EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – MEASURES AFFECTING THE APPROVAL AND MARKETING OF BIOTECH PRODUCTS
Document: Notification of a Mutually Agreed Solution
Date: 23 March 2010
Document codes: WT/DS293/41; G/L/629/Add.1; G/SPS/GEN/399/Add.1; G/AG/GEN/62/Add.1; G/TBT/D/30/Add.1
Complainant: Argentina
Respondent: EU
Third parties: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Taiwan, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Uruguay, U.S.
Dispute stage: Mutually Agreed Solution
Agreements cited: Art. 2.2, 2.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.6, 7, 8, 10.1, Annex B, Annex C  Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)Art. III:4, X:1, X:3(a), XI:1  GATT 1994Art. 2.1, 2.2, 2.8, 2.9, 2.11, 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, 5.8, 12  Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)Art. 4.2  AgricultureArt. I:1  GATT 1994

Spanish

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES – MEASURES AFFECTING THE APPROVAL
AND MARKETING OF BIOTECH PRODUCTS

Notification of a Mutually Agreed Solution

 The following communication, dated 19 Marc h 2010, from the delegation of Argentina and
the delegation of the European Union
1 to the Chairman of the Disput e Settlement Body, is circulated
pursuant to Article 3.6 of the DSU.

 Please find attached a Mutually Agreed So lution reached on 18 March 2010, between
Argentina and the European Union in the above referenced case.

1 On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon amendi ng the Treaty on Europe an Union and the Treaty
establishing the European Community (done at Lisbon , 13 December 2007) entere d into force. On 29
November 2009, the WTO received a Verbal Note (WT/L/779) from the Council of the European Union and the
Commission of the European Communities stating that, by virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon, as of
1 December 2009, the European Union replaces and succeeds the European Community.

MUTUALLY AGREED SOLUTION BETWEEN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AND THE
EUROPEAN UNION TO THE DISPUTE ""
(WT/DS293)

 The Argentine Republic and the European Uni on (EU) (the "Parties") have agreed on the
settlement of the dispute "" (WT/DS293). The Argentine Republic and the EU have reached a mutually agreed
solution within the meaning of Article 3.6 of th e Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing
the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), by which they settle this WTO dispute. The Argentine Republic
and the EU will jointly notify this mutually agreed solution to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement
Body (DSB) and the Chairpersons of the relevant WTO Committees and Councils.

 This mutually agreed solution is without prejudice to and has no effect on the respective
substantive positions held by the Parties regardi ng the implementation of the recommendations of the
DSB in the dispute WT/DS293, and does not modify, otherwise than as provided herein, the rights
and obligations of the Argentine Republic and the EU under the WTO Agreements.

 Therefore, the Argentine Repub lic and the EU agree as follows:

BILATERAL DIALOGUE ON ISSUES RELATED TO THE APPLICATION OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY TO AGRICULTURE

1. In view of the constructive dialogue held so far by the Parties, the Argentine Republic and
the EU hereby establish a "Bilateral dialogue on issues rel ated to the application of
biotechnology to agriculture”.
2. The objectives of this dialogue will be, inte r alia, avoiding unnecessary obstacles to trade
resulting from the regulation of biotech products in the Argentine Republic and the EU,
preventing situations of asynchronous au thorisations and ensuring a harmonious
technological progress and the adoption of measures consistent with the WTO Agreements.
3. This dialogue will cover any issue of interest to the Parties, including:
(1) The follow-up of the authorisation processes of genetically modified products of
interest to the Parties, both in the EU and the Argentine Republic;
(2) The measures related to biotechnology which may affect trade between the
Argentine Republic and the EU, including measures adopted by the EU Member
States;
(3) Specific issues which arise in the contex t of requests for authorisation submitted to
regulatory evaluation;
(4) The exchange of information on the trad e impact of asynchronous authorisations of
genetically modified products;
(5) The evaluation of the economic and trade outlook of future authorisations of
genetically modified products;
(6) The renewal of authorisations of genetically modified products;
WT/DS293/41, G/L/629/Add.1,
 G/SPS/GEN/399/Add.1, G/AG/GEN/62/Add.1,

(7) The exchange of information regarding re levant issues in the field of agriculture
biotechnology, including:
(a) general opinions on regulatory criteria a nd the cooperative study of emerging
regulatory problems; e.g. cultivation of genetically modified products with
multiple events, genetically modified products with complex characteristics
(e.g. resistance to abiotic stress) and cultivation of products with therapeutic
proteins or products of industrial interest;
(b) new legislation in the field of biotechnological agriculture, including
guidelines, good practices, and projects, notably those aimed at improving the
process of authorisation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs);
(c) coordination mechanisms to solve even tual cases of adventitious presence of
non-authorised GMOs in shipments of authorised products;
(d) tolerance thresholds for non-authorised genetically modified products.

– Participants
1: For the European Commission: the Directorate-General for Health and
Consumers; the Directorate-General for Ag riculture and Rural Development; and the
Directorate-General for Trade. For the Ar gentine Republic, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, International Trade and Worship a nd the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock
and Fisheries (Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries) and the National
Service of Agro-alimentary Quality and Health (SENASA). The participation of
additional officials will be allowed, b ased on ability to address the items of the
corresponding agenda.
– Meetings: The Parties will agree to hold meetings bi-annually. The meetings will take
place during each semester in Brussels and Bue nos Aires, alternatively. However, the
Parties may agree sufficiently in advance that a meeting is held by videoconference, or
in the margins of other bilateral meeting, such as the meetings of the Joint Committee
Argentine Republic - EU (Joint Committee).
– Conclusions of the meetings : there will be a report of the conclusions of the meetings
in the form of a follow-up paper on speci fic issues of interest which will be
communicated to the Joint Committee.
– Exchange of information: the Parties will establish focal points for the exchange of
information and will keep a permanent cont act through information technology means.
The exchange of information will be confidential and the Parties will take the necessary
measures to ensure such condition.
– Scientific cooperation: the Parties will endeavour to f acilitate the scientific cooperation
between the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), the Secretariat for Agriculture,

1 The European Commission and the Argentine Republic will inform each other of any changes in the
attribution of competences in the fiel d of biotechnology which may affect the appointment of its participants in
this dialogue.
WT/DS293/41, G/L/629/Add.1,
G/SPS/GEN/399/Add.1, G/AG/GEN/62/Add.1,

Livestock and Fisheries (SAGyP) and the National Service of Agro-alimentary Quality
and Health (SENASA) in the field of biotechnology.

 Done at Buenos Aires, on 18
th of March of 2010, in three (3) original authentic English and
Spanish versions.

For the Argentine Republic For the European Union