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The EU ''failed to properly assess the risks'' before imposing the ban, says the WTO

GENEVA, Switzerland – 04/02/08 – The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against the European Union in a 12-year-old dispute with the US and Canada over its banning the sale of hormone-treated beef.

The EU had argued that beef treated with certain hormones poses a risk to human health, a position the WTO called "scientifically unjustified."

The ruling will permit both the US and Canada to maintain “counter” sanctions on European products such as Roquefort cheese, truffles and Dijon mustard valued at more than $125 million annually.

Canada and the US should have initiated new legal proceedings in order to maintain the sanctions, the WTO panel said, but ruled that “the continued illegality of the EU's ban meant they were justified.”

The EU had criticized Canada and the US “for unilaterally maintaining these measures despite the fact that the EU has subsequently conducted a new scientific risk assessment to show that such hormone-treated meat presents unacceptable risks,” the 27-nation bloc said in a statement, charging both countries had committed “a clear breach of WTO rules.”

But the WTO ruling upheld that the EU failed to properly assess the risks before banning the beef imports.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab called the latest ruling in a long-running trans-Atlantic trade spat an "important victory" for the US livestock industry.

"It is high time for the EU to come into compliance with its obligations," she said in a statement released by her office.

In Ottawa, the government said in a statement it welcomed the report and hopes the EU will lift its ban.

“This government is standing up for Canadian farm families at home and around the world,” said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. “This ruling once again shows that Canada is playing by the rules and delivering safe, healthy food to markets around the world.”

The original dispute dates back to the mid-1990s, when the US and Canada complained that their exports were unfairly stifled by EU policy on commonly used growth hormones.

The WTO also ruled against provisional bans on five other growth-promoting hormones, including testosterone, progesterone, and zeranol, because the EU “failed to prove there was too little scientific evidence to undertake proper risk assessments.”

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