8:03 AM Oct 12, 1995

WTO PANELS SET IN TWO DISPUTES AGAINST EU

Geneva 11 October (TWN) -- The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization set up two panels Wednesday to hear disputes against the European Union.

One panel has been asked to go into the Canadian complaint against the EU for its use of reference price to levy duties on imports of certain cereals -- wheat, rye, barley, maize (except hybrid seed) and sorghum (except hybrids for sowing.

Canada has contended that the EU is committed to levy a duty in such a manner that the duty-paid import price won't be greater than its effective intervention (or domestic support) price plus 55%.

But instead of levying duties on transaction value, the EU has been levying duties on "representative prices" as a result of which the duty-paid import price for Canadian wheat will be greater. The US, Australia, Japan and Argentina, reserved their 'Third Party Rights' and will participate as such in the panel proceedings.

The United States has brought up a similar complaint against the EU covering EU imports of wheat, rye, barley, corn, sorghum and rice and sought a panel to be set. The US said it would have no objection to the same panel that goes into the Canadian complaint to examine the US one too.

But with the period between consultations and request for panel not having been met, the EU blocked the setting up of the panel at this meeting. The issue will come up before the next DSB meeting expected for 1 November.

In a second dispute, complaints of Chile and Peru over the EU's trade description of scallops, a single panel was set to hear the complaint. A panel is already looking into a Canadian complaint over EU description of Canadian scallops, differing from a similar French scallops, on the EU market.

The DSB agreed that the single panel on Chile-Peru complaint will, to the extent possible, have the same panellists as that going into the Canadian complaint.

Under 'other business', Canada notified it was seeking consultations with Australia over its prohibition on imports of Canadian salmon.