The European Commission announced last Thursday that it will study carefully the implications of the decision by the World Trade Organisation’s arbitrators to reject the proposed new import tariff for bananas.
The Commission had proposed a single tariff of 187 euros per tonne for bananas imported from countries – mainly in Latin America - enjoying Most Favoured Nation status, as well as a duty-free quota of 775,000 tonnes for ACP bananas, as from 1 January 2006.
Mariann Fischer Boel, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, explained that:
“We are surprised and disappointed that the arbitrators did not back our proposal. We believed that the system we proposed would have maintained access to our markets in a fair manner. We calculated the proposed tariff in a neutral and transparent manner, based on a comprehensive legal and economic analysis. We will now carefully study the decision before deciding how to proceed.”
The new tariff system was intended to replace the present regime based on tariff quotas for MFN – mostly Latin American – supplying countries.
The EU currently applies a tariff rate of 75 euros per tonne for bananas covered by quotas, and 680 euros per tonne for those not covered by quotas.
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