WTO: EU Broke International Trade Rules

AP ^ | 2/7/6 | SAM CAGE

[SmithL]

GENEVA -- The WTO has ruled that the EU broke international trade rules by stopping imports of genetically modified foods, officials said Tuesday.

The preliminary judgment by a World Trade Organization panel concluded that the European Union had an effective ban on biotech foods for six years from 1998, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is a confidential report.

The report sided with a legal complaint brought by the United States, Canada and Argentina over an EU moratorium on approval of new biotech foods, the officials said. The panel ruled that individual bans in six EU member states — Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg — violated international trade rules.

The EU and United States declined to comment as diplomats were still studying the details late Tuesday. The ruling — said to be one of the most complex the commerce body has issued — runs to about 1,000 pages. It had been delayed several times.

The complainants claim that there is no scientific evidence for the EU's actions and that the moratorium has been an unfair barrier to producers of biotech foods who want to export to the EU.

[MNJohnnie]

Ohhhh that is going to piss off the Euroweenies.

[bill1952]

Yeah, thats a shock.

Next they will deliver the shockingly obvious ruling that Airbus is illegally subsidized by the French Government

[Spirited]

No surprise to observe that the WTO is doing Monsanto's dirty work.

As the granddaughter of a farmer I know better than to eat that garbage, too. I am enraged that our corporate fascism is forcing it down to throats of people better protected than we are.

[stefan10]

The new government in germany allowed biotech food and made it easier for farmers to grow these plants but i believe let the consumer decide.

If companies have to publish that they use biotech food the problem will be solved. At the moment there is simply no real market for these things here in europe.

It was the same thing with beer after the german beer law was ruled illegal by the european high court years ago. In the end nobody buys imported beer that isn´t produced in the traditional way so the problem is solved.