WTO appoints dispute panelists

The international trade war moved one step closer to a ruling on 4 March when World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director, Supachai Panitchpakdi, named the dispute panelists.

The three panelists appointed to decide whether the European Union's (EU) refusal to take US imports of GM food constitutes an 'illegal barrier to free trade' are:

• Christian Haberli, Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture
• Mohan Kumar, former Indian trade diplomat
• Akio Shimizu, Japanese official

All three panelists have been involved in previous disputes which upheld complaints about free trade rules violations.

Regardless of who sits on the panel, the whole dispute mechanism is a problem.*

Eve Mitchell,
Trade campaigner, Friends of the Earth

Disagreement between the EU and the three countries bringing the complaint, the United States, Canada, and Argentina, over who would be on the panel led to the WTO Director being asked to appoint the panelists.

The dispute has attracted considerable external attention especially in Europe where resistance to Genetically Modified (GM) products remains high. In the UK 85% of the British public showed opposition to GM crops & food in 2003's GM Nation Debate.

*Information on the problems of the WTO's Dispute Resolution Mechanism can be found in the Friends of the Earth briefing 'GM trade war looms'.

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