WTO rejects Colombian duties on Belgian frozen fries

A World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute panel has ruled that Colombian anti-dumping duties on Belgian frozen fries violate international trade rules. The European Commission reported this on Monday.

The Commission had gone to the WTO in November 2019 to challenge anti-dumping duties on frozen fries from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Colombia had introduced the duties a year earlier. The measure targeted almost all European exports of frozen fries to the country, worth around 20 million euro.

Today, the Commission announced that the dispute panel concluded that the levies violate WTO rules and unfairly restrict European producers' access to this market. Bogota's anti-dumping investigation is thus said to have several flaws. ​

Bogota will appeal. It is doing so under the temporary procedure established by some member states to allow the settlement of trade disputes, pending the resolution of the WTO Appellate Body, which has been paralysed for years. The appeal in the fries dispute is the first to be heard under that temporary procedure, according to the Commission.

(AHU)

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