WTO Ministerial Section • Volume  • Number  • 18th May 1998

U.S. to appeal shrimp ruling, Clinton administration in court to narrow turtle law

Do More

Subscribe to Bridges

* required

Email Address: *

Country: *
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democractic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia (Hrvatska) Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong S.A.R. Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau S.A.R. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, The New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua new Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts And Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent And The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks And Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis And Futuna Islands Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

Employment Sector: *

First Name:

Last Name:

Organisation:

Enter the letters shown above:*

See also

As has been widely anticipated, informed sources last week said the U.S. would appeal the WTO ruling on its shrimp-import ban. The U.S will file its appeal with the WTO Dispute Settlement Body within the next month or so. The WTO issued an interim ruling last month finding the U.S. ban in violation of international trade rules with regard to non- discriminatory treatment of imports. The U.S. ban targets shrimp imports caught without the use of so-called turtle excluder devices (TEDs), which allow sea turtles to escape from nets cast to harvest shrimp.

Meanwhile in the U.S. courts, the Clinton Administration is appealing an U.S. court decision in a case brought by Earth Island Institute. The decision under appeal found that the U.S. could only allow shrimp imports from countries that implement a broad conservation plan aimed at saving sea turtles including the use of TEDs. The Clinton Administration argues that this is too broad a regulation and supports allowing imports from countries whose producers use TEDs only.

According to informed sources the Administration contends that if the U.S. courts had not changed the turtle conservation law to the broader interpretation, the WTO would have been more understanding in its ruling. However, the sources did not say that the WTO would have ruled in favor of the U.S. if the narrower TEDs-only law were in place.

U.S. trade officials argue that WTO rules allow for exceptions to its rules in order to protect natural resources and will most likely base their appeal -at least in good part - on that premise. The WTO ruling found the U.S. in violation of Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Article XX does allow countries to implement policies that protect animal life as long as they are “not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail.”

The WTO ruling found that under the broader conservation regulations the U.S. did not qualify for the Article XX exemption. The WTO panel based its decision on the premise that the U.S. regulation could result in a case where one shrimp ship using TEDs might be subject to the import ban while another ship also using TEDs was not subject to the ban, completely on the basis of whether broader conservation measures were also in place. The panel found that this would result in discrimination between countries where the same conditions exist, in this case the use of TEDs.

The so-called shrimp-turtle decision is being called a landmark case for the WTO as it highlights the unanswered questions in the relationship between trade and the environment. U.S. environmental groups last week called on President Clinton to use the May 18-20 GATT 50th anniversary celebration as a platform to press hard for renewed efforts on the trade and environment linkage. “The time is ripe for a major new initiative on the trade, environment link. . . The test [for Article 20 exception] is no longer are you being protectionist or not, now the test is ‘is this thing interfering in any way with trade,’” David Schorr, a senior program officer at the World Wildlife Fund said.

”U.S. sees parallel between U.S., WTO effort to change shrimp embargo,” INSIDE U.S. TRADE, May 15, 1998; U.S. environmentalists raise alarm over WTO ruling,” REUTERS, May 13, 1998; “U.S. to appeal WTO sea turtle ruling,” DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, May 13, 1998.