Washington - The United States will ask the director general of the World Trade Organization later this to week appoint an arbitrator to decide how long the European Union can take to open its market to hormone- treated beef, a top U.S. trade official said Tuesday.
Peter Scher, the U.S. ambassador for agricultural trade, told a Senate Finance subcommittee that the EU and the United States remain at odds over the issue - which stems from a recent WTO ruling that the EU's ban on beef from cattle injected with artificial growth hormones violated its international committments the Uruguay Round trade pact.
The United States has proposed that the EU take only ten months, or until the end of this year, to open its market. However, the EU has insisted on two years to conduct a risk assessment and another two years to changes its policies.
While it's impossible to say how the arbitrator will decide the issue, "we're going to look for as short as period of time as possible," Scher said. He noted that in past WTO cases, countries have been given 15 months to implement rulings.
The EU asked for arbitration on the issue earlier this month. EU and U.S. met in Geneva last week, but were unable to decide on an arbitrator.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
Web Site: http://www.spcnetwork.com/mii