990609 WTO Panel to Rule By July 12 on Beef Dispute

Geneva - A World Trade Organization dispute panel is to set by July 12 the value of retaliatory sanctions the United States and Canada may slap on the European Union in a beef hormone dispute.

The EU won an automatic right to arbitration after telling WTO's Dispute Settlement Body that the amount sought by its transatlantic partners for alleged trade damage was excessive.

A WTO panel of three neutral arbitrators ruled last year that the EU's decade-old ban on the import of hormone-treated beef broke global trade rules and gave it to May 13 to comply.

U.S. Ambassador Rita Hayes asked the WTO for the green light for the United States to suspend tariff concessions on EU products worth $202 million, as already announced by Washington.

Canada's delegation said it was seeking trade sanctions against the EU worth C$75 million ($51 million).

But the EU delegation objected to the amounts, and the issue was referred back to the same panel. The arbitrators must report their assessment of trade damage to the Dispute Settlement Body within 60 days of the missed deadline, or by July 12.

In Brussels, European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan said that the EU would seek to reduce sharply the amount of threatened U.S. sanctions. “They can't justify that amount, it's grossly excessive. They haven't suffered that amount of damage, so they won't get away with that,” he told CNN television.

Ian Wilkinson, deputy EU trade ambassador to the WTO, told a news briefing after the closed-door talks in Geneva: "We clearly wish to have the arbitrators look at the level of retaliation which both the United States and Canada have calculated.

“We think it exceeds by a long way any legitimate loss of, nullification or impairment of (trade) concessions they may have suffered,” he added.

EU legal adviser Jean-Jacques Boufflet said of the U.S. request: “The amount is largely exaggerated. They never exported more than $100 million a year and it was several years ago.”

Boufflet added: “We are not banning the import of U.S. meat. We authorize the import of U.S. meat which has been certified to us as not hormone-treated.”

Hayes struck a conciliatory note in the row which follows a transatlantic conflict over the EU's banana import regime.

“The United States would prefer to settle this dispute, and we will continue to strive to reach a mutually acceptable solution,” Hayes told the talks.

Hayes said the list of targeted EU goods would be drawn from a preliminary U.S. list in March. “The final list will not be drawn up until after we actually receive WTO authorization.”

Boufflet said if WTO authorization is given, it should cover a list of items which is “precise, exhaustive and final.”

Hayes told a news briefing: “There is no health risk from U.S. beef ... We are willing to prepare a label which says 'U.S. meat' to enable consumers to make their own choice.”

Asked about the European Commission's move Wednesday to trace and destroy Belgian chicken and eggs contaminated with cancer-causing dioxin, extended to pork Thursday, Hayes said:

"If you look at what is happening in Belgium, I think the EC certainly needs to look at ... its health standards.

“I think the EC is addressing those. I just hope they will be that quick when it comes to settling hormones and making sure we can give U.S. producers access to their market, but more than anything, give the consumers the ability to have a choice of good, high-quality beef,” she added.

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