CANADA WILL APPEAL AGAINST THE WTO RULES ON FRENCH IMPORTS OF AMIANTHUS.
Financial Times, Sep 19, 2000
The Canadian government said yesterday it would appeal against a
World Trade Organisation ruling that upheld a French ban on
imports of chrysotile "white" asbestos .
Before deciding that the French ban was justified on health
grounds, the WTO panel argued that France had violated WTO
rules by discriminating against Canadian asbestos, which was
deemed a "like" product to safer domestic substitutes.
The WTO ruled that the ban was necessary to protect French
workers at a level deemed appropriate by France. Despite its
intention of appealing, Canada said it was not attempting to
question a country's right to adopt regulations in the public
interest
or to set appropriate levels of protection for public health reasons.
Canada had argued that the WTO's mandate was to determine
whether the ban complied with multilateral trade agreements, not to
rule on safety or on the principle of safe use of chrysotile
asbestos.
Canada is the world's third leading producer of chrysotile asbestos,
its exports accounting for 18 per cent of world output in 1999, worth
CDollars 162m (USDollars 110m).
The judgment marked the first time the WTO has upheld trade
restrictions under the exception to its rules for products harming
human health.
* In aseparate judgment Canada yesterday lost its appeal against a
WTO ruling requiring it to grant old patents a minimum term of 20
years.
The WTO's appellate body upheld a complaint by the US that
Canada was in breach of WTO rules by not extending the 20-year
term to patents filed before 1989. Under earlier legislation these
patents were given formal protection for just 17 years.
According to Canadian figures, nearly 67,000 patents in force on
January 1 this year were subject to terms of less than 20 years.
Canada's generic drug manufacturers said when the initial WTO
panel report was published in May that extending the term on drug
patents could cost Canadian consumers as much as CDollars
200m in higher prices for prescription drugs.
19/09/2000