Commerce
The European Union protests against the anti-dumping customs duties imposed by Colombia on frozen french fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The WTO will decide.
The measures announced by Bogota in November 2018 are, according to the European Union, completely unjustified and harm businesses on the continent.
–AFP
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The EU obtained on Monday that the World Trade Organization (WTO) set up a group of experts to arbitrate the trade dispute with Colombia over customs duties imposed on Belgian, German and Dutch fries.
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“WTO members have accepted a second European Union request to establish a panel to rule on Colombia’s anti-dumping duties on frozen french fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands” , said a WTO official.
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Brussels had already made a first request for a panel in mid-February, but this request had been refused by Bogota. Under WTO rules, the second panel request is, in practice, automatically accepted.
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“Unjustified” measures
The dispute concerns the anti-dumping customs duties imposed by Colombia on frozen French fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
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These measures, announced by Bogota in November 2018, are, according to the European Union, completely unjustified and harm European companies.
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Anti-dumping measures are authorized by the WTO, but only under certain conditions and are often the subject of dispute by countries.
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At the WTO Dispute Settlement Body meeting on Monday, the EU also secured the establishment of another group of experts to examine the duties imposed by India on certain high-tech European products (TIC).
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In March, the EU said that India had made a commitment not to apply import duties on ICT products but that for several years it had taken measures to strengthen and regularly raise, up to 20% import duties on these products.
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Brussels had held consultations with India on the issue in May 2019, but they had failed to resolve the dispute. According to the EU, the value of its annual exports of the subject goods to India is around 400 million euros.
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(pangs)
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