Shrimp & Sea Turtle Dispute US vs Asian countries

Panel’s involved in the dispute

• GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade):

provided the rules for much of world trade

• DSB( Dispute Settlement Body): Malaysia, India,

Thailand, Pakistan: against section 609 and lost

• Appellate body: United States supports section 609 and

won

Issue

• US concern that shrimp were caught in an

environmentally harmful way due the incidental

killing of sea turtles

• US requiring shrimp exporters to use TEDs according

to WTO

• 1989, law posed prohibiting the importation of

shrimp

• Mid 1990, law enforced globally

• May 1996, embargo on imports from non-complying

nations

• Asian Countries complained to the WTO

Turtle Excluder Device(TED’s)

• A turtle excluder device or TED is a

specialized device that allows a captured sea

turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net.

In particular, sea turtles can be caught when

bottom trawling is used by the commercial shrimp

fishing industry

Role of WTO

• WTO founded that the import ban in shrimp and shrimp

products as applied by the United States is inconsistent

with Article XI:1 of the GATT 1994

• WTO ( the Appellate body), partially Reversed the panel’s

original decision

• Two years later, WTO investigated the Appellate body’s

decision

• DSB’s report on US’s full compliance and ruling is in their

favour

• US agreed to remove Section 609 but keep prohibition on

non-TED shrimp and offered technical support

Ruling & opinion

• DSB ruled the section 609 an illegal import restriction

• US compliance investigated

• DSB rules in favour of US due to discovery of their

compliance

• We agree with the ruling: rules are rules and have to

be obeyed

• But in our opinion decisions to be made on trade

should be on a mutual agreements with other member

nations especially the developing countries (Asian

countries in this case) which might be the victim of

such situations

HIDDEN REASON behind the government intervention

• US local industry affected

by Asian shrimp

importation

• Lower cost advantage

from Asian countries

• TEDs implementation

affected the company’s

profitability

• Politics involved to

include China in the ban

Thank you for your attention

What is your opinion about the dispute ?