UNITED STATES - IMPORT PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN SHRIMP AND SHRIMP PRODUCTS
Document: Original: English UNITED STATES - IMPORT PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN SHRIMP AND SHRIMP PRODUCTS Request for the Establishment of a Panel by Malaysia and Thailand The followingcommunication, dated 9 January 1997,from the Permanent Missions of Malaysia and Thailand to the Permanent Mission of the United States and to the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated at the request of these delegations.
Date: 10 January 1997
Document codes: WT/DS58/6
Complainant: India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand
Respondent: U.S.
Third parties: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, EU, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Pakistan, Thailand
Dispute stage: Implementation & Compliance
Agreements cited: Art. I, XI, XIII, XX  GATT 1994

UNITED STATES - IMPORT PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN SHRIMP
AND SHRIMP PRODUCTS
Request for the Establishment of a Panel by Malaysia and Thailand
The followingcommunication, dated 9 January 1997,from the Permanent Missions of Malaysia
and Thailand to the Permanent Mission of the United States and to the Dispute Settlement Body, is
circulated at the request of these delegations.
Through a series of actions, including enactment of Section 609 of Public Law 101-162 amending
the Endangered Species Act of 1973,16U.S.C. § 1531et seq., promulgationof regulations and issuance
of judicial decisions interpreting the law and regulations, the Government of the United States has
implemented a partial embargo on the importation of certain shrimp and shrimp products which is
inconsistentwithitsobligations underthe Agreement Establishingthe WorldTrade Organization (WTO
Agreement) including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (“ GATT” ). Specifically,
the embargo isinconsistentwithat leastthe followingthree GATTobligations: (1) the provisocontained
in Article XI:1 that no contracting party will impose prohibitions or restrictions on imports through
quotas, licenses or other measures; (2) the most-favoured-nation principle embodied in Article I:1;
and (3) the proviso contained in Article XIII:1 that all allowable prohibitions or restrictions on imports
must be applied in a non-discriminatory manner.
In an effort to resolve these matters and pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules
and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (“ DSU” ) and Article XXII:1 of the GATT, on
October 8, 1996, the Governments of India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand requested consultations
withthe UnitedStates ( ). Thereafter, consultationswere conducted on19 November 1996,
in Geneva, and subsequent letters were exchanged regarding points requiring further clarification.
However, the participants failed to reach an understanding during the consultations.
Consequently, pursuant to Article XXIII of the GATT, the Governments of Malaysia and Thailand
respecfully request that a panel be established to settle this dispute in accordance with Article 6 of the
DSU, with the standard terms of reference referred to in Article 7 of the DSU.
The established panel would then be requested to find, inter alia, that:
(i) throughthe lawsand regulations of the UnitedStates referred to above, the Government
of the United States has failed to carry out its obligations and commitments under several provisions
of the WTO Agreement, including but not limited to Article XI, Article I and Article XIII of the GATT;
(ii) such failure is not justified by any provision of the said agreements, including the
exceptions set forth in Article XX of the GATT; and

(iii) such failure nullifies and impairs benefits accruing to Malaysia and Thailand under
the GATT and WTO Agreement.
Pursuant to Article 6.1 of the DSU, the Governments of Malaysia and Thailand respectfully
request that the foregoing request for establishment of a panel be placed on the agenda of the meeting
of the Dispute Settlement Body scheduled to be held on 22 January 1997.