The Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) stated on Tuesday that it would pay Costa Rica's legal costs in the litigation regarding the Hass avocado trade that Mexico installed against the country at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
This portfolio will finance the process, estimated at at least $600,000, even though the head of Comex, Alexander Mora, had previously argued that the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) should pay it. Mora stated this on March 8, the day that Mexico's demand in the WTO became known.
Meanwhile, the director of the SFE, Marco Vinicio Jimenez, said that Costa Rica had a period of 10 days to give an answer to the WTO and another 20 days to answer the arguments presented by Mexico.
He said that at the end of April, after giving the answer, they were planning to meet with the Mexicans in Geneva, at the WTO headquarters. A delegation of the SFE and one from the Comex will participate in the meeting.
According to Jimenez, Costa Rica will maintain its position of barring Hass avocado imports from nine markets as a phytosanitary measure to defend their country from the possible entry of the sunblotch disease.
Minister Mora acknowledged that it was virtually impossible to get the SFE to transfer the funds to COMEX to finance the process, because of bureaucratic procedures. He also explained said that the SFE and the MAG didn't have any resources allocated in their budgets for arbitration procedures, but that Comex did.
In addition, he said they also analyzed the possibility of including the funds in a special budget, but that this process would take at least two months and the procedure at the WTO had already started.
The trade conflict over Hass avocado imports started in May 2015, when the SFE decided to suspend the issuance of phytosanitary permits to import the product from Mexico (the main producer and exporter of this fruit) and eight other markets.
Minister Mora had previously stated that, since the SFE made the decision that led to this litigation in the WTO, it should bear the cost of the process.
Now the country will have to fund it with the resources that Comex has for arbitrations. Mora said they had some resources, especially after some arbitrations were resolved favorably for the country, including the expropriations for the Las Baulas park and of the Vehicular Technical Review company (Riteve), which demanded the issue of tariffs in international bodies.
According to Comex, these positive outcomes have freed-up resources.
Source: nacion.com