GENEVA (Reuters) – The European Union largely won a case against Colombia over import duties applied to frozen fries from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in an appeals system that delivered its first ruling on Wednesday.
The dispute is symbolically important, especially for Belgium, which says it invented the “French” fry.
Three arbitrators accepted one of Colombia’s challenges in its appeal, but upheld three findings of an earlier World Trade Organization (WTO) panel and concluded that Colombia should bring its duties into line with global trade rules.
The WTO panel in October mainly backed the European Union in the dispute, which centred on how Colombian authorities calculated tariffs on imported fries.
Under normal circumstances, Colombia’s appeal would have been handled by the WTO’s Appellate Body. However, Washington has blocked appointments, rendering it incapable of giving a judgment.
The case would have fallen into a legal void unless a group of more than 20 of the WTO’s 164 members, including the EU and Colombia, had agreed to allow independent arbitrators to hear cases as a temporary solution.
Colombia imposed anti-dumping duties of between 3% and 8% on frozen fries in November 2018 after complaining that the prices of these imports were artificially low.
The three countries’ frozen fries exports to Colombia were worth 23 million euros ($18.4 million) in 2016, before Colombia started the process of settign tariffs. The duties have affected 85% of EU exports of frozen fries to Colombia.
The European Commission, which oversees EU trade, described the ruling as a win, saying arbitrators had in substance ruled in its favour.
“It sends a strong signal to any country thinking of restricting EU exports that anti-dumping investigations must fully comply with WTO rules,” it said.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Barbara Lewis)
