A WTO panel circulated a mixed ruling last week on the dispute ( DS473 ) between Argentina and the EU over the latter’s duties on Argentine-produced biodiesel, as well as certain aspects of the 28-nation bloc’s anti-dumping rules. Following a complaint submitted by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) – a major industry group representing 75 percent of the bloc’s biodiesel output – the European Commission began investigating imports of the fuel from Argentina and Indonesia in August 2012. The two countries are the world’s largest exporters of the good, at the time making up 90 percent of the European Union’s biodiesel imports and over 20 percent of market share. Brussels imposed provisional anti-dumping duties in May 2013, followed by definitive anti-dumping duties later that year. (See Bridges Weekly, 30 May 2013 and 24 October 2013 ) These measures, according to Argentina’s Foreign Trade Ministry , cost the South American country almost US$ 1.6 billion in lost biodiesel sales annually. In the trade jargon, “dumping” refers to a practice where a product is sold abroad at a price lower than its normal value. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)’s Article VI and the related Anti-Dumping (AD) Agreement allow a...
