GENEVA (Reuters) -The World Trade Organization backed the European Union on Thursday in a case against import duties applied by Colombia to frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
The European Union had already won an initial case in December 2022 over whether the anti-dumping duties of between 3% and 8% on frozen fries from November 2018 breached global trading rules.
Thursday’s finding that Colombia had not complied with the earlier ruling opens the door for the European Union to win the right to retaliate, although Colombia may first appeal.
While small in monetary terms, the dispute holds symbolic importance particularly for Belgium, which says it invented the “French” fry.
The EU exported 23 million euros ($26.8 million) worth of frozen fries to Colombia in 2016, before Colombia started the process of setting the tariff. The duties affected 85% of EU exports of frozen fries to Colombia.
The initial WTO panel ruling found fault in the way in which Colombian authorities calculated the tariffs.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
