say there is no scientific evidence growth hormones are a threat to health.

In other decisions, the WTO agreed to set up a panel to investigate a EU complaint about quarantine requirements imposed by Australia on certain food imports.

The United States also won a probe into Mexican anti-dumping measures on beef and rice.