US Seeks WTO Sanctions For EU Over GM Ban
Guardian, April 27, 2004

The United States has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization demanding the European Union lift its ban on genetically modified (GM) crops and pay $1.8 billion in compensation for the loss of exports over the past six years, according to the London Guardian, which described the case as the biggest in WTO history.
The case has global implications if the United States wins, the newspaper reports, ensuring that no country will be able to bar GM products without facing trade sanctions.
The suit, filed last week, accuses the EU of imposing a moratorium on GM products in 1998 without any scientific evidence and in defiance of WTO free trade rules. Under WTO law, countries may ban products on health or environmental grounds, but they need to provide evidence.
The United States asserts that the EU "can present no scientific basis for a moratorium" and that the "product-specific bans are not based on science and are thus inconsistent" with EU obligations under WTO agreements.
In its defense, the EU can argue that its five-year moratorium on making any decision on the future of GM crops was to allow time for crop trials to test the effect on the European environment, the Guardian said.
The U.S. is determined to press the case, however, and intends to bring a second case to the WTO to prevent the mandatory labeling and tracing of GM crops, which became EU law this month.
There is strong consumer resistance to GM foods throughout the EU. Austria, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and Greece have introduced rules banning imports of individual GM products for either growing or in food. Each country has been cited in the U.S. case.
The feelings of the rest of the WTO nations are unclear. WTO officials are aware that overly severe penalties on the EU for adhering to the majority of its people's wishes against GM products will likely make the world body unpopular.
"This is politically a nightmare for the WTO," said Sue Mayer of Genewatch, an independent GM product monitoring group. "Does it accept that the EU has the right to listen to the will of its peoples? or does it give into a technical argument from the U.S. that rides roughshod over the wishes of millions of Europeans?" Mayer said.

Web Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story
/0,2763,1204094,00.html