WTO opens dispute panel between Malaysia and EU over palm oil

In Switzerland, at a meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on May 28, WTO members agreed to the establishment of a dispute panel at the request of Malaysia concerning European Union measures on palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels.

Malaysia submitted its second request for a panel to examine certain measures imposed by the European Union and EU member states regarding palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels from Malaysia. Malaysia’s first request was blocked by the EU at the DSB meeting on April 28.  Malaysia said that consultations held on March 17 with the EU regrettably failed to resolve the dispute, so once again it was submitting its request for a panel to examine the matter.

The EU said it regretted Malaysia’s decision to renew its request for a panel but that it believed the measures at stake were fully justified and that it was confident it would prevail in the dispute proceedings.  The EU also said it was ready to discuss interim arrangements which would allow for a possible appeal to be heard in the dispute, mentioning in this regard the multi-party interim appeal arrangement (MPIA).

The DSB agreed to the establishment of a panel.  Thailand, Korea, Brazil, Russia, the UK, the US, Singapore, Guatemala, Australia, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, China, Ukraine, India, El Salvador and Canada reserved their rights to participate as third parties in the proceedings.