Vietnam will join nine other ASEAN nations to send a petition to the World Trade Organization against Australia over its new restrictions on green prawn imports, state media reported on August 8.
The suit will be taken at the WTO disputes panel in Geneva in October, said a Thai official, who has returned from last-ditch discussions held on August 6 in Canberra between Thai officials and the Biosecurity Australia.
Australia last month banned raw prawn imports from countries that were not deemed disease free and imposed restrictions on processed prawns, saying the action was needed to prevent infections from hitting the local industry.
The requirements are unnecessary, onerous, scientifically unsound, and a non-tariff barrier to trade, said the Thai official.
He also said it was very likely that Australia would lose the case, especially as the WTO’s World Animal Health Organization (OIE) was revising its guidelines on transferable diseases to specifically exclude prawns sold for human consumption from the so-called “disease-risk pathway”.
If losing the dispute, Australia may face compensation payments of US$500 million for every year, according to an estimate by Harry Peters, president of the Seafood Importers Association of Australia, an industry body whose 40 members handle about 80 per cent of seafood imports.
As a trading bloc, ASEAN acts as one in representing members and in protecting their interest. The other members of the group are Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Singapore. (
Vietnam & World Economy)
Vietnamese
