Measures Affecting the Importation of Animals, Meat and Other Animal Products from Argentina

On 30 August 2012, Argentina requested consultations with the United States concerning certain measures affecting the importation of animals, meat and other animal products from Argentina. The specific measures challenged by Argentina include: (i) the import prohibition of fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from Argentina embodied in the interim and final rule of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which amend the regulations of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); (ii) the failure to recognize certain areas of Argentina's territory as free of foot-and-mouth disease embodied in the APHIS Policy Regarding Importation of Animals and Animal Products; and (iii) alleged undue delays in recognizing the animal health status of a region or in granting approval to export animals or animal products from that region with both types of delay occurring under procedures embodied in the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); and additional conditions on importation allegedly imposed by Section 737 of the Omnibus Act 2009.

Argentina claims that the challenged measures appear to be inconsistent with:

• Articles I:1, III:4 and XI:1 of the GATT 1994;

• Articles 1.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 6.1, 6.2, 8 and Annex C.1, and Article 10.1 of the SPS Agreement; and

• Article XVI:4 of the WTO Agreement.

On January 28, 2013, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) established a panel in this dispute. Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union, India and Korea have joined the dispute as third parties.

 

 

 

Panel Proceedings

Brief Date	Brief Description
10/31/2014	U.S. Executive Summary of the Second Written Submission and Opening Statement at the Second Meeting
10/24/2014	U.S. Comments on Argentina’s Responses to the Panel’s Questions and the U.S. Questions Following the Second Panel Meeting
10/10/2014	U.S. Responses to the Panel’s Questions Following the Second Panel Meeting
09/04/2014	U.S. Opening Statement at the Second Panel Meeting
07/29/2014	U.S. Comments on the Responses of the Individual Experts to the Panel’s Questions
07/17/2014	U.S. Comments on the Reponses of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) to the Panel’s Questions
03/25/2014	Second Written Submission of the United States
03/04/2014	Executive Summary of the United States’ First Written Submission and Opening Statement at the First Panel Meeting
02/25/2014	Answers of the United States to the Panel’s Questions Following the First Panel Meeting
01/28/2014	Opening Oral Statement of the United States at the First Panel Meeting
11/05/2013	First Written Submission of the United States