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EUROBAN
Secretariat
17 Lower Camden Street
Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel/Fax; (+353) 1 475 3515
E-mail: euroban@pobox.com
8 September 1997
Friday's decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in favour
of a US complaint that the EU banana import regime is illegal
under the GATT/WTO rules sounds the death-knell of the European
Union's controversial banana import regime. More importantly,
it signals potential ruin for tens of thousands of small farmers
whom the regime was designed to protect - especially in the Eastern
Caribbean - unless an adequate alternative is urgently agreed.
The decision is the final victory in a long battle by the US multinational
Chiquita, which has seen its market share in Europe decline, to
destroy the EU banana regime. Using the US government as its spokesman,
and with the support of a number of Latin American governments
who owe it favours, it has campaigned to have the regime declared
illegal.
While Chiquita and its agents claim the outcome is a victory for
'free trade', this sounds very hollow coming from the largest
player in an industry which is notorious for being anything but
free. The international banana trade is controlled by a tiny number
of major companies. It is an industry which in its time has turned
many countries into 'banana republics'. It is an industry with
a history of environmental pollution. It is an industry with a
long record of union-busting and denial of workers' rights. It
is an industry which is at the moment attempting to reach out
of court settlements with thousands of banana workers who have
been made sterile by the improper use of hazardous pesticides.
(Many of these continued to be used in banana plantation in Latin
America years after their use had been banned in the US) It is
an industry which is unsustainable: in its pursuit of higher profits
for itself and lower costs for the consumer it transfers the real
costs of production to its workforce (in low pay and poor conditions)
and the environment (in ever-increasing pollution).
This so-called victory for 'free trade', while potentially ruining
the livelihoods of thousands of small farmers in the ACP countries
who rely on the EU's support mechanisms for their survivals will
do nothing to help the several million workers and their families;
in Latin America who also depend on the trade for their living.
They have seen their rights removed and their conditions of employment
worsened over the past ten years long before the EU regime came
into existence.
In short the WTO decision is a licence to continue and extend
this exploitation. EUROBAN believes that today's WTO decision
with its potentially devastating impact for small farmers makes
the search for an alternative regime - based on sustainable production
- more urgent than ever.
For more information contact John Daly +353 1 475 3515
Current EC banana regime
The current EC banana regime was introduced in 1993 at the time
of the introduction of the 'single European market'. The complex
regime was designed to serve two main purposes: it replaced a
complex set of different European import regimes with one uniform
regime and at the same time honoured the EU's commitment under
the Lomé Convention to provide preferential trade arrangements
for its partners in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries,
which include some of the poorest countries in the world. While
the Lomé Convention guaranteed preferential access, the
single European market regime provided the practical mechanisms
which made this access a reality. This was done through complicated
licensing arrangements.
EUROBAN the European Banana Action
Network, is a coalition of 30 European NGOs, working for a socially
and environmentally sustainable banana trade.
EUROBAN, the European Banana Action Network, has campaigned for
several years for 'fair trade' in bananas. Fairly traded bananas,
bananas which are grown under socially and environmentally sustainable
conditions (pesticide use is greatly reduced and producers receive
up to twice the current market price) have been available in a
number of European countries in a small way for several years.
The launch of the first mass-marketed fair trade labelled banana
in the Netherlands in November 1996 was a major step forward.
It quickly achieved and continues to maintain 10 per cent of the
Dutch market. Even higher figures have been achieved in Switzerland
since the launch of a fair trade labelled banana there in March..
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