Thursday, November 28, 2013

More litigation practise

Talking about litigation practice, it seems Indonesia has filed another case. This time it is against Pakistan over anti-dumping measures taken by it against writing and printing paper from Indonesia. The case (DS470) is reported here.

Talking about WTO disputes, the big one this week was the Seals dispute between Norway and EU that I have  blogged about here earlier. 
The panel concluded that the IC exception under the EU Seal Regime violates Article I:1 of the GATT 1994 because an advantage granted by the European Union to seal products originating in Greenland (specifically, its Inuit population) is not accorded immediately and unconditionally to the like products originating in Norway. With respect to the MRM exception, the panel found that it violates Article III:4 of the GATT 1994 because it accords imported seal products treatment less favourable than that accorded to like domestic seal products. The panel also found that the IC exception and the MRM exception are not justified under Article XX(a) of the GATT 1994 (“necessary to protect public morals”) because they fail to meet the requirements under the chapeau of Article XX (“not applied in a manner that would constitute arbitrary or unjustified discrimination where the same conditions prevail or a disguised restriction on international trade”). The panel additionally found that the European Union failed to make a prima facie case that the EU Seal Regime is justified under Article XX(b) of the GATT 1994 (“necessary to protect … animal … life or health”).
Need to get down to reading the Panel report and commenting on it soon.

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