WTO disputes explained | US Shrimps- Turtle case | Trade Law | Lex Animata by Hesham Elrafei

US-Shrimp Case explained and visualized by Hesham Elrafei
The United States—Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp Products case

The United States shrimp Import ban case, was the first dispute adjudicated under the World Trade Organization dispute resolution system, in which the relationship between international trade control , and the the environment’s protection was at issue.

The dispute is related to a measure adopted by the United States, requiring all shrimp vessels, to use a certain net in catching shrimp, in areas where there shrimp trawling interacts with sea turtles.

The legislation aimed to protect turtles, as harvesting shrimp, tend incidentally to catch sea turtles, some of them are endangered.

As a result, Foreign shrimp could only be imported to America, if the exporting country harvesting did not adversely affect sea turtles.

The Complainants India, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand, did not comply with the american requirements and hence were denied import certificates—initiated formal dispute settlement proceedings before the WTO.

They claimed that the United States violated article 11 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which prohibits quantitative restrictions on the importation or the exportation of any product.

In its defence, the united states argued that the measure was applied in a non-discriminatory way , and was justified to protect an endangered species.

The Panel and the Appellate Body found against the United States, by saying that American import ban on shrimp violated article 11, and that although the ban was covered by an article 20 exception related to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources , it could not be justified because the ban constituted “arbitrary and unjustifiable” discrimination, in addition to
the rigidity of the manner in which the American measure was applied , and on the absence of fairness and due process in the certification procedures .

The US lost the case, not because it sought to protect the environment but because it discriminated between WTO members. It provided countries in the western hemisphere — mainly in the Caribbean — technical and financial assistance and longer transition periods for their fishermen to start using turtle-excluder devices.

Inde etc./États-Unis: l'affaire “crevettes-tortues”
Plainte déposée par l'Inde, la Malaisie, le Pakistan et la Thaïlande contre les États-Unis. Les rapports du Groupe spécial et de l'Organe d'appel ont été adoptés en 1998.

États-Unis — Prohibition à l'importation de certaines crevettes et de certains produits à base de crevettes

Tariffs — National treatment — Equal treatment — Non-discrimination — Natural resources — Good faith — Endangered species — Sustainable development
(Environment, International Protection; World Trade Organization, Dispute Settlement) , ('US-Shrimp') , (WTO) , (‘CITES’; Endangered Species, International Protection), (‘GATT’; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [1947 and 1994]) , (Unilateral Acts of States in International Law;Unilateral Trade Measures)