. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/DS237/3
14 June 2002
(02-3328)
Original:  English
TURKEY – CERTAIN IMPORT PROCEDURES FOR FRESH FRUIT
Request for the Establishment of a Panel by Ecuador
The following communication, dated 13 June 2002, from the Permanent Mission of Ecuador
to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to Article 6.2 of the DSU.
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Pursuant to Articles 4.7 and 6 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes (the DSU), Article XXIII :2 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(the GATT 1994), Article 19 of the Agreement on Ag riculture, Article 6 of the Agreement on Import
Licensing Procedures, and Article 11:1 of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
(the SPS Agreement), Ecuador hereby requests the establishment of a panel to examine Turkey's
import procedures for fresh fruit.  On 10 September 2001, the Government of Ecuador requested
consultations with the Government of Turkey on this matter.  This request was circulated as documentWT/DS237/1.  The consultations were held in Geneva on 17 September 2001 but failed to settle the
dispute.
This dispute concerns the application of Turkey's import procedures for fresh fruit to imports
of bananas.  According to these procedures, an importer must obtain a Control Certificate ("Kontrol
Belgesi") issued by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to be able to seek the SPS
clearance certificate which is a prerequisite for presentation of the goods for customs clearance.  TheControl Certificate is not an SPS clearance certif icate but an administrative document which allows
goods to be submitted to SPS control.
1
Until November 1999, importers of bananas could request Control Certificates at any time for
any quantity of bananas and the Certificates were issued without undue delays.  However, sinceNovember 1999 the Control Certificates are issued only for limited quantities, for limited periods of
time and with considerable delays.  A Control Certificate can only be used for one shipment. If a
quantity less than that indicated in the Certificate is imported, it is deemed exhausted.  Moreover, a
new Control Certificate is issued only after the shipment for which the previous Certificate was issued
has been cleared through customs.  As up to tw o months can lapse between the application for a
Control Certificate and customs clearance, this means that an importer may be able to request a
Control Certificate only six times a year.  The quantities for which Control Certificates are issued are
not published but importers are advised orally of the quantities that will be accepted.  Turkey alleged
before the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures that it could issue Control Certificates
only for limited quantities because it had limited laboratory capacity.
2 However, the maximum
quantities for which Control Certificates were issued and the periods during which they were valid
                                                     
1 See for further details: Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Turkish SPS Measures
Applied to Importation of Bananas, G/SPS/GEN/275, page 1.
2 Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Summary of the Meeting held on
14-15 March 2001, G/SPS/R/21, para. 98.WT/DS237/3
Page 2
have not varied with Turkey's laboratory capacity and, in its replies to questions by Ecuador, Turkey
failed to confirm that it imposes similar requirements and limitations on domestic production
Ecuador considers for these reasons that Turkey applies its Control Certificate system in a
manner that constitutes a disguised restriction on imports of bananas inconsistent with WTO law.Ecuador considers in particular that:
• The quantitative limitations on the importation of bananas made effective through the Control
Certificates are inconsistent with Article 4.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture andArticle XI:1 of the GATT 1994.
• The administration of the Control Certificate system – in particular the delays in issuing
Control Certificates, the lack of predictability as to the quantities and the time periods for
which Certificates are issued and the requirement that a Certificate must have been usedbefore a new one is issued – cannot be reconcil ed with the requirements set out in Articles
1:2, 1:3 and 1:6 of the Agreement on Import Lice nsing Procedures and in Article 2:3 of the
SPS Agreement, among them the requirements that the procedures for the application of
import licenses shall be "as simple as possible" and that sanitary and phytosanitary measures
shall not be "applied in a manner which would constitute a disguised restriction oninternational trade".
• Turkey's failure to apply to domestic bananas a testing and certification procedure equivalent
to that applied to bananas from other WTO Members and to allocate access to its laboratorycapacity appropriately between importers and domestic producers is inconsistent with its
obligation under Article 8 and paragraph 1 of Annex C of the SPS Agreement andArticle III:4 of the GATT 1994.
• Turkey's failure to publish the quantities of domestic and imported bananas that its
laboratories accept for inspection and for which Control Certificates are issued violatesTurkey's obligations under Article 7 and paragraph 1 of Annex B of the SPS Agreement.
I would like to request you to include Ecuador's request for the establishment of a panel in the
agenda for the meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body scheduled to take place on 24 June 2002.
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