EU and Ecuador reach agreement to resolve WTO banana dispute

On the 30 April 2001, the EU and Ecuador announced that they had reached an agreement on to resolve their long-standing dispute over bananas in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

This agreement followed intensive contacts between the European Commission and Ecuador and also followed the understanding reached between the European Commission and the United States on 11 April 2001.

The new regime would provide increased opportunities for Ecuadorian exports. It abolished the EU's import break down on a country quota basis, increases the import volumes from Latin America by 100 000 tonnes, and improved market access to traditional and non traditional importers from Ecuador, following the WTO ruling on GATS. The new regime would hold for a transitional period through to the establishment of a tariff-only system by 2006.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Relations between Ecuador and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/relations-between-ecuador-and-the-eu/

European Voice, 18.04.01: Ecuador threatens to reignite banana war over EU-US deal http://www.politico.eu/article/ecuador-threatens-to-reignite-banana-war-over-eu-us-deal/

European Voice, 11.04.01: Print Dole may back challenge to banana deal http://www.politico.eu/article/dole-may-back-challenge-to-banana-deal/

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