The European garlic sector is highly concerned about Brazil's recent unilateral measures against European garlic imports. The country has proposed a 19% tariff increase in the main export market for Spanish and European garlic.
The EC has reacted quickly and the decision of the Government of Brazil has been appealed to the WTO for being disproportionate and failing to meet the institution's rules.
The tariff increase for European garlic is a response to the safeguard measures applied by the EU on imports of Brazilian steel, in accordance with Art. 12.1 (c) of the WTO Safeguard Agreement; however, it seems that Brazil's measure is based on Art. 8.2 of the Safeguard Agreement, which would make it illegal, since there would need to be a 3 year period to prove the economic damage of the measures imposed by the Commission.
For that reason, Socialist MEP Clara Eugenia Aguilera has raised a question to the European Commission, so that it can report on the state of this dispute. She has also asked what the next steps will be to prevent the loss of a fundamental market for Spanish garlic (and especially for Castile-La Mancha), as has already happened with Spanish table olives in the US. Clara Aguilera believes in the need to enforce additional measures.
Source: agrodigital.com
