WTO ruling delayed in trans-Atlantic row over food
Friday, August 27, 2004
By Richard Waddington, Reuters

GENEVA — The World Trade Organization (WTO) has put off until March a decision on whether the European Union broke trade rules by not allowing imports of genetically modified foods, officials said Thursday.
But environmentalists said a verdict in the politically charged case, brought against the European Union by the United States, Argentina, and Canada, could take even longer after trade judges agreed to hear scientific opinion.
WTO judges had initially been expected to issue a ruling in September or October, but officials said that it had been pushed back until the end of March to give both sides more time to make their case and to let the judges question scientists.
The judges' decision to take evidence from scientists was seen as a victory for the E.U., which had pressed for their views to be heard, while the United States and its allies had argued that this was unnecessary.
"I think that next spring is very optimistic (for a decision)," said Adrian Beeb of environmental lobbying group Friends of the Earth.
In a previous trade dispute between the United States and the European Union involving food and health — that time over beef hormones — it had taken the WTO two years to gather scientific opinion, he noted. The E.U. eventually lost the case.
In bringing the case in August last year, the United States and its allies argued that the then-15-nation E.U. had flouted trade norms by not allowing any genetically modified crops to be grown or imported since 1998, in what amounted to a de facto ban.
The United States says there is no scientific evidence for human health or environmental problems related to biotech products — two of the grounds on which WTO rules allow countries to bar imports.
Washington and its allies also argued the WTO had no need to hear scientists because the argument was over whether or not the E.U. had applied its own rules for approving genetically modified food applications.
"The issue is that the E.U. has a mechanism and that it has not been applying it. Science does not come into it," said one trade diplomat from a country involved in the case. He said that a first scientific hearing was expected in November.
In a move aimed at taking some of the heat out of the case, the E.U. authorized the import of a genetically modified corn in May, the first such approval for five years.
The decision followed months of deadlock between member states and flew in the face of public opinion in Europe, where consumers are largely hostile to biotech foods, with opposition rated at more than 70 percent.
Washington applauded the decision but said it was not enough, and diplomats say the real test of whether the moratorium is over will be when the E.U. approves the planting of gnetically modified crops.