South Africa’s citrus industry has welcomed Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies’, announcement last Friday that government will take the country’s citrus black spot (CBS) issue to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Davies, with industry support, contends that the regulations imposed by the European Union (EU) are protectionist rather than scientifically based. “For the past two years South African citrus growers and government have been doing everything in their power to work with the European Union on the CBS issue – amongst others, spending millions on a risk management system to prevent CBS-infected fruit from entering the EU,” said Deon Joubert, special envoy EU – market access at the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) in South Africa. He told FTW that with WTO involvement the tide might now well turn in South Africa’s favour, with the EU now needing to prove its CBS infection case against scientific evidence that disputes the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) findings. “There is scientific evidence that the fruit is not a pathway to CBS infection and that CBS also only occurs in regions where there are summer rainfalls – so most European citrus-growing regions, particularly those in the Mediterranean regions, will never be affected. It is why the Western Cape does not have CBS but the Limpopo region and KwaZulu Natal for example do,” said Joubert, Announcing the fact that SA now has no other recourse but to appeal to the WTO, Davies added the EU had also ignored proposals from South Africa to divide the European region into different zones with stricter regulations for imports into citrus-growing areas in southern Europe. He said in a press statement: “Government has been engaging with the EU to try to get them to be more sensitive around the employment implications – the livelihoods of over 120 000 people are directly at stake. We have also made it very clear in the past that we are aware there is no unambiguous science about CBS.” Joubert said that South Africa’s CBS case with the WTO could gain further traction with the global food health body, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), having called for independent experts to scrutinise the issue. The IPPC, which is part of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation based in Rome, last month called for the nomination of experts to be part of a panel on the citrus black spot dispute between South Africa and the EU. Even though the IPPC does not have binding powers, the findings of the panel could bring some finality to the dispute. Joubert said the IPPC would convene the expert panel comprising three independent professionals and one representative from each of the parties involved in the dispute. This means South Africa can choose a representative who will be able to table its case with the panel. Joubert noted that the WTO process could take anything from nine months to two and a half years to conclude but added that the industry and government had done a lot of its homework around this issue already so hopefully it could be fast-tracked. He told FTW that since last year the citrus industry had already seen a dramatic decline in citrus exports to Europe – which represents 45% of the country’s export market. INSERT & CAPTION The WTO process could take anything from nine months to two and a half years to conclude. – Deon Joubert CAPTION Scientific research has proven that CBS only occurs in summer rainfall regions, so this citrus farm in Citrusdal is exempt from black spot.
