ABSTRACT
In 2003, the USA, Canada, and Argentina lodged a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against the EU’s moratorium on authorisations of new genetically modified (GM) crops and foods. This led to the longest ever WTO dispute settlement – the Panel did not release its findings until 2006. The Panel concluded positively for the complainants, finding the EU guilty of ‘undue delays’ in the approval process for biotech products (WTO 2006d). Nevertheless, the Panel did not issue sanctions against the EU – the EU was simply told to ensure in the future that its authorisation procedure adhered to its own rules and regulations. Four years on, GM foods are still not readily available within the member states of the European Union; indeed, sourcing GM products in shops and supermarkets is difficult. Whereas in the USA, the opposite remains true: non-GM varieties of certain products are scarce. Therefore, the positive outcome of the WTO challenge appears to have had very little impact on the availability of GM foods and crops in the EU, and therefore little impact on the USA’s export market for the products of agricultural biotechnology.
