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Posted May 20, 2005: On April 28, the World Trade Organization’s
appellate body ruled for Brazil, Australia and Thailand,
and against the European Union, agreeing with an October
2004 WTO panel decision that the EU is dumping subsidized
sugar on the world market in violation of WTO trade
rules. The ruling gave the EU the normal 15 months to
come into compliance, rather than the 90 day deadline
requested by the three complaining countries. Nonetheless,
the decision is a victory for Brazil, the world’s
largest sugar exporter.
The EU, following much the same line as the US in the
cotton case in which Brazil also largely prevailed,
will likely argue that changes to its programs should
come as part of the ongoing agriculture negotiations
as part of the Doha trade round scheduled to conclude
by late 2006. Internally, the EU was already expecting
to announce reforms to its $2 billion a year sugar program
on June 22, and it is unclear whether that reform proposal
will be revamped in light of the new, final ruling.
The full ruling is posted on the web at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/265_266_283abr_e.pdf
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