./.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/607/Add.8 
4 April 2005 
 (05-1346) 
 Original:   English 
  
 
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – THE ACP-EC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT 
 
Recourse to Arbitration Pursuant to the Annex to the Decision of 14 November 2001
1 
 
Communication from Venezuela 
 
Addendum  
 
  The following communication, dated 31 March 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Venezuela. 
 
_______________ 
 
  On 14 November 2001, the Ministerial Conf erence adopted the Decision on the ACP-EC 
Partnership Agreement (WT/MIN(01)/15, WT/L/436, herein referred to as the "Waiver Decision"), 
paragraph 1 of which provides:   
Subject to the terms and conditions set out hereunder, Article I, paragraph 1 of the General Agreement shall be waived, until 
31 December 2007, to the extent necessary to permit the European 
Communities [the "EC"] to provide preferential tariff  treatment for 
products originating in ACP Stat es as required by Article 36.3, 
Annex V and its Protocols of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement,* 
without being required to extend the same preferential treatment to like products of any other member (*footnote omitted). 
 
 The Waiver Decision likewise provides that with respect to bananas, the additional provisions 
in the Annex thereto shall apply.  The Annex c ontemplates arbitration proceedings to determine 
"whether the envisaged rebinding of the EC tariff on bananas would result in at least maintaining total 
market access for MFN banana s uppliers, taking into account the [EC's commitments specified in the 
Waiver Decision]";  that should it be determined that the envisaged rebinding does not so maintain 
and that the EC has failed to rectify the matter, the waiver shall cease to apply to bananas upon entry 
into force of the new EC tariff only regime on 1 January 2006.    
The EC has notified the Members that it intends "to replace its concessions on item 08030019 
(bananas) included in Schedule CXL of the Eu ropean Communities annexed to the General 
Agreement with a bound duty of 230€/t", and that "[t]he methodology used to calculate the new 
bound duty is based on the provisions of the A ttachment to Annex V to the Agreement on 
Agriculture."
2 
 
                                                      
1 WT/L/436 (also circulated as a Minister ial Conference document as WT/MIN(01)/15). 
2 G/SECRET/22/Add.1.   WT/L/607/Add.8 
Page 2  
 
  On 17 February 2005, on behalf of the parties to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, the EC 
invited Members exporting bananas to the EC on an MFN basis (interested parties) to hold 
consultations in order to "… provide in partic ular an opportunity to answer any question which 
interested parties may have concerning the methodology used for the rebinding of the EC tariff on bananas."
3  These consultations were he ld on 22 February 2005.  
  
In the course of those consultations, and to da te, the EC has not provided information or an 
explanation as to how the envisaged rebinding of th e tariff on bananas of 230€/t "... would result in at 
least maintaining total market access for MFN banana suppliers ..."  In Venezuela's view, the EC has 
failed to demonstrate that the  envisaged rebinding of the tariff on bananas of 230€/t "… would result 
in at least maintaining total market a ccess for MFN banana suppliers …"   
 In any event, in Venezuela's view the envisaged rebinding of the tariff on bananas of 230€/t 
would not "… result in at least maintaining tota l market access for MFN banana suppliers ..."   
 
Accordingly, pursuant to the Annex to the Wa iver Decision, Venezuela requests arbitration 
proceedings with the EC to determine "… whethe r the envisaged rebinding of the EC tariff on 
bananas would result in at least maintaining to tal market access for MFN banana suppliers … " 
 Considering the legal and economic comple xities involved, Venezuela considers it 
appropriate that a group of three arbitrators be est ablished. Accordingly, pursuant to the Waiver 
Decision, should the EC and Venezuela fail to agree on the composition of the group of three 
arbitrators within ten days from the date hereof, Venezuela would request the Director-General to 
appoint three Members of the Appellate Body as arbitrators.   
__________ 
 
 
                                                     
 
3 WT/L/602.