On January 11, 2021, Costa Rica requested consultations with Panama regarding measures on the importation of a number of products originating in Costa Rica, including: strawberries, dairy products, bovine, pork, poultry and turkey meat products, fish food, fresh pineapple, and plantains and bananas.
Costa Rica claimed that the measures appear to be inconsistent with:
• Articles 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.3, 5.1, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 6.1, 7, 8 and Annexes B and C of the SPS Agreement;
• Article 4.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture; and
• Articles I:1 and XI:1 of the GATT 1994.
On January 19, 2021, Nicaragua requested to join the consultations. On January 27, 2021, Bolivia requested to join the consultations.
On August 19, 2021, Costa Rica requested the establishment of a panel.
At its meeting on August 30, 2021, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on September 27, 2021, the DSB established a panel. Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei, the United Kingdom, and the United States reserved their third-party rights.
On January 12, 2022, Costa Rica requested the Director-General to compose the panel. On January 24, 2022, the Director-General composed the panel.
On June 13, 2022, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that the beginning of the panel's work had been delayed due to a lack of Spanish-speaking personnel in the Secretariat available to staff disputes and, therefore, the panel did not expect to issue its final report to the parties prior to the second half of 2023. The Chair apprised the DSB that the report would be available to the public once it was circulated to the Members in all three official languages, and that the date of circulation depends on completion of translation.
| Brief Date | Brief Description |
|---|---|
| 03/01/2023 | U.S. Third-Party Executive Summary |
| 02/15/2023 | U.S. Third-Party Answers to Panel Questions |
| 10/03/2022 | US.3dPty.Sub.fin.pdf |
