Norwegians go to court over salmon

By Jarle Hetland

Date: 13/04/06

European Union measures to restrict the import of Norwegian salmon have been challenged in two cases at the European Court of First Instance (CFI).

The Council of Ministers imposed anti-dumping measures on Norwegian salmon in January after an investigation by the European Commission concluded that fish were being exported to the EU to be sold at below the cost of production.

The Fjord Seafood and Alsaker Fjordbruk lodged a challenge on Monday (10 April) claiming that the Commission had breached the terms of the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement.

A Fjord Seafood spokesman said the two companies were arguing that whereas the EEA agreement requires that all companies within the area are to be treated equally, in its investigation the European Commission failed to abide by this requirement, excluding foreign-owned salmon producers in Scotland.

Although the EU has had some sort of anti-dumping measures in effect against Norway more or less continuously since 1991, this is the first time the country's salmon industry has decided to take legal action against the Union.

Separately Norway's two main seafood organisations, the Norwegian Seafood Federation (NSF), and the Norwegian Seafood Association (NSA) complained over the way the Commission calculated the production price of Norwegian salmon, the exchange rates used in the investigation and an imbalance in the companies chosen for calculating whether dumping occurred.

A Commission trade spokesman said the EU executive was "absolutely satisfied" with its dumping investigations of imported Norwegian salmon.

Article reports on two legal challenges at the European Court of First Instance (CFI) lodged by Norwegian companies and trade associations on 11 April 2006 to complain against European Union measures to restrict the import of Norwegian salmon.