European Communities—Conditions for the Granting of Tariff Preferences to Developing Countries
World Trade Organization, Appellate Body
WT/DS246/AB/R (Apr. 20, 2004)

- Written by Josh Lee, JD
Facts
The European Communities (EC) (defendant) adopted a developing-country preference granting duty-free importation of certain crops for 12 specific countries. This program was referred to as the Drug Arrangements and applied to Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The program was adopted to encourage farmers in those countries to grow legitimate crops instead of illegal drugs. However, the program as adopted did not establish any criteria for selection of those countries or how any other country might be evaluated for inclusion in the program. India filed a challenge to the program and asserted that the program discriminated among developing countries in a way that violated the EC’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) law. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Panel determined that all GSP preferences had to be applied equally to all developing countries. The EC appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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