WTO ruling on India poultry ban helps Delaware producers
The World Trade Organization has announced that it will allow a case brought by the U.S. against India’s trade restrictions on poultry, pork, and other products to move forward. India attempted to have the U.S. complaint dismissed on technical grounds, but World Trade Organization (WTO) adjudicators ruled in favor of the U.S.
The ruling is an important victory for Delaware’s poultry industry, which supports more than 13,000 jobs and contributes more than $3.2 billion to the state economy. Senator Coons praised the work of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to challenge India’s longstanding, non-scientifically based trade policies against U.S. poultry.
Since 2007, India has formally banned imports of various agricultural products from the U.S., supposedly to prevent outbreaks of avian influenza in India. India instituted this ban despite the fact that the U.S. has not had an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza since 2004. India's trade policies have not conformed to the scientifically based World Organization for Animal Health standards on avian influenza. American poultry producers, including Delaware’s, adhere to these globally recognized standards of food production.
At the end of 2011, Senator Coons, together with a bipartisan group of 20 other Senators, sent a letter to USTR Ambassador Ron Kirk urging the Administration to resolve longstanding, non-scientifically based policies. He is thrilled that USTR has taken up the mantle to champion this issue for American poultry businesses.
After bilateral talks and consultations between the United States and India failed to produce a resolution, the case moved to the dispute panel settlement stage earlier this year. A WTO panel was established in February 2013 to directly rule on the U.S. claims, and in March, India filed its request to dismiss the complaint based on technical flaws.
Last May, at the invitation of Senator Coons, Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao visited Delaware. She met with Delaware poultry companies, as well as state and federal agriculture officials, and visited the University of Delaware College of Agriculture’s Allen Lab for poultry science research. Senator Coons was proud to welcome the Ambassador to Delaware and show her first-hand the high quality and integrity of Delaware’s poultry businesses and research institutions.
The National Chicken Council estimates that U.S. poultry exports to India could exceed $300 million annually if appropriate, fair market access was provided in accordance with India's obligations as a member of the WTO.