Home
FacebookTwitterSearchMenu
  • Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • News
  • Features
  • Knowledge Library
  • Columns
  • Customs
  • Jobs
  • Directory
  • FX Rates
  • Categories
    • Categories
    • Africa
    • Air Freight
    • BEE
    • Border Beat
    • COVID-19
    • Crime
    • Customs
    • Domestic
    • Duty Calls
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy/Fuel
    • Events
    • Freight & Trading Weekly
    • Imports and Exports
    • Infrastructure
    • International
    • Logistics
    • Other
    • People
    • Road/Rail Freight
    • Sea Freight
    • Skills & Training
    • Social Development
    • Sustainability
    • Technology
    • Trade/Investment
    • Webinars
  • Contact us
    • Contact us
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Send us news
    • Editorial Guidelines
Africa
Imports and Exports
International
Sea Freight

EU citrus rule dispute escalated to the WTO

29 Jul 2022 - by Lyse Comins
 Source: Fresh Plaza.
0 Comments

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • E-mail
  • Print

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) has appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to facilitate consultations with the EU regarding the sudden “drastic” and “protectionist” new rules governing the importation of citrus fruit from the country.

Citrus Growers’ Association CEO Justin Chadwick said the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations had written to João Aguiar Machado, ambassador of the European Union (EU) to the WTO in Geneva, to request consultations with the EU concerning the new regime governing the importation of citrus fruit from South Africa. He said the CGA welcomed the move, which was prompted by the dtic, after earlier attempts to resolve the dispute had failed.

Chadwick said the EU Standing Committee on Plant, Animal, Food and Feed (Scopaff) in June published “drastic and arguably misinformed” new regulations requiring the cold treatment of oranges as a means of addressing False Codling Moth (FCM) interceptions from southern African orange exports.

“Despite numerous objections from several other countries, including European markets that currently import South African oranges, these new regulations were published in the Official Journal of the European Union with an implementation date of July 14,” Chadwick said.

“The fact that EU authorities attempted to enforce these new regulations a mere 23 days after publication made it impossible for South African growers to ensure their compliance, and highlights how unjustified and discriminatory this legislation is, with devastating consequences for our local citrus industry,” he said.

In terms of WTO agreements, member states have agreed not to discriminate against imports from different origins and not to impose sanitary and technical barriers to trade that are discriminatory and not based on international standards or on sound scientific evidence.

“It is clear that the EU’s protectionist FCM import measures against South Africa violate these conditions. In its request for consultations, South Africa identified 21 inconsistencies in the new proposed phytosanitary measures, against the guidelines of the WTO Agreement, which the EU is obligated to adhere to. These transgressions have already impacted an estimated 3.2 million cartons of citrus valued at R605m (€38.4m), with reports of hundreds of containers of South African citrus being detained by authorities in the EU on arrival,” Chadwick said.

“Without immediate political intervention, the threat remains that these consignments will be destroyed by EU authorities.”

Chadwick added that local industry held the view that the cold treatment prescribed within the new regulations was contrary to scientific evidence, making it an “arbitrary and unnecessary trade-restrictive measure” that contravened international requirements for phytosanitary trade regulations.

“The CGA understands that the dtic, as well as national government, undertook a number of efforts to resolve this matter over a period of several weeks. We are aware that the process of seeking a WTO consultation was actioned when it became evident that other avenues would not prove successful to address the issue. The CGA welcomes the move by the dtic for the lodging of this dispute and elevating it to a multilateral level,” Chadwick said.

“This crisis not only threatens the sustainability and profitability of local growers and the 140 000 jobs the industry sustains locally, but will also result in less and more expensive citrus in European supermarkets. We simply cannot allow what was clearly nothing more than a politically motivated move by the Spanish to decimate the businesses of thousands of local growers and the livelihoods they support, while threatening the destruction of millions of cartons of top-quality fruit by EU authorities.”

He said the CGA would continue to work with government and the industry to urgently confront the challenge and ensure citrus exports are welcomed in the EU.

Sign up to our mailing list and get daily news headlines and weekly features directly to your inbox free.
Subscribe to receive print copies of Freight News Features to your door.

Foot-and-mouth disease reappears in Mpumalanga and Gauteng

Imports and Exports

China has suspended imports of cloven-hoofed animals and related products.

12 May 2025
0 Comments

SA wine industry predicts exceptional grape harvest

Imports and Exports

Tariff constraints must be addressed with the likes of China.

12 May 2025
0 Comments

Emirates posts record profits

Air Freight
Logistics

Cargo division carries 2.3 million tonnes of goods around the world, up 7% from the previous year.

12 May 2025
0 Comments

Saaff reacts positively to ports, rail and road announcement

Logistics
Road/Rail Freight

The decision serves to “prevent, mitigate and resolve bottlenecks and additional breakdowns”.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Durban port takes delivery of ship-to-shore cranes

Logistics

The port’s container terminal has invested approximately R1.5 billion in new equipment over the past 18 months.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Steep dip in ConCor line volume after derailment

Logistics
Road/Rail Freight

An update states that as a result, rail operations in and out of Durban were affected.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Rates storm looms as Suez eyes reuptake of volume

Logistics
Sea Freight

A sudden rediversion of global traffic through the Suez Canal would unleash surplus tonnage back into regular trade lanes.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

SA pork producers fear US leverage over citrus and tariffs

Imports and Exports

The primary responsibility remains the protection of the local industry from PRRS outbreaks.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Ramaphosa outlines second phase of Operation Vulindlela

Logistics

The government would deepen the implementation of current reforms in energy and logistics.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Carrier pulls out of crucial cargo flights for Red Sea destinations

Air Freight

Disruption is particularly acute in Sudan, where civil conflict has devastated infrastructure.

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Proposed cabotage rules in line with 91 other countries

Sea Freight

“No ship, other than a South African-owned ship, is permitted to engage in coastwise traffic for the conveyance of goods between ports in SA.”

09 May 2025
0 Comments

Fuel-crime curbing causes tanker build-up at Moz border

Border Beat
Imports and Exports
Logistics
Road/Rail Freight
08 May 2025
0 Comments
  • More

FeatureClick to view

Durban & Richards Bay 6 June 2025

Border Beat

Zim's anti-smuggling measures delay legitimate freight operations
06 Jun 2025
Cross-border payments remain a hurdle – Masondo
30 May 2025
BMA steps in to help DG and FMCG cargo at Groblersbrug
21 May 2025
More

Featured Jobs

New

Seafreight Import / Export Controller DBN

Tiger Recruitment
Durban
06 Jun

CargoWise Specialist

Switch Recruit
Eastrand
05 Jun

Estimator

VDM Cargo Solutions (Pty) Ltd
Brackenfell, Cape Town
05 Jun

Sea Freight Import Controller

VDM Cargo Solutions (Pty) Ltd
Brackenfell, Cape Town
05 Jun
More Jobs
  • © Now Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • Freight News RSS
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Send us news
  • Contact us