EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – REGIME FOR THE IMPORTATION, SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF BANANAS
Document: Request to Reactivate Consultations of 17 September 1998 by Ecuador
Date: 16 November 1998
Document codes: WT/DS27/30
Complainant: Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, U.S.
Respondent: EU
Third parties: Belize, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican, Ghana, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Japan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Suriname, Venezuela, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Madagascar
Dispute stage: Mutually Agreed Solution
Agreements cited: Art. I, II, III, X, XI, XIII  GATT 1994Art. 1, 3  Import LicensingArt. II, XVI, XVII  Services (GATS)Art. 2  Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs)Art. 19  Agriculture

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – REGIME FOR THE IMPORTATION,
SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF BANANAS
Request to Reactivate Consultations of 17 September 1998 by Ecuador
The following communication, dated 13 November 1998, from the Permanent Mission of
Ecuador to the Permanent Delegation of the European Commission and to the Chairman of the
Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to the procedure provided for under Article 21.5 of
the DSU.
I refer to your letter of 16 September 1998 relating to the acceptance of the consultations
requested jointly and severally by the Government of Ecuador and the Governments of Honduras,
Guatemala, Mexico and the United States, withou t prejudice to our rights under Article 21.5 of the
DSU, which does not stipulate that such consultations must be held in order to reconvene the original
Panel that examined the Communities' regime for the importation of bananas contained in
Regulation (EEC) No. 404/93.
Ecuador's position of principle on the holding of such consultations was stated in the letter
sent to you on 18 August 1998 by Ecuador together with the representatives of the above-mentioned
Governments.
The consultations requested by Ecuador related not only to its concern with the mandatory
compliance by the European Communities with the conclusions and recommendations of the Dispute
Settlement Body within the reasonable period of 15 months, i.e. by 1 January 1999, but also to the
measures adopted and the aspects of Council Regulation 1637/98 concerning licensing and quota
allocations for bananas. It was not possible, during the first stage of the consultations, to reach any
understanding that could resolve the dispute between Ecuador and the European Communities on all
of the concerns discussed.
However, Ecuador took due note of the mention made during the meeting by the
representatives of the Commission of the European Communities of the need to hold another meeting
at a later date when certain supplementary provisions on bananas had been adopted.
Recalling that Ecuador did not express any objection to this suggestion and given that the
Commission of the European Communities has adopted supplementary implementation measures for
the new banana regime
1, I would like, on instruction from my Government, to request the immediate
reactivation of the consultations begun on 17 September 1998 between Ecuador and the European
Communities. Indeed, Ecuador would like to meet with the European Communities at their
convenience between 17 and 23 November 1998. Finally, I repeat that this request is made without
prejudice to Ecuador's rights under Article 21.5 of the DSU.