EU and US agree on new EU rice import regime
The EU and the United States have agreed on a new regime for imports of husked rice into the Community. The agreement
establishes a mechanism to calculate applied duties on husked rice. The applied duty may be adjusted every six months
based on a comparison between actual imports and a reference import level. In practice, the applied duty can be 65€/t.,
42,5€/t. or 30€/t. depending on the operation of the mechanism. In July last year, the EU decided to adopt a bound duty
for husked rice of 65€/t. and for milled rice of 175€/t. These bound duties will be notified to the WTO. The agreement
between the EU and the US constitutes a positive pragmatic solution balancing the interests of Community producers with
the need to supply the EU market and avoids a potential trade dispute, by preserving in the WTO certain rights of all
parties concerned.
"I am very pleased that our negotiating teams have managed through this agreement to find a solution to a complex issue
to our mutual satisfaction", said Mariann Fischer Boel, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. "This
agreement will enable us to preserve balance in our rice market, whilst keeping our markets largely open to rice imports
from all countries".
Background
In order to adapt its rice import regime to the CAP reform, the EC had notified to the WTO its intention to modify its
system of import duties for rice under the WTO on 15 July 2003, based on Article XXVIII of the GATT.
Article XXVIII of the GATT enables WTO members to modify concessions contained in their schedules of commitments. The EC
conducted negotiations with WTO members having negotiating rights.
Two agreements were successfully concluded under Article XXVIII with India and Pakistan in July 2004.
The EC has continued negotiations to try to reach agreements with the United States and Thailand.